Joy of playing soccer returns for Canada's Jordyn Huitema after harrowing U.S. home invasion

CBC Sports

· Posted: Jun 27, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

The grin was wiped from Jordyn Huitema's look arsenic speedy arsenic the forward's stride connected a shot pitch.

She was discussing her and the Canadian nationalist women's team's long-standing rivalry with the United States erstwhile a Toronto newsman asked Huitema astir being unfortunate to a location penetration past month.

With a nighttime disconnected connected May 1, the fourth-year subordinate of the National Women's Soccer League's Seattle Reign FC locked each doors of her location successful Mercer Island, Wash., astatine 8:30 p.m. PT and went to bed.

Soon, Huitema heard noises downstairs but the location alarm didn't sound. She rapidly entered endurance mode, grabbing clothes, her telephone and barricading herself successful the bath by hiding successful a locked h2o closet.

WATCH | Huitema returning to normalcy aft traumatic location penetration scare:

"I was sitting connected the level with my backmost against the doorway and my feet connected the toilet, pushing against the door," Huitema, from Chilliwack, B.C., aboriginal told the Seattle Times. "But then … there was 1 idiosyncratic that came into the bath with me, and his flashlight was shining, and I could spot it going nether the door. I knew helium was close beside me, and I was conscionable hoping that helium didn't interaction the door.

"That's erstwhile I enactment my manus implicit my rima and chemoreceptor and was conscionable trying to clasp successful each the tears, trying to clasp successful each the sounds, conscionable trying to beryllium arsenic quiescent arsenic possible."

Huitema called 911 and yet reached a dispatcher, whispering details successful a bid to enactment hidden. She doesn't cognize whether the robbers realized she was location but was ne'er spotted. They intruders stole astir $200,000 US worthy of belongings, according to tribunal documents.

Weeks later, Huitema and her Canadian teammates are preparing for Friday's Pride Celebration affable against Costa Rica, a 7:30 p.m. ET commencement astatine BMO Field successful Toronto.

'It's a journey'

Huitema present has much leap successful her step. She's having amusive hanging retired with her teammates connected the nationalist squad. And she's excited to play earlier a location crowd.

"A enactment successful progress," is however the 24-year-old Huitema described her instrumentality to shot successful a Zoom telephone this week with Signa Butler of CBC Sports. "It's a journey. I've got my regular backmost of sleeping and eating; the basics to beryllium a nonrecreational [athlete].

"The joyousness being connected the tract brings maine is thing you don't consciousness anyplace else. I consciousness similar a antithetic idiosyncratic than wherever I was astatine [a fewer weeks ago]."

Following the location invasion, Reign caput manager Laura Harvey gave Huitema the enactment to beryllium out, but she chose to play.

"I tried to springiness everything," the subordinate said, "and that wore maine down much without realizing I was slipping distant from myself. I was exhausted.

"I was struggling truthful overmuch that erstwhile it was clip to measurement connected the tract my caput was successful a antithetic world.

"I'm precise atrocious astatine choosing myself successful situations wherever I should," continued Huitema, "but I'm learning."

After an "amazing" speech with Casey Stoney, first-year caput manager of Canada's nationalist women's team, Huitema returned to Chilliwack and spent astir a week with her parents and siblings.

"She agreed I should measurement away," Huitema said of Stoney, the 42-year-old erstwhile England skipper hired by Canada Soccer successful January. "I ne'er similar to question the achromatic emblem and accidental that I'm down.

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Made elder nationalist squad debut astatine 15

"[But] it was a bully reset. Had I fto [the situation] spiral, it could person turned into thing wherever it needed to beryllium a longer-termed [absence] but each I needed successful that infinitesimal was a week."

These days, Huitema is excited astir the fig of caller faces with the nationalist team. In March 2017, she made her debut with the elder nine arsenic a 15-year-old successful Canada's 1-0 Algarve Cup last nonaccomplishment to Spain successful Portugal. She was the third-youngest pistillate to play for Canada down lone record-holder Kara Lang and Jessie Fleming, who were besides 15.

"We request to commencement processing the aboriginal of Canada soccer," said the five-foot-10 Huitema, who won 2021 Olympic golden successful Tokyo and was a subordinate of past year's squad successful Paris. "You spot yourself successful [the younger players]. You tin subordinate to them, truthful you effort to springiness a helping manus oregon beryllium supportive to marque them consciousness comfortable."

After Friday's friendly, the eighth-ranked Canadians question to Washington to look the top-ranked U.S. connected July 2 astatine Audi Field.

Canada, which hasn't won successful America since Nov. 11, 2000, has a 4-53-9 grounds against the U.S. that dates to 1986 erstwhile the Canadian women's programme was established.

"Yeah, we each hatred [the U.S. team]," said Huitema, smiling. "It's the rivalry we have. It's comic due to the fact that I've been playing with truthful galore of [their players] the past three, 4 years. I'm adjacent friends with 95 per cent of them.

"I'll person little conversations with them, and they'll say, 'We hatred you guys. You're truthful nice, and we emotion you arsenic people, but we hatred you.' It's astir apt the astir breathtaking crippled we get to play. It's the [one] you privation to win, for sure."