Student Athlete of the Week – Kaci Holliday

Palm Desert High School Senior Kaci Holliday has the honor of wearing jersey number 10 for the Aztecs Girls Soccer team. “I asked for it, it’s always been my top number growing up in club,” said Holliday. “I’ve always just admired the number, from players like Messi or Carli Lloyd ” “For example, on JV we don’t hand out a number 10,” said her head coach Chris Keuilian. “So if you’re going to be putting on a number 10, you better have something to fill that jersey.” She helped lead the team to a Desert Empire League title this as they beat area power La Quinta to move into tie for first place on the league table in late January. “I think a lot of it has to do with, said Holliday.” “I know a lot of the team right now was on JV together and we’ve always been so close in middle school.” “This team definitely has a bond, you know this team really plays for each other,” said Keuilian. “We’ve had some teams in the past that have been really good but they haven’t had that true connection.” Their CIF playoff dreams ended with a loss to La Salle but not before a brilliant corner kick winner in the second round of the CIF-SS Playoffs against Cerritos. “To be honest I was not trying to score. One of my players Ivanna, said Holliday” “She whispered in my ear, she said, “aim for the top of the six I was like “Ok.”” Kaci has a 4.2 GPA and plans to play soccer for Sonoma State University after de-committing from Long Beach State. “It’s a Division two school so I knew I would get a little more playing time than I would have in Long Beach State,” said Holliday. “So I contacted their coach and she offered me about a week and a half later.” “Her playing we never really doubted we knew that was going to develop but the leadership role that she has taken on the team, said Keuilian. “The way that she can control the huddle, the way that she can talk to the girls on the field is really impressive.”