Lauren Holiday

Lauren Holiday

240px February 2012
Personal information
Full name	Lauren Nicole Holiday
Birth name	Lauren Nicole Cheney
Date of birth	(1987-09-30) September 30, 1987
Place of birth	Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Height
Position(s)	Forward/Midfielder
Youth career
	Ben Davis High School
2006–2009	UCLA
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2009	Pali Blues	10	(2)
2010–2011	Boston Breakers	32	(8)
2013–2015	FC Kansas City	48	(22)
International career‡
2004	United States U17
2006–2007	United States U20	20	(15)
2005	United States U21
2007–2015	United States	133	(24)
Medal record Women's soccer Representing the United States Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Team 2012 London Team FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 Germany Team 2015 Canada Team Pan American Games 2007 Rio de Janeiro Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of October 5, 2015 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of October 25, 2015

Lauren Nicole Holiday (née Cheney; born September 30, 1987) is a retired American professional soccer midfielder and forward. She played for FC Kansas City in the National Women's Soccer League and the United States women's national soccer team. Holiday is a two-time Olympic gold medalist winning gold with the national team at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics and the 2012 London Summer Olympics. She also played in the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. She previously played for the Boston Breakers in the WPS and collegiate soccer for the UCLA Bruins.

Early life

Born in Indianapolis, Indiana to Rita and George Cheney, Lauren Nicole Cheney began playing soccer as a youth after watching her brother play the sport. She played on boys' teams until age 12. She attended Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis where she was named the school's most valuable offensive player in 2004–05. In 2004, she was named Metro Player of the Year by the Indianapolis Star. In 2006, she was named Parade All-American and was Gatorade Player of the Year in addition to receiving numerous regional awards including first-team All-Conference, All-County and All-State, and Indianapolis Star Super Team Player of the Year. She earned Indiana All-State selection honors each year of her high school career and was named NSCAA All-American three times. Holiday finished her high school career having scored 118 goals and served 67 assists. She graduated mid-year in 2006 to train full-time with the United States U-20 women's national soccer team for the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

UCLA Bruins

In the fall of 2006, Holiday enrolled at UCLA, where she was named a first-team All-American and NSCAA Freshman of the Year. She led the Pac-10 Conference with 19 goals, which also set a new UCLA freshman record with a goals-per-game percentage of .95. As a sophomore in 2007, she was the runner-up for the women's Hermann Trophy and the Pac-10 Player of the Year. She led the conference again in goals scored with 23 and broke the UCLA single-season school records for points (57) and goals (23).

Holiday became the first player in UCLA history to earn NSCAA/adidas First-Team All-America honors all four years of her career. At UCLA, she set new school records for points (173) and game-winning goals (28); and tied the career school record in goals with 71. She had 31 career assists, second place in the record book. During her four years, the Bruins played in consecutive NCAA College Cup.

Playing career

Club

Pali Blues, 2009

During the summer of 2009, Holiday joined Southern California team, Pali Blues, in the W-League. Throughout the entire regular season, the Blues did not lose a match and finished first in the Western Conference with a 9–0–3 record. After defeating the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues 4–0 in the championship semi-final in which Holiday scored a goal in the 65th minute, the Pali Blues clinched the championship title in a 2–1 defeat of the Washington Freedom Reserves on August 7, 2009.

Boston Breakers, 2010–11

File:Cheney-02-2010stl.jpg

Holiday playing in the rain against Saint Louis Athletica.

On January 15, 2010, Holiday was selected by the Boston Breakers as the second overall pick in the WPS Draft. She played in 23 games for Boston during the 2010 season, starting in 21 matches and scoring five goals with two assists. She helped Boston to a playoff berth and scored her team's lone goal in the playoff match. She was named as a starter in the WPS All-Star Game.

On August 14, 2011, she scored two goals against Sky Blue FC to take her team to the 2011 WPS playoffs.

FC Kansas City, 2013–2015

In 2013, Holiday was one of three national team players along with Becky Sauerbrunn and Nicole Barnhart to be allocated to FC Kansas City for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League as part of the NWSL Player Allocation. In June 2013, she was named NWSL Player of the Month after scoring six times in five games and becoming the league's leading scorer with eight goals. FC Kansas City finished second during the regular season with an 11–6–5 record. The team advanced to the playoffs but were defeated 2–3 by Portland Thorns FC during the semi-finals. Following the 2013 NWSL season, Holiday was awarded the Golden Boot, an award given to the player who scores the most goals (12) and was named the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP).

In 2014 NWSL season, FC Kansas City finished the regular season in second place; with Holiday providing a team leading 7 assists, and finished second in goals scored with 8 behind Amy Rodriguez's 13. In the post-season playoffs, Holiday scored the second goal in a 2–0 victory over the Portland Thorns FC in the semi final, and provided both the assists for Rodriguez's two goals, as they beat Seattle Reign FC 2–1 in the 2014 Championship game, to clinch the club's first NWSL title. Holiday was voted the match's MVP.

Holiday is the leading goal scorer (20) and assist leader (12) all-time in the NWSL.

She retired from the NWSL at the end of the 2015 season.

International career

File:Lauren Cheney on the ball.jpg

San Jose, Calif., 2015

Holiday made her first appearance and start for the senior U.S. women's team on January 26, 2007, against Germany. She earned her second cap and scored her first goals, against Mexico on April 14, 2007. She was named the 2007 U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year. She was named to the U.S. roster for the 2008 Summer Olympics after Abby Wambach was forced to withdraw from the Olympics with a broken leg. She appeared in three games as a substitute. In 2010, she was the second-leading scorer on the team with seven goals in 13 total matches, starting seven.

She scored the opening goal for the U.S. team in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, against North Korea on June 28, 2011. Holiday started in all six World Cup games, scoring two goals and leading the team with three assists to earn a spot on the Women's World Cup All-Star Team.

In 2012, Holiday led the United States team with seven assists in five games at CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying in Vancouver, including four assists during the USA's 14–0 rout of the Dominican Republic. She played in all six games at the Olympics, starting five, and came off the bench in the gold medal game to play the final 23 minutes after she had suffered a minor injury in the semifinal.

In 2015, Holiday scored the third goal of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final, which the United States would go on to win with 5 goals to Japan's 2. Holiday's goal came in the 14th minute of the game, and her performance in the competition as a whole was praised.

On July 7, 2015, following the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Holiday announced her retirement from her international career.

Career statistics

International summary

Year	Apps	Starts	Min	Gls	Asts
2007	2	1	54	1	0
2008	14	3	501	2	2
2009	3	0	87	1	2
2010	13	6	707	7	2
2011	19	13	1090	5	5
2012	31	24	2131	2	11
2013	12	10	876	3	6
2014	20	19	1550	2	3
2015	19	17	1468	1	6
Total	133	93	8464	24	37

Updated through 2015-10-29

International goals

	Key (expand for notes on “international goals” and sorting)
Location	Geographic location of the venue where the competition occurred Sorted by country name first, then by city name
Lineup	Start – played entire match on minute (off player) – substituted on at the minute indicated, and player was substituted off at the same time off minute (on player) – substituted off at the minute indicated, and player was substituted on at the same time (c) – captain Sorted by minutes played
Goal in match	Goal of total goals by the player in the match Sorted by total goals followed by goal number
#	NumberOfGoals.goalNumber scored by the player in the match (alternate notation to Goal in match)
Min	The minute in the match the goal was scored. For list that include caps, blank indicates played in the match but did not score a goal.
Assist/pass	The ball was passed by the player, which assisted in scoring the goal. This column depends on the availability and source of this information.
penalty or pk	Goal scored on penalty-kick which was awarded due to foul by opponent. (Goals scored in penalty-shoot-out, at the end of a tied match after extra-time, are not included.)
Score	The match score after the goal was scored. Sorted by goal difference, then by goal scored by the player's team
Result	The final score. Sorted by goal difference in the match, then by goal difference in penalty-shoot-out if it is taken, followed by goal scored by the player's team in the match, then by goal scored in the penalty-shoot-out. For matches with identical final scores, match ending in extra-time without penalty-shoot-out is a tougher match, therefore precede matches that ended in regulation
aet	The score at the end of extra-time; the match was tied at the end of 90' regulation
pso	Penalty-shoot-out score shown in parenthesis; the match was tied at the end of extra-time
	Light-purple background color – exhibition or closed door international friendly match
	Light-yellow background color – match at an invitational tournament
	Light-orange background color – Olympic women's football qualification match
	Light-blue background color – FIFA women's world cup qualification match
	Pink background color – Continental Games or regional tournament
	Orange background color – Olympic women's football tournament
	Blue background color – FIFA women's world cup final tournament
NOTE on background colors: Continental Games or regional tournament are sometimes also qualifier for World Cup or Olympics; information depends on the source such as the player's federation. NOTE: some keys may not apply for a particular football player

	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	#	Min	Assist/pass	Score	Result	Competition
1	2007-04-14	Foxborough	Mexico	83. on 8' (off Lilly)	1.1	88	Heather O'Reilly	5550.05005 5–0	5550.05005 5–0	Friendly
2	2008-01-18	Guangzhou	Finland	45. on 46' (off Wambach)	1.1	69	Tina DiMartino	5250.03005 3–1	5350.04005 4–1	Four Nations Tournament
3	2008-04-04	Juarez	Jamaica	Start	1.1	21	unassisted	5250.02005 2–0	5650.06005 6–0	Olympic qualifier: final round
4	2009-05-25	Toronto	Canada	24. on 77' (off Rodriguez)	1.1	80	Heather O'Reilly	5450.02005 4–0	5450.02005 4–0	Friendly
5	2010-02-24	Santo Antonio	Iceland	25. off 66' (on Rodriguez)	1.1	61	Lori Lindsey	5250.02005 2–0	5250.02005 2–0	Algarve Cup: Group B
6	2010-03-01	Ferreiras	Sweden	45. on 46' (off Rodriguez)	2.1	56	Casey Nogueira	5150.01005 1–0	5250.02005 2–0	Algarve Cup: Group B
7					2.2	86	Lori Lindsey	5250.02005 2–0
8	2010-03-03	Faro	Germany	84. off 84' (on Nogueira)	1.1	69	unassisted	5250.03005 3–1	5150.03005 3–2	Algarve Cup: final
9	2010-03-28	San Diego	Mexico	45. on 46' (off Rodriguez)	1.1	72	Shannon Boxx	5350.03005 3–0	5350.03005 3–0	Friendly
10	2010-11-01	Cancun	Costa Rica	Start	1.1	68	unassisted	5250.02005 2–0	5450.04005 4–0	World Cup qualifier: Group B
11	2010-11-08	Cancun	Costa Rica	Start	1.1	17	Lori Lindsey	5150.01005 1–0	5350.03005 3–0	World Cup qualifier: third-place match
12	2011-01-23	Chongqing	Canada	45. on 46' (off Rodriguez)	1.1	54	Lindsay Tarpley	5150.02005 1–0	5150.02005 2–1	Four Nations Tournament
13	2011-03-09	Faro	Iceland	45. off 46' (on Wambach)	1.1	45+1	Megan Rapinoe	5050.02005 2–2	5250.04005 4–2	Algarve Cup: final
14	2011-06-05	Harrison	Mexico	30. on 61' (off Rodriguez)	1.1	90+2	Abby Wambach	5150.01005 1–0	5150.01005 1–0	Friendly
15	2011-06-28	Dresden	Korea DPR	Start	1.1	54	Abby Wambach	5150.01005 1–0	5250.02005 2–0	World Cup: Group C
16	2011-07-13	Monchengladbach	France	Start	1.1	9	Heather O'Reilly	5150.01005 1–0	5250.03005 3–1	World Cup: semifinal
17	2012-01-20	Vancouver	Dominican	Start	1.1	64	Heather O'Reilly	6150.11005 11–0	6450.14005 14–0	Olympic qualifier: Group B
18	2012-01-22	Vancouver	Guatemala	45. off 46' (on Morgan)	1.1	24	unassisted	5350.03005 3–0	6350.13005 13–0	Olympic qualifier: Group B
19	2013-06-15	Foxborough	Korea Republic	77. off 77' (on Brian)	1.1	7	Tobin Heath	5250.02005 2–0	5350.04005 4–1	Friendly
20	2013-06-20	Harrison	Korea Republic	71. off 71' (on Averbuch)	1.1	64	Kelley O'Hara	5550.05005 5–0	5550.05005 5–0	Friendly
21	2013-10-20	San Antonio	Australia	s. on 64' (off Brian)	1.1	6	unassisted	5150.01005 1–0	5450.04005 4–0	Friendly
22	2014-02-13	Atlanta	Russia	23. on 68' (off Brian)	1.1	81	penalty	5650.06005 6–0	5850.08005 8–0	Friendly
23	2014-04-06	Commerce	China PR	67. off 67' (on Rapinoe)	1.1	39	unassisted	5150.01005 1–0	5250.02005 2–0	Friendly
24	2015-07-05	Vancouver	Japan	Start	1.1	14	unassisted	5350.03005 3–0	5350.05005 5–2	World Cup: final

Honors and awards

International

• Olympic Gold Medal: 2008, 2012
• FIFA Women's World Cup: 2015
• Algarve Cup: 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015
• Four Nations Tournament: 2007, 2008, 2011

Individual

• WPS All-Star: 2010
• NWSL Best XI: 2013, 2014
• NWSL Most Valuable Player: 2013
• NWSL Golden Boot: 2013
• NWSL Championship Game MVP: 2014
• U.S. Soccer Young Female Athlete of the Year: 2007
• NCAA All-American First-Team: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Pac-10 Conference Player of the Year: 2007
• U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year: 2014
• Recipient of the Indiana Sagamore of the Wabash accolade: 2015

Team

with FC Kansas City

• NWSL championship: 2014, 2015

Also her number was retired. At every FCKC game a flag will be flying with the #12 on it.

Personal life

At the age of three, Holiday had open heart surgery to correct a heart defect. She married professional basketball player Jrue Holiday, fellow UCLA Bruin and point guard for the New Orleans Pelicans, on July 7, 2013. The two first met and began dating in 2008 while they were both attending UCLA. Holiday is a Christian.

Endorsements

Holiday has signed endorsement deals with Under Armour and Chobani.

In popular culture

Video Games

Holiday was featured along with her national teammates in the EA Sports' FIFA video game series in FIFA 16, the first time women players were included in the game.

Ticker Tape Parade and White House Honor

Following the United States' win at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Holiday and her teammates became the first women's sports team to be honored with a Ticker Tape Parade in New York City. Each player received a key to the city from Mayor Bill de Blasio. In October of the same year, the team was honored by President Barack Obama at the White House.

See also

• List of Olympic medalists in football
• List of footballers with 100 or more caps
• List of UCLA alumni

References

Match reports

Further reading

• Grainey, Timothy (2012), Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women's Soccer, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0803240368
• Lisi, Clemente A. (2010), The U.S. Women's Soccer Team: An American Success Story, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0810874164
• Stevens, Dakota (2011), A Look at the Women's Professional Soccer Including the Soccer Associations, Teams, Players, Awards, and More, BiblioBazaar, ISBN 1241047464

External links

• Lauren Holiday – FIFA competition record
• US Soccer player profile
• FC Kansas City player profile
• UCLA player profile
• Lauren Holiday on Twitter