At this time last year, Ilana Izquierdo was simply getting adjusted to her new environment, preparing for her first season at Mississippi State after playing for two years at Southern Miss.

Now, Izquierdo is getting ready to represent her home country on one of her sport’s biggest stages. Just five months after making her debut with the Colombian senior national team in the inaugural CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, the midfielder has made Colombia’s roster for the Olympic Games in Paris, where she will be joined by former Bulldogs goalkeeper Catalina Pérez.

“I’ve grown a lot in every single aspect, not just as a soccer player but personally,” Izquierdo said. “It’s been a lot of development, a lot of growth and improvement. Being at Mississippi State has been amazing. I’ve grown so much and I’ve learned so much. That’s basically the reason I can be here now.”

The 2021 Conference USA Freshman of the Year earned Second-Team All-Sun Belt honors a year later after Southern Miss switched conferences, and her game translated quite well to the Southeastern Conference — she started all 23 matches and set the program record for minutes played by a junior in a single season with 2,097.

Izquierdo scored the only two goals in an early-season win over Florida International, and converted a penalty kick for the lone goal in MSU’s Magnolia Cup win over rival Ole Miss. She then started every match for Colombia in the Women’s Gold Cup and is now one of 11 Bulldogs in school history to compete in the Olympics as an active student-athlete.

“When she was at Southern Miss, she played against a number of different SEC programs, and we weren’t the only ones who struggled to contain her when we were playing against her,” MSU head coach James Armstrong said. “We knew her qualities. They were clear for everybody to see. But the thing that impressed us the most was her professionalism when she came into the program. She literally takes everything seriously — her sleep, her nutrition, her hydration.”

Pérez, unlike Izquierdo, is no stranger to the Olympic stage. She played for Colombia at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, just before her senior season with Miami. After joining the Bulldogs as a graduate transfer, Pérez recorded nine wins and six shutouts in her lone year at MSU in 2017, becoming an All-American and a First-Team All-SEC honoree.

In 2019, she won a gold medal for Colombia at the Pan-American Games, pitching two shutouts in the tournament and making eight saves in the final to become the first Bulldog soccer player to win an international medal.

Three years later, she helped Colombia qualify for Paris with a second-place finish at the 2022 Copa America, and last year she was Colombia’s starting keeper at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Pérez made 15 saves and allowed just four goals in that competition as Colombia reached the quarterfinals before falling to England. She now plays professionally in Germany, having previously played for top-flight clubs in Italy and Spain.

“We’re on this great adventure, this great mission, great challenge together,” Pérez said. “Only we know all the things we’ve gone through as a team. It’s about really appreciating everyone who’s here. We’re going to go out on the field and compete for our country with our hearts.”

MSU