Tomas Andres Hilliard-Arce (born November 22, 1995) is an

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

n former soccer player.

Career

Youth and college

Hilliard-Arce was born in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

, but grew up in the

Charlotte Charlotte most commonly refers to: *Charlotte (given name), a feminine form of the given name Charles ** Princess Charlotte (disambiguation) ** Queen Charlotte (disambiguation) *Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, a city * Charlotte (cake) ...

suburb of

Matthews, North Carolina Matthews is a town in southeastern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte. The population was 29,435 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ...

. In high school, he played club soccer for Charlotte Soccer Academy in the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

. During his freshman and sophomore years, Hilliard-Arce played high school soccer with

Providence Day School Providence Day School is a private, co-educational, college preparatory school located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

. While playing for the Providence Day Chargers, Hilliard-Arce earned all-state honors as a sophomore and all-conference honors as a sophomore and freshman. During his junior and senior years, U.S. Soccer Laws changed prohibiting him from playing club and high school soccer. Ahead of the

2014 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2014 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 56th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began in late August 2014 and continued into November 2014. The season culminated with the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's S ...

, Hilliard-Arce signed a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play for the

Stanford Cardinal men's soccer The Stanford Cardinal men's soccer team represents Stanford University in all NCAA Division I men's college soccer competitions. The Cardinal play in the ACC. Their first season as a varsity program was in 1973. The Cardinal have appeared in t ...

program. Hilliard-Arce made his Stanford debut on August 29, 2014, where he started and played all 90 minutes in a 0–2 loss at Creighton. On September 9, 2014, he scored his first

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

goal for the Cardinal, in a 4–1 win over

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

. Hilliard-Arce finished his freshman season with two goals in 19 appearances. Following his freshman year, he earned freshmen best XI honors from TopDrawer Soccer, ''

Soccer America ''Soccer America'', the oldest soccer-specific media publisher in the United States, was founded in 1971 by Clay Berling in Albany, California. The magazine is headquartered in Oakland, California. History The magazine was founded by Clay Ber ...

'' and CollegeSoccerNews.com, as well as second-team All-

Pac-12 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level for all sports, and its football teams compete in the Football Bowl ...

. Hilliard-Arce remained a starter his sophomore year, during the program's first-ever national championship run. At the end of the season, Hilliard-Arce earned all-Pac-12 second-team honors as well as national second-team honors from TopDrawer Soccer. Hilliard-Arce had a career year his junior year, where he helped the Cardinal

repeat Repeat may refer to: * Rerun, a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program * Repeated sequence (DNA), a pattern of nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) that occurs in multiple copies throughout the genome ** CRISPR * The smallest rectangle th ...

as national champions. His contributions, helped the program reach a record low 0.56 goals against average, one of the lowest in college soccer during the

2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season The 2016 NCAA Division I men's soccer season was the 58th season of NCAA championship men's college soccer. The regular season began on August 26 and continued into the first weekend of November 2016. The season culminated with the 2016 NCAA Di ...

. He earned first-team All-American honors from

NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than ...

and TopDrawer Soccer, as well as NSCAA College Cup Best XI, and was a semifinalist for the

Hermann Trophy The Hermann Trophy is awarded annually by the Missouri Athletic Club to the United States's top men's and women's college soccer players. History In 1967, Bob Hermann, the president of the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL) and th ...

. At the end of the

2016 Pac-12 Conference men's soccer season The 2016 Pac-12 Conference men's soccer season was the 17th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The Stanford Cardinal are the defending champions, by virtue of winning the regular season (there is no conference tournament). The Ca ...

, he was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year. Speculation rose that Hilliard-Arce would go pro and forgo his senior year, but he returned for the 2017 season. There, he helped Stanford become the first program to three-peat as NCAA champions for the first time in over 20 years. Hilliard-Arce was named one of three finalists for the Hermann Trophy, but ultimately lost on voting to Jon Bakero of Wake Forest. Additionally, during his senior year, Hilliard-Arce repeated as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, and was, again named, an All-American by various soccer media outlets.

Professional

On January 19, 2018, Hilliard-Arce was selected 2nd overall in the

2018 MLS SuperDraft The 2018 MLS SuperDraft was the nineteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. As customary, the SuperDraft was held in conjunction with the annual United Soccer Coaches convention. The 2018 UCS was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania b ...

LA Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. Hillard-Arce made his debut for the Galaxy on May 21, 2018, against the Montreal Impact. He was subbed on in the 91st minute. Following his release from LA Galaxy at the end of their

2019 season Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, Hilliard-Arce joined

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

side

Sacramento Republic Sacramento Republic FC is an American professional soccer team based in Sacramento, California, that competes in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second level in US soccer. Co-founded by Warren Smith and Joe Wagoner in 2012, t ...

on January 8, 2020. On October 27, 2020, following the USL Championship season, Hilliard-Arce announced his retirement from playing professional soccer.

International career

American-born Hilliard-Arce is also eligible to play for Costa Rica through his mother. He trained with the Costa Rican U20 team in 2014.

Honors

Individual

* Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (2):

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

* TopDrawer National Player of the Year: 2017

Team

* Stanford Cardinal ** NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Championship (3):

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

*
LA Galaxy Bio

Stanford Bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilliard-Arce, Tomas 1995 births Living people All-American college men's soccer players American people of Costa Rican descent American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders Burlingame Dragons FC players Charlotte Eagles players Costa Rican people of American descent Costa Rican men's footballers LA Galaxy players Ventura County FC players Major League Soccer players People from Matthews, North Carolina Sportspeople from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina Sacramento Republic FC players Soccer players from North Carolina Stanford Cardinal men's soccer players USL Championship players USL League Two players Providence Day School alumni 21st-century American sportsmen