⚽ Holland to Play Professional Soccer in England

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas women’s soccer standout Ceri Holland has signed to play professionally for Liverpool FC Women in her home country of England.

“When we recruited Ceri her ultimate goal was to graduate from KU and continue her career back in England,” Kansas head coach Mark Francis said. “We are excited for her that this has worked out in the next step of her career. Ceri did a great job for us and we look forward to keeping track of her and know she will do great things at the next level.”

“I’m excited to get here and start with the girls,” Holland told Liverpoolfc.com. “It’s just an honour really to be representing such a big club. For them to give me this opportunity is just amazing for me and I’m really excited to get going.”

Holland is one of 14 players in Kansas soccer history to start every match in her career, which was 75 total. While at KU, the West Yorkshire, England, native was a two-time All-Big 12 Second Team selection her junior and senior campaigns. She was also a member of the Big 12 All-Freshman Team in 2017.

As a junior, Holland was named to the United Soccer Coaches All-Region Team and was a member of the 2019 Big 12 Championship All-Tournament Team. She was also was a three-time Academic All-Big 12 First Team honoree and seven-time member of the Athletic Director’s and Big 12 Commissioner’s honor rolls. She graduated from KU in December 2020, in 3.5 years, with a degree in exercise science.

During her senior campaign in 2020, Holland was a three-time Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week in the pandemic-shortened season. She tied for the Big 12 lead with three goals and three assists in KU’s nine games. Her three goals scored ranked seventh in the league. Additionally, Holland scored two game-winning goals in 2020 which ranked tied for fifth in the conference. Her game winners in 2020 came in the season opener at Texas on Sept. 11 and versus Oklahoma State on Oct. 16.

For her career, Holland finished 10th on the KU all-time shots list with 157. Her 75-consecutive starts as a Jayhawk are fourth all-time and she also amassed 14 assists and five-game winning goals while wearing the Crimson and Blue.