Israel Hollie '25 Recruiting Profile

Who am I? - My name is Israel Hollie. I am a junior in high school looking to pursue my soccer career at the collegiate level. I currently live and play in the state of Louisiana for Baton Rouge Soccer Club (BRSC) 07 Boys Black (competes in USYS national league) and a part time player for Louisiana TDP Elite (MLS Next) for the club seasons. For high school, I play for Louisiana State University Laboratory School and started about half the season as a sophomore. My freshman year I played for the Ottawa Hills High School Varsity Team in Ohio and ECNL for the Pacesetter Soccer Club (I was the starting 9 and top goal scorer in the Ohio Valley Conference) in Toledo, Ohio. I currently have a 3.3 GPA and will be taking ACT soon.

I am originally from Ethiopia (U.S. Citizen) and currently reside in Baton Rouge, LA since 2010, except from 2018-2022 when we lived in Ohio and Northern Virginia for my mom's job. I have lived in different climates/states and know that I can be successful in almost any location. My mother has worked at various major universities and my high school is on the Louisiana State University campus, so I am already comfortable on a college campus.

I currently train with both my Baton Rouge Soccer Club team and TDP Elite MLS Next. When time permits, I do additional training with the director of the competitive program at BRSC.

Myself as a Player - My junior year season ended short as I had two injuries, which are now resolved, and I am back playing with my club team. However, I was very thankful that I was able to contribute to my team and still be in the top 3 goal scorers even with 7 games not played. My team had a great run and made it to the state finals which I was able to play in. Now that high school is over with, I ended the season with 12 goals and 8 assists in 16 games playing as an attacking midfielder, right/left winger, and also pure striker. Club has now just started, and I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my spring season. I play for what most would say are the 2 of the top clubs in the state of Louisiana. I am usually a 90-minute player and an extremely impactful player for my D1 USYS club team(BRSC 07 Boys Black). We are undefeated in one league and have one loss in the other (in 2 leagues). We have already won state in one league and have advanced to NPL finals in Denver in July. For the other league, we we play in the finals memorial weekend to see if we head to regionals in Tampa Florida this summer. I play center defensive mid for that club team. I help build plays and play box to box as I also like to join the attack. But as some of my teammates become healthy again, I might get moved up as either a winger or striker again for this team. I'm also currently playing for the only MLS Next team in the state of Louisiana and Mississippi. I have gotten called up to play for a few games including a very big match against Austin FC (MLS Academy team). I started every game I have gotten called up for and played a full 90 for ⅔ games. I enjoyed the experience and gained a lot of ball knowledge playing in the matches. (I have attached a highlight reel to my profile of my first two games with the team). I am continuing to train with both teams and hopefully will get called up to play more MLS Next matches this spring and then play full-time with them this fall. See my NCSA highlights for MLS Next games.