This La Salle soccer player was called to Jamaica’s women’s national team. She’s using that as motivation.

When La Salle’s Ricshya Walker received an email from the Jamaica Football Federation last October, she had to reread the subject line.

“I didn’t think it was real,” said Walker, a junior forward on the women’s soccer team. “I actually thought it was [for] the under-21 [national team] or something.”

The federation was calling Walker, then a 20-year-old sophomore, up to the women’s national team.

Walker was one of several college soccer players to receive call-ups to the team after many players on its 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup roster declined to participate in further competitions, alleging unfair treatment and missing payments.

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To fill its roster for the qualifying stage of the inaugural Concacaf W Gold Cup, Jamaica sought to bring in college players. The team’s most recent roster featured nine players under the age of 22, six of whom are in the college ranks.

Walker received the opportunity to represent Jamaica in the midst of a successful 2023 Explorers campaign. She described the federation’s call-up as “out of the blue,” as she had not heard from the team since she participated in an under-15 open tryout in the spring of 2020.

“The camp got cut short because of COVID,” Walker said. “From then until I got the call-up sophomore year at college, I hadn’t heard anything from the [federation]. It was out of the blue and random, but it didn’t make a difference to me.”

By the time she first stepped on the pitch for Jamaica in Gold Cup qualifiers on Oct. 25, Walker had netted five goals in 17 games for La Salle. She was with Jamaica for six matches over three international periods spanning from October to February. Walker noted that the jump in competition from Atlantic 10 schools to Concacaf nations was significant.

“There are really levels,” Walker said. “To go from rec league to club, to college, to the professionals, it’s all a different level. I try not to make it a big deal. I try to remember — it’s all the same game. The ball’s still round.”

Despite the higher rank of competition, Walker found her first goal for the senior national team fairly quickly. She scored the only goal in Jamaica’s 2-1 loss to Panama. The qualifying match in Panama City was the first appearance of her international career.

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Walker grew up in Northeast Philadelphia but is eligible to represent Jamaica because of her birth parents. Her father played soccer at Jamaica College, a secondary school in Kingston, while her mother ran track and played netball. Her younger sister Ricyonna is playing soccer at Lincoln University. But she says she knows the honor of wearing the Jamaican badge and takes pride in having represented the country at the national level.

“If you know the people of Jamaica, they’re very prideful, and they love their country,” Walker said. “They believe they’re the best in everything, no matter what. So, to put on that jersey, it’s something else. And for my parents, I don’t think they’ve seen me on a bigger stage than that. I think it meant everything to them as well.”

Walker is still looking for her first victory with Jamaica. The team recorded three draws and a loss in W Gold Cup qualifying and dropped two friendlies to Chile in Walker’s third international appearance.

With her international experience, Walker returned to the Explorers after that call-up with a boost in confidence.

“[Walker]’s a quiet kid, very reserved, super intelligent in the classroom and on the field,” La Salle coach Paul Royal said. “She’s gone out of her normal personality and become a lot more of a leader. And with our attack, it’s definitely helped a lot.”

Senior forward Haley Gschrey and Walker lead a La Salle attack, producing 13 goals in 14 games. Gschrey leads the Explorers with eight goals and six assists, while Walker has notched five goals and two assists — including a hat trick against Temple.

“A lot of it is because they’re working well with one another,” Royal said. “They’re leaning on each other and inspiring a lot of our attackers to believe in themselves and build confidence.”

The Explorers (7-2-5, 2-1-3 A-10) are in a tight race for one of the bottom four spots in the conference’s eight-team postseason bracket. If the Explorers want an opportunity to play in the A-10 title game for the second consecutive season, they will need to win more than once in their final four games.

Walker’s newfound leadership role on the team, influenced by her time with Jamaica, might be the spark needed to bring the team back into the playoff picture.

“I think it helped me come back to La Salle and raise everyone’s level,” Walker said. “This is the standard we should hold for ourselves. I just try and work hard no matter where I’m playing, do what I’m told, and perform.”

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