Women’s soccer: Dayton senior is ‘best goalkeeper in the history of program’

With 10 Atlantic 10 Conference games remaining on the schedule, starting with a match at La Salle at 1 p.m. Saturday, Reda can push her mark even further.

“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Reda said. “There are 10 girls who defend in front of me. All the girls that have graduated in the years past, I want to give some credit to them as well.”

Reda started 15 of 18 games as a freshman. She started 19 of Dayton’s 20 games as a sophomore, and she started all 20 games last season, never leaving the field. She has played every minute in the first eight games this season, too.

“I think it’s unique; I think it’s special,” Dayton coach Eric Golz said. “I think the statistics would point to her being the best goalkeeper in the history of the program, which I would agree with, and she’s on pace to further extend a shutout record that will be very challenging to beat. She has done a lot of great things and had a lot of great matches. I think the thing that’s grown the most with her is she’s having more of an influence on teammates as a leader. She’s fun to work with. She’s fun to train. She’s a great teammate. She’s a great leader. She’s certainly a great goalkeeper.”

Dayton (3-3-2) got back to .500 with the victory against Akron. It was the fifth shutout this season for Reda, who led the A-10 with 11 shutouts last season.

“She’s got a little bit of everything,” Golz said. “She’s a great athlete. She was a multi-sport athlete growing up. She was a great basketball player and conditioned to be a great soccer player. She can make the game-changing saves to keep the ball out of the net. She’s also very good with the ball at her feet. She has a very good soccer IQ so she understands what the players around and in front of her need to be doing. She’s very good at giving instruction to them and positioning herself in good spots to be able to make plays.”

Reda first heard about Dayton from two teammates with the Michigan Jaguars, Kyra Karfonta and Mairin Wessner, who were both already committed to UD.

“We played club (soccer) growing up together,” Reda said, “and they told me, ‘We have a game in Dayton, Ohio. You should walk the campus,’ because at the time, it was COVID, and we couldn’t talk to coaches or get recruited or anything like that. So I walked the campus and loved it. It felt homey and very nice. Then I reached out to the coaches, expressing my interest. Then we had some conversations after that.”

Reda will graduate in December with a degree in political science and will start law school next fall. She was one of 10 seniors honored at the game Friday.

“I’m excited to get to this point, to be healthy and to be able to play,” Reda said, “but I’m also sad to see my career here wrap up.”