One of the most talented female athletes to ever wear the Maroon and White had her jersey No. 2 retired during halftime of the Lee University and Southern Wesleyan University basketball game on Thursday, Feb. 2.
In the fall of 2008 Jamie Achten became a member of the Lady Flames soccer team and over the next four years the team would produce the greatest achievement in NAIA soccer history by winning four consecutive national championships.
Achten will undoubtedly go on to be recognized by a number of Hall of Fames due to her many achievements throughout her career.
Most notably she was the NAIA National Player of the Year in both her junior and senior seasons, becoming the first NAIA Player to win the award twice and only the fifth player in history to win the award on back-to-back occasions in all divisions at the collegiate level.
The native of Franklin, Tenn. was First Team NAIA All-American for all four seasons of her college competition. In 2008 she was recognized as the SSAC Freshman of the Year, and the NAIA National Tournament Offensive MVP. In 2009 she would again repeat as the National Tournament Offensive MVP, and in 2010 and 2011 she was named the SSAC Conference Player of the Year and also selected to the NAIA National Tournament All-Tournament Team.
Achten’s illustrious career is remarkable not only for her achievements on the playing field, she was a three-time member of the SSAC All-Academic team, a two-time NSCAA Scholar All-American, and in 2011 was named as the CoSIDA College Scholar-Athlete of the Year for women’s soccer. In fact, Achten’s performance in the classroom allowed her to graduate summa cum laude in only seven semesters this past December with a degree in Communications.
Achten will pursue a professional soccer career abroad in the coming months, planning to join a Swedish women’s team.
Coach Matt Yelton said: “I think Jamie would be successful in anything she endeavored to do in that she is such a multitalented individual—fortunately for us she chose to be a soccer player and bring those skills to Lee. I know that I feel very blessed to have been her coach and have had the honor to work with her over the course of the past four years.”