Holliston’s Hanna Holden tried playing basketball and taking part in gymnastics, but neither sport was to her liking. Thankfully, Holden’s older sister, Anya, was playing soccer, and the younger athlete wanted to be like her sister, so she decided to give the sport a shot finding it was truly something that she enjoyed playing. At six years old, Holden would join the FC Stars, a local club team that she would play on for some time before advancing to New England Futbol Club (NEFC).

The Holliston native never imagined soccer would bring her to committing to a college to play. Holden will be taking her skills to Bryan University in Smithfield, RI next fall.

“I was originally on the fence about college soccer. I was not sure that I’d be able to compete on that level,” she said. “Eventually, I started looking at a bunch of schools, mostly in the New York area, but decided that I wanted my family to be able to enjoy it as much as me while showing their support.”

Holden took her time before she committed Bryant, about 45 minutes away from her home in Holliston, in January of this year.

“I had attended a camp there last summer while I kept all other options still opened,” Holden said. “During my visit with the school, things just clicked; the girls on the team made me feel like I was part of the team right away. The atmosphere was home-like, and the coaching staff made things personalized.”

Although she had played soccer for a long time, when it was time to try out for the high school team as a freshman, Holden was unsure of if she would make the varsity squad. 

“I had played with some of the girls on the team as an eighth grader and was hoping that I could make it, but I was not fully sure,” she said. “If I did, it would be awesome, as my sister was on the team and I had heard all the stories of high school soccer and really wanted to be a part of that environment, getting to play for your town as well as with your friends.”

While Hanna and Anya had both played club soccer, they never got the opportunity to play with one another due to their ages, so when she made the varsity high school team, Hanna was over the moon.

“My first game playing with Anya, I was very excited but also very nervous,” she said. “As an incoming freshman, I looked up to her and wanted to be like her without disappointing her. Over the next two years, she guided me, and there no experience like playing with your sister.”

During her sophomore season, Holliston put together a 12-3-3 season to earn the five seed in the Division 2 State Tournament. The Panthers would defeat both Billerica and Westwood to make it to the Round of 8, where Mansfield would send them home. 

“That game against Mansfield was on a cold November day, and we gave them a good fight only to lose 3-1,” Holden said. “It would become my final game with my sister, so it was definitely disappointing to have the season come to an end. There were some tears shed after that game for sure with her leaving.”

Last fall, with her older sister gone, Holden stepped up as a team captain. With her appointment, the junior not only found her voice on the field, but she applied the leadership skills that her sister had taught her. While the team did not have the best of years (8-9-1), they did get to the tournament, where they would be successful in the preliminary game but fell to Hingham in the second round. Despite the rather quick exit from the tournament, Holden found that she learned a lot about herself and her game that year.

“Hanna will be a four-year starter for us and can play pretty much anywhere on the field that we ask of her, but she is primarily suited for center-mid,” Norwood Coach Brielle Chadsey said. “Center-mid is probably the most underrated position on the field; you do a lot of the dirty work, and it doesn’t show up on the score sheet. She is the heart to our team and dictates the tempo.”

Chadsey went on to say that Holden was the team’s leader in assists last year. One of her specialties is her corner kicks, where she is able to continuously get the ball right where it needs to be.

As she gets ready to enter her final season with Holliston, Holden is hoping to increase her goal scoring skills. Over the past three seasons, her top season was four goals, and she would like at least five this year, if not more.

“I had always played defense with my club teams, and when I came to high school, I was moved to the midfield. I am a selfless player and would rather pass the ball and let my teammates score, it gives me pleasure in doing so, but this year, I want to score more goals than I ever have,” the senior said. “Playing in the midfield ,my mindset is still focused on defense, but this year, I just have to trust my teammates on the back line and try to work more on my offense.”

Coach Chadsey has seen Holden grow as a leader over the four years, while using her soccer knowledge for the benefit of the team. 

“She is a very talented girl and doesn’t have to do everything out there, although we do ask a lot of her,” the Holliston Coach said. 

Holden is going to try and go out and have as much fun as she possibly can with her final season with her Panther teammates. She believes that they have a talented lineup that could do something special this fall.

Hanna was thrilled to play with her sister, Anya, at the high school level. Photo used courtesy of Hanna Holden