Sophie Whitehouse

Sophie Whitehouse (born 10 October 1996) is a footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for FA Women's National League South club Lewes. Born in England, she was chosen to represent the Republic of Ireland at international level. She played for four years while at Columbia University before returning to play for English teams.

Life
Whitehouse was born in Enfield, London, in 1996 to an Irish mother, Caroline Sergeant, and an English father. She also has a sister, Grace. When she was three months old, the family moved to East Africa for her mother's work in public health development. They lived in Kenya for four years before later relocating to Tanzania. At the age of nine, her family moved to Washington, D.C. in the United States for her mother's work at the World Bank. She attended Washington International School, where she was a four-year letter-winner in football, basketball and softball. She began her high school soccer career as a goalkeeper before transitioning to a midfielder for her junior and senior seasons, in both of which she served as captain. She also played as a goalkeeper for the Potomac Hotspurs club team.

From 2015 to 2018 Whitehouse was a goalkeeper for the Lions women's soccer team of Columbia University in New York City, though she redshirted in her freshman season in 2015. For the 2019 season, she transferred to Santa Clara University in California as a graduate student and made thirteen appearances for the Broncos.

England and Ireland
She moved to the United Kingdom where she joined Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women in 2020, however she did not make an appearance. She had a transfer to Birmingham City W.F.C. where she played the last four months of that season. In the following season she joined Bristol City W.F.C. In July 2022 she moved in a free transfer to Lewes FC in the same year that their American raised goalkeeper Tatiana Saunders moved on to play for Durham. Lewes are an unusual team because they offer equal pay to their male and female teams. Their top paid player is a woman. The team did well in the FA cup in the 2022–2023 season making the quarter-finals where they were knocked out, three goals to one, by Manchester United W.F.C..

In April 2023 she travelled back to America as part of the national Irish team who were scheduled to play two friendly soccer matches in the US. She qualified because her mother was born in Ireland. Whitehouse was one of the four goalkeepers on the Irish squad.