Janine Elizabeth Sonis (; born August 20, 1994) is a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a forward or a full-back for

National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

club Racing Louisville FC. Born in the United States, she represents the Canada national team.

Early life

Born in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

to Canadian parents, Sonis attended Valor Christian High School in

Highlands Ranch, Colorado Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The p ...

. At Valor Christian, she played for the varsity team for four years and was named 2012 Gatorade Colorado Player of the Year. Sonis attended

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

, where she played for the Red Raiders from 2012 to 2015 and became the all-time leading scorer for the women's team with 57 career goals. In December 2015, Sonis was named Player of the Year by Dallas Soccer News.

Club career

Early career

In 2013, Sonis signed with the

Seattle Sounders Women Sound Football Club is an American women's soccer team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. Sound FC play its home games at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, six miles south of downtown Seattle. The team was founded in 2000 as ...

in the USL W-League.

Houston Dash

Sonis was selected eighth overall in the 2016 NWSL College Draft by the Houston Dash. On February 8, 2016, it was announced that Sonis would be allocated to the team as part of the

NWSL Player Allocation The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) federation players were players whose salaries for playing in the National Women's Soccer League were paid for by their respective national federations from 2013 to 2021. American federation players were co ...

On April 16, 2016, Sonis scored in her professional debut against the Chicago Red Stars

Sky Blue FC

On January 18, 2018, Sonis was traded to the

Sky Blue FC Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 un ...

along with

Carli Lloyd Carli Anne Hollins (; born July 16, 1982) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player. She is a two-time Olympic Games, Olympic gold medalist (2008 and 2012), two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion (2015 and 2019) ...

by the Dash in a three-team trade with the

Chicago Red Stars Chicago Stars Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the Chicago metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). A founding member of the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league as the Chic ...

and

. After making 15 appearances for Sky Blue, Sonis announced her departure from the club on August 9, 2018.

Manchester City W.F.C.

Sonis' transfer from

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

was made official on August 9, 2018. Sonis concluded her first season with 8 goals in 15 games, and two trophies ( FA League Cup,

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

). In the 2019–20 season, Sonis earned her first start in a UWCL game, and scored her first hat-trick in the competition. On April 14, 2020, Sonis signed a new contract with Manchester City that would last until 2022.

Portland Thorns FC

In April 2022, it was announced that Sonis would return to the NWSL, signing a three-year contract with

Portland Thorns FC Portland Thorns FC is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL ...

. In March 2023, Sonis suffered an ACL injury during a pre-season game, which forced her to miss the entirety of the 2023 season. She was able to return to the roster for the Thorns' 2024 season opener, scoring two goals in a 4–5 away loss to the

Kansas City Current The Kansas City Current are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Kansas City, Missouri, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). It was founded as an NWSL expansion, expansion team in 2021 NWSL ...

Racing Louisville FC

On August 21, 2024,

announced that they had traded Sonis to Racing Louisville FC in exchange for Reilyn Turner. Upon the trade's completion, Sonis signed a two-year contract extension with Racing Louisville through the 2026 season.

International career

Sonis has represented Canada on the under-20 and senior national teams. She made her senior international debut on November 26, 2014, replacing

Brittany Baxter Brittany Amanda Baxter (née Timko) (born September 5, 1985) is a Canadian retired soccer player who played professionally for five different clubs and earned 132 caps with the Canadian National Team. Club career Baxter's first senior club team ...

at half time in a 1–1 draw against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. In August 2014, Sonis scored the match-winning goal against North Korea to advance the under-20 team to the knockout stage of the

FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held biennially. ...

. On February 19, 2023, Sonis made her 100th international appearance for Canada in a 2–0 win over

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. On March 9, 2023, Sonis spoke before the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage alongside teammates

Christine Sinclair Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a retired Canadian professional Association football, soccer player who most recently played as a Forward (association football), forward for the Portland Thorns FC, Portland Thorns of the ...

, Quinn and Sophie Schmidt, criticizing Canada Soccer's treatment of the women's program.

2016 Summer Olympics

Sonis scored three goals in the Rio 2016 Olympics – helping the national team to defend their bronze medal effort in the 2012 London Olympics. On May 25, 2019, she was named to the roster for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

2020 Summer Olympics

On July 21, 2021, Sonis scored two goals in Canada's 2–1 victory over

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

in the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

group stage. On August 6, 2021, Canada defeated

3–2 on penalty kicks to capture the gold medal in the

2022 CONCACAF W

Sonis was called up to the Canada squad for the

2022 CONCACAF W Championship The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international Women's association football, women's football championship contested by the senior List of women's national association football t ...

. Going into the tournament, she was named Canada Soccer player of the month for June 2022. Sonis scored and made 2 assists in Canada's first match in the tournament. Sonis started in the July 18, 2022 final against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, losing 1-0 to claim the tournament's silver medal.

2024 Summer Olympics

Sonis was called up to the Canada squad for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Personal life

Sonis is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. Her brother Drew Beckie is also a soccer player for

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History F ...

. She is a co-owner of

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

club Simcoe County Rovers FC. In September 2023, she announced her engagement to Ethan Sonis. They married in December 2024.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

Texas Tech Red Raiders * Big 12 Conference women's soccer tournament:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Manchester City * FA Women's Super League runner-up: 2018–19 * Women's FA Cup: 2018–19, 2019–20 * FA Women's League Cup: 2018–19, 2021–22 Portland Thorns FC *

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Canada *

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Olympic Bronze Medal:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual * Canada Soccer Player of the Month: November 2020 *

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

Offensive Player of the Year: 2014, 2015 * Big 12 Conference women's soccer tournament Offensive MVP:

References

External links

Janine Sonis
at Racing Louisville FC *
Janine Beckie
at Texas Tech Red Raiders (archived) * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sonis, Janine 1994 births Living people Sportspeople from Highlands Ranch, Colorado Soccer players from Douglas County, Colorado Soccer people from Saskatchewan Canadian women's soccer players Canada women's international soccer players American women's soccer players American emigrants to Canada Women's association football forwards Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Texas Tech University alumni Texas Tech Red Raiders women's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's footballers in England Houston Dash players National Women's Soccer League players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic soccer players for Canada Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Houston Dash draft picks Gotham FC players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Manchester City W.F.C. players Pan American Games soccer players for Canada Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Canada Simcoe County Rovers FC owners FIFA Women's Century Club Portland Thorns FC players Women's Super League players United States women's youth international soccer players 21st-century American sportswomen Christians from Colorado Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics American people of Canadian descent Racing Louisville FC players Valor Christian High School alumni 21st-century Canadian sportswomen