Rising Starlets' skipper Hato opens US chapter with Mustangs
Reading Time: 2min | Fri. 15.08.25. | 13:40
The team will have a scrimmage under the lights at College of the Canyons on Friday, 15 August, with the season opener at home against former GSAC rival Westmont on 25 August
Kenya Under-20 captain, Jane Hato, a former key player for Mathare United Women and Madira Soccer Assassins, is settling well at The Masters University, where she will turn out for the side’s Lady Mustangs while pursuing a sports management program.
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The Rising Starlets ace, who skippered the national team during the 2024 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers in November last year, lifted the Kenya Women’s Premier League title with Police Bullets before making the move.
“I am happy to announce I have settled in nicely here at The Masters University and I received a warm welcome, which made it feel like home right away. I’m truly grateful for this opportunity to be here at such a pivotal time in my life,” she wrote on her social media platforms.
Hato’s soccer scholarship is thanks to AfriSportsConnect.
“I am thrilled to share that I will be playing my first match for the Mustangs this week on Friday! It’s going to be an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to take the field. (sic),” she continued. “This opportunity makes me feel proud of representing my country, and also a way of inspiring other young female footballers who dare to dream.”
Hato joins a side that is coming off a season in which the team went 15-5-1 overall and 11-2-1 in the Great Southwest Athletic Conference (GSAC) to tie for second.
The Lady Mustangs have 18 matches on their schedule and will face NCAA D-II and D-III teams before their conference schedule begins.
“I am looking forward to our pre-season schedule as we are going to be tested against a handful of very good programs in Westmont, Biola, Westcliff, Redlands, and Chapman," said head coach Esteban Chavez. “We will be challenged, and it will serve as a measuring stick and will prepare us for the conference."
The Mustangs lost in the GSAC Championship match 2-1 to Embry-Riddle last season before making their first NAIA National Championship Tournament appearance since 2019. They fell in the opening round to the No. 4-ranked University of Tennessee Southern 1-0.
With both Soka University of America and La Sierra University joining the GSAC this year, the conference will be back up to 10 schools, with five in California and five in Arizona. TMU will play the other four California schools in the conference twice, while playing the Arizona schools just once.
The team will have a scrimmage under the lights at College of the Canyons on Friday, 15 August, with the season opener at home against former GSAC rival Westmont on 25 August.
The Master's opens conference play against Soka at home on 20 September.
