Men’s, Women’s Players Combine Academics, Lifelong Love of Soccer

Janae Schwan ’27 started kicking a soccer ball as soon as she could walk.

Her father, a longtime coach in Sonoma County, introduced her to the game at an early age, and Janae has been playing ever since. Awards and accolades quickly followed as her soccer career progressed.

“I cannot imagine what it would be like to not have soccer in my life,” says Janae, now a senior at Dominican.  

Last season she helped lead the Penguins to a 9-2-9 overall record, a tie for third place in the PacWest regular-season standings and a runner-up finish in the PacWest Tournament.

Janae’s path to Dominican, however, came midway through her college career. After several years in the California State University system, Janae was looking for something different: a smaller university closer to home, where she could get more individual attention in the classroom while continuing to play at a high level.

She found both.

“I went from huge lecture halls at my state school to small classrooms where professors get to know you and really want to see you succeed,” she says. “And the team was immediately supportive. It was a great move and a great fit.”

Janae quickly settled into life as a Penguin. In her first season at Dominican, she played in all 20 games, scoring four goals and adding four assists. Her 23 shots on goal ranked third in program single-season history.

She also found the academic mentorship she had craved. As a kinesiology major interested in becoming a physical therapist, Janae appreciates Dominican’s small classes, where she typically knows her professors by name and can develop relationships with them. “I like having only 10 to 15 people in a class and being able to know my professors,” she says. 

Kinesiology Program Director Megan Toma, Janae’s academic advisor, has been an important part of that experience, regularly sharing job opportunities, suggesting strong physical therapy graduate programs, and assisting Janae with the application process. 

Janae’s transition to Dominican’s soccer team was also significant. Dominican was her third school — after her original transfer school suddenly eliminated athletics — and she was determined to make the most of her junior year. “Being at my third school was crazy, but I just wanted to make the most of it,” she says. “My team was really special and that made a huge difference.”

Last year, Janae and her teammates put together a 9-2-9 season, finished tied for third in the PacWest regular-season standings, and advanced to the PacWest Tournament championship game. The experience created a strong bond among the team. “We really leaned on each other and helped each other,” Janae says.

This year’s team has a different look. About a dozen seniors graduated, leaving a younger group of players to build on what the team accomplished last season. Janae sees that as an opportunity for the returning players to help guide their younger teammates and create another strong team culture.

Balancing soccer with academics can be challenging, particularly in a demanding kinesiology program. Janae has learned to plan her course load carefully during the season, and this semester she is taking physics. Still, she says Domini2can’s supportive faculty make a difference. “The professors really want you to do well,” she says. “They want you to pass the class, do well and succeed.”

Janae’s academic work in the kinesiology program also helped confirm her plans to pursue physical therapy. An athletic training class last semester, which focused on injuries and injury prevention, was especially valuable because she could connect what she was learning in class to her teammates’ experiences with injuries.

She has also been building the hands-on experience she will need for PT school. Last fall, she completed an internship with a personal trainer and this summer completed a second internship at a physical therapy practice. 

Janae plans to apply to physical therapy programs six months to a year in advance and may take a gap year after graduation to gain additional experience. For now, she is focused on making the most of her time at Dominican — both in the classroom and on the soccer field.

For fellow senior Anthony Stainer ’27 soccer has been a source of friendships and opportunities.

Like Janae, Anthony started playing soccer as a child before moving into competitive club soccer with Napa United 1839 and varsity competition at Vintage High School, where he also played baseball and basketball.

For Anthony, soccer was always going to be part of his college experience.

“Growing up playing soccer helped me build friendships, meet new people and travel,” he says. “Soccer also taught me the discipline that would get me into college in the first place.”

So, when a Dominican coach reached out to him at the beginning of his senior year at Vintage, Stainer was eager to learn more. He knew little about Dominican — or even Marin County. Before visiting campus, his experience with Marin had mostly consisted of passing through on the way to and from San Francisco.

His first visit changed that.

“I had no idea how beautiful it was here,” he recalls. “I still really enjoy walking around campus and taking it all in.”

The university and soccer program proved to be a good fit. Anthony enrolled as a business administration major with a concentration in finance and a minor in sports management, and he quickly became a key contributor on the field.

Beginning in 2024, Anthony took on a regular starting role, appearing in 17 matches with 13 starts. He scored two goals and added four assists. In his senior year, Anthony appeared in 16 matches, including nine starts. He played 705 minutes at midfielder and led the Penguins with 11 points, scoring four goals and adding three assists.

Now entering his senior year, Anthony feels equally at home at Dominican, on the soccer field and throughout Marin.

“It’s great,” he says. “Sometimes when we are wearing team shirts while off campus, people will come up and ask how our season is going.”

That connection extends beyond game days. Several Dominican players coach with Marin Football Club, whose teams use Dominican’s fields.

“It is great to see the Marin FC kids come to watch our games,” Anthony says.

That sense of community is one of the things he values most about Dominican.

“What really stands out to me is that at Dominican you have all the benefits of a small school — you build connections with professors — but you also get to know a lot of people,” he says. “You see everyone day-to-day, walking around campus and in class. It is easy to make friends.”

After spending his first three years living on campus, Anthony now shares an off-campus home with soccer teammates. For him, being a Penguin has become about more than playing college soccer; it has also meant becoming part of the community beyond campus.

This season, both Janae and Anthony will have another reason to be excited about playing at home: the return of Kennelly Field, newly resurfaced and ready for competition.

Anthony remembers the old field well.

“I won’t miss it,” he says with a laugh. “When you fell, it was rough on the skin. This new surface is so much better — it’s amazing.”

And the players aren't the only ones noticing the transformation.

“The logo is beautiful, and people are really noticing how great it looks on the field,” Anthony says.

Now, with a new surface beneath them and another season ahead, the Penguins are ready to make Kennelly Field their home-field advantage.

For Anthony, it is the perfect setting for what he hopes will be another successful season — and one more chapter in a soccer journey that began long before he ever set foot at Dominican.