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Bev Priestman, head coach of Canada’s women’s soccer team, has a simple assessment of Jessie Fleming.

“The sky’s the limit.”

The Canadian midfielder was once again dominant for her country on Friday, playing all 90 minutes and scoring the game-winner in a 2-0 win over Nigeria during a friendly at B.C. Place in Vancouver.

“I'm incredibly excited about Jessie,” Priestman told the media after Friday’s game. “She comes in every camp, and you know she’s on the pitch. She instantly, in training sessions, jumps out, and I think that's obviously exciting.”

“She has such a presence out there,” centre back Shelina Zadorsky told TSN. “We were in warmups together before the game, and I said, ‘Jessie, I feel like you’re gonna score today, and when you do, you better come over to me.’  She’s a really important person on the team.”

Canada will play Nigeria again on Monday at Starlight Stadium in Victoria, B.C. The games are a continuation of the Celebration Tour to honour the team topping the podium at the Tokyo Olympics.

With Fleming on the verge of her 100th cap for the national team (she enters Monday with 98 appearances), it’s often easy to forget she just turned 24 last month.

She made her senior team debut at 15 and has recorded 15 goals, with five of those coming since the start of 2021. She is the leading scorer for Canada over that stretch, accounting for just over 20 per cent of all of Canada’s goals.

“I've seen massive improvements in a short space of time,” said Priestman. “She said she wants to add more goals and be that No. 10 that does score more goals.”

Fleming, a native of London, Ont., was one of 20 players in the running for the 2021 Ballon d’Or, given annually to the best player in the world. The honour ultimately went to Spain’s Alexia Putellas, while Fleming finished ninth.

But with true Canadian humility, Fleming attributes her recent success to her teammates.

“I feel like I always leave this environment feeling like my batteries are charged,” she told TSN last week.

“The national team is very unique. I think we build each other up and we're a source of confidence for each other. I think my teammates here, and the coaching staff, are always encouraging us to bring our individual identities on the pitch that make us special as a player.”

“She's grown a lot maturity-wise and being able to be more of a leader for the team,” Zadorsky said. “Just her communication and how she can affect other people has increased massively.”

Fleming has become invaluable to the Canadian midfield. Since the start of the Tokyo Olympics, she has started in all but one of Canada’s 14 games, accumulating 1,240 minutes over that stretch.

While she has a great ability to finish in front of goal, she is also Canada’s key playmaker, often pulling the strings of her team’s offence.

“She's so good on the ball. She's a master with her technique and her passing ability. She also just works box-to-box for the entire game.” said Zadorsky.

Fleming was instrumental in Canada’s gold-medal run last summer, converting four penalties in the knockout round of the tournament. Her goal from the spot was the game-winner against the Americans in the semifinal (Canada’s first win against the top-ranked U.S. in over 20 years), and she also converted twice against Sweden in the gold-medal match.

“I just don't think it can be overstated how difficult it is to score four penalties in one tournament against the top teams and top goalkeepers in the world,” Janine Beckie told TSN last August. “She was ice-cold, 100 per cent reliable. I'm just super proud of her for continuing to step up and take the pressure and essentially put the team on her back to win games for us.”

Since that tournament, Fleming has continued to produce for club and country. She is currently in her second season with Chelsea and has made 27 appearances across all competitions for the top English club, scoring seven goals.

“I think It's flown by,” Fleming said about the past year. “I've really enjoyed my time at Chelsea so far, and just the process of improving and settling into that team a bit more.”

Fleming has made some key contributions on the scoresheet for Chelsea. In February, she netted the game-winner in a 3-1 victory over Manchester United in the semifinal of the FA Women’s League Cup. She also recorded her first-ever Champions League goal last November.

“I think it took me a while to get the swing of things and I was definitely challenged there, which is what I wanted, but happy to see some of my hard work pay off a little bit,” Fleming said. “I still feel like I have lots to improve on, but I think there's a lot of positives to take away from this season for me, and just trying to keep that positive momentum going.”

There were growing pains for Fleming after her first year as a professional, where she made just three starts in 14 appearances for 433 minutes in league play.

“It was definitely a hard year,” Fleming said. “I think I wasn't so used to not being a pivotal player on a team. But at the end of the day, that's what I wanted – to go to a team where I knew I wasn't going to be one of the best players.”

Chelsea boasts some of the top players in the world, (such as Australian superstar Sam Kerr, English forward Fran Kirby, and South Korea’s Ji So-yun), so time on the pitch is at a premium.

“I think just reminding myself of that, trying to keep it in perspective, and then just digging into that improvement process and asking myself how I can get better and what I need to do to take my game to another level,” Fleming said.

She credits Emma Hayes, Chelsea’s coach, for her guidance as she transitioned from playing at the collegiate level with UCLA to being in a professional environment.

“I think she hit home with a similar sentiment just in terms of needing to be patient, giving me time to adapt to the program, and just needing to make some adjustments in my game to be able to play against players that are more physical and maybe play a faster game,” Fleming said.

“I think she's always just… acknowledging when I've taken little steps in that development and helping me see the improvement, because I think sometimes when you're a player and you're in it, you're not necessarily seeing how you're making those positive changes. You're just comparing yourself or thinking about this player that you want to be, and you're not necessarily seeing where you've come from.”

Fleming also attributes her positive season with Chelsea to several of her teammates on the national team who have enjoyed successful stints with big European clubs, such as Kadeisha Buchanan (Olympique Lyonnais), Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain), and Beckie (who recently left Manchester City).

“I saw the standards and level that they were at when they came back into the national program. I wanted to be able to add something more to the national team, add to what they were doing and play at that standard for my teammates,” she said.

“I feel like I had so much support from my parents and teammates, players like Janine, who were positive voices and encouraged me and told me that what I was doing was the right thing or to stick with it.”