Elijah "Eli" Lockaby (born December 18, 1995) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who last played as a defender or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

club

Forward Madison FC Forward Madison FC is an American professional soccer team based in Madison, Wisconsin. The team was founded in 2018, and played its inaugural season in 2019. The team competes in the third division of the US soccer league system and plays the ...

Career

Youth and college

Lockaby played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for

Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is a public research university in Richmond, Virginia. VCU was founded in 1838 as the medical department of Hampden–Sydney College, becoming the Medical College of Virginia in 1854. In 1968, the Virgini ...

. He was redshirted his freshman year, and his final four years of eligibility was a starter. Lockaby made 72 appearances for the Rams, scoring twice. Lockaby played in

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

, for three seasons, then known as the ''Premier Development League''. During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, he spent time with

Orlando City U-23 Orlando City U-23 was an American soccer team based in Lake Mary, Florida, United States. Founded in 1998, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Southeast Division of the So ...

. During the

2017 PDL season The 2017 USL Premier Development League season is the 23rd season of the PDL. The Michigan Bucks entered the season as the defending champions, but their title defense campaign ended with a loss in the Central Conference semi-finals. On August 5, ...

Lockaby played with the

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Menace have had sustained success in USL League Two duri ...

. Lockaby made 13 appearances with the Menace.

Professional

On January 18, 2019, Lockaby signed a one-year contract with the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

. On March 30, 2019, Lockaby made his professional debut for the Kickers against

Lansing Ignite FC Lansing Ignite FC was a professional soccer team based in Lansing, Michigan, United States. The club began play in the newly-formed USL League One in 2019 and ceased operations following their inaugural season. History The formation of USL Le ...

, starting the match. Lockaby moved to

club

on February 4, 2020.

References

External links

*
Eli Lockaby
at VCU Athletics * 1995 births Living people American soccer players Men's association football midfielders VCU Rams men's soccer players Des Moines Menace players Orlando City U-23 players Richmond Kickers players Forward Madison FC players Soccer players from Orlando, Florida USL League One players USL League Two players Men's association football defenders {{US-footy-midfielder-stub