Carli Lloyd

Carli Anne Hollins (Lloyd; born July 16, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player.

Lloyd attended Delran High School from 1997 to 2000 where she played soccer under the tutelage of the late Rudy "The Red Baron" Klobach.

As a high school athlete, she was known for her exceptional ball control and skill at distributing the ball from the midfield.

During her senior year, she scored 26 goals and served eight assists while captaining her team to an 18–3 record.

Lloyd attended the opening U.S. match of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, which inspired her to play for the national team.

The Philadelphia Inquirer twice-named her Girls' High School Player of the Year in 1999 and 2000.

She was named to the Star-Ledger All-State First Team twice and received 1999 and 2000 Parade All-American honors.

In 2000, she was named the Courier-Post Player of the Year and the South Jersey Soccer Coaches Association (SJSCA) Midfielder of the Year.

Lloyd attended Rutgers University from 2001 to 2004 and played for the Scarlet Knights women's soccer team under head coach Glenn Crooks.

She was named First-Team All-Big East for four straight years – the first athlete at Rutgers to do so.

She ended her collegiate career as the school's all-time leader in points (117), goals (50), and shots.

During her freshman season, Lloyd started every match and was the team's leading scorer with 15 goals for a total of 37 points.

She was named to Soccer America's All-Freshman Team and was the first Rutgers player to earn Big East Rookie of the Year honors.

As a sophomore, she was the team's leading scorer for the second consecutive season with 12 goals and seven assists for 31 points.

The same year Lloyd was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy, widely considered the highest accolade for collegiate soccer players.

During her third season with the Scarlet Knights, she scored 13 goals and served 2 assists for a total of 28 points and was named a Big East Academic All-Star.

As a senior, she was a starter for 18 of the 20 games she played, scored 10 goals and served one assist.

Lloyd was named the 2004 Big East Midfielder of the Year.

She earned a bachelor's degree from Rutgers University in Exercise Science and Sport Studies.

She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (2008 and 2012), two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion (2015 and 2019), two-time FIFA Player of the Year (2015 and 2016), and a four-time Olympian (2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021).

Lloyd scored the gold medal-winning goals in the finals of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

In 2013, she was allocated to the Western New York Flash for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and helped her team win the regular season championship.

In 2013, Lloyd was inducted into the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

Her presence is still widely felt in the Rutgers community.

Her posters hang high all throughout the Rodkin facility.

Lloyd also helped the United States win their titles at the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups, the bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and she played for the team at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup where the U.S. finished in second place.

During the United States' 5–2 win over Japan in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final, Lloyd became the first player ever to score three goals in a FIFA Women's World Cup final and the second soccer player ever to score a hat-trick in any senior FIFA World Cup Final, after Geoff Hurst.

Lloyd scored three goals in the first 16 minutes of the final, with the first two occurring in the first five minutes of the game and within three minutes of each other.

She received the Golden Ball Trophy as the best player of the tournament and earned the Silver Boot for her six goals and one assist during the tournament.

She previously played for the Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC (now known as NJ/NY Gotham FC), and Atlanta Beat in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS).

After two seasons with the Flash, she was traded to Houston Dash prior to the 2015 season and then to Sky Blue before the 2018 season.

Her memoir, When Nobody Was Watching, was published in September 2016.

Born to Stephen and Pamela Lloyd, Carli was raised in Delran Township, a suburban community located in South Jersey about 20 minutes northeast of Philadelphia.

Lloyd began playing soccer at age five.

Of her exposure to soccer at a young age, Lloyd's mother, Pamela said, "At that age, it was coed, and Carli was hanging with the boys. She always loved it and showed a lot of ability from an early age, but she also has always worked hard."

Lloyd has a brother, Stephen, and a sister, Ashley.

After the 2020 Summer Olympics, Lloyd announced she would be retiring from the national team following four final friendly matches in 2021.

Lloyd has made 316 appearances for the U.S. national team, placing her second in caps, and has the fourth-most goals and fifth-most assists for the team.

In March 2021, she was named as the highest paid female soccer player in the world.

She played her last international match with the USWNT on October 26, 2021, shortly before retiring from professional soccer at the completion of the 2021 NJ/NY Gotham FC season.