Lilly Reale

Lilly Ann Reale (born August 12, 2003) is an American college soccer player who plays as a center back for the UCLA Bruins of the Big Ten Conference. She won the 2022 national championship with the Bruins and received the Honda Sports Award that season. She has represented the United States at the youth international level.

Early life

Reale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Melissa and Jeff Reale, and has two younger siblings, including a sister, Sophie, who plays with her at UCLA.^[2][3] She was raised in Hingham and started playing soccer at age three or four.^[4] She played club soccer for South Shore Select alongside Ally Sentnor, a future top NWSL draft pick.^[5] She attended Hingham High School, where she played at both forward and center back, scoring 15 goals as a freshman and 21 as a sophomore before sticking to defense.^[2][6] In the fall of 2020, she committed to the University of California, Los Angeles, switching her prior commitment from Boston College after the departure of head coach Alison Foley.^[7][8]

College career

Reale started for the UCLA Bruins from her freshman year in 2021.^[9] She contributed to the team posting an eight-game shutout streak during the regular season.^[9][10] She received All-Pac-12 Conference first-team and TopDrawerSoccer Freshman Best XI honors.^[2][11] UCLA went undefeated to win the Pac-12 title but were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.^[4] The next season, Reale was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and second-team All-American by United Soccer Coaches.^[12] In the 2022 national championship game, UCLA went down 2–0 to North Carolina but recovered late to win 3–2 in overtime, being Reale named the most outstanding defensive player of the NCAA tournament where she played every minute.^[13][14] She was awarded the Honda Sports Award as the best player in college soccer.^[15]

In her junior season in 2023, after leading the Bruins to win the Pac-12, Reale was named first-team All-American and became the first player to win consecutive Pac-12 Defender of the Year awards.^[2][16]

International career

Reale was first called into training camp with the United States national under-15 team in 2017.^[2][17] She played international friendly matches for the under-15 and under-16 teams in 2018 and the under-17 team the following year.^[18] While in college, Reale represented her country at the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, winning the tournament as a starter for the national under-20 team.^[19] She was on the roster for the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.^[20] She played friendlies for the under-23 team in 2023.^[21]

References

External links