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Lilly Reale
American soccer player (born 2003) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Lilly Ann Reale (born August 12, 2003) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender for Gotham FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and the United States national team. She played college soccer for the UCLA Bruins, winning the 2022 national championship and earning All-American honors three times. She represented the United States at the youth level, appearing at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, before making her senior debut in 2025.
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Early life
Reale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Melissa and Jeff Reale, and has two younger siblings. Her sister, Sophie, played with her at UCLA for one season.[2][3] Reale was raised in Hingham and started playing soccer at three or four.[4] She played club soccer for South Shore Select alongside Ally Sentnor.[5] She played both forward and center back at Hingham High School, scoring 15 goals as a freshman and 21 as a sophomore before dedicating herself to defense.[2][6] She initially committed to play college soccer at Boston College, but after its head coach left, she changed her commitment to the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).[7][8]
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College career
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Reale was a four-year starter for the UCLA Bruins, making 83 appearances.[2] In her freshman season in 2021, 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 conference title but were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament.[4] In her sophomore season in 2022, Reale was named the Pac-12 Defender of the Year and second-team All-American by United Soccer Coaches.[12] In the 2022 national title game, UCLA went down 2–0 to North Carolina but recovered late to win 3–2 in overtime. Reale played every minute of the NCAA tournament and was named its Most Outstanding Defensive Player.[13][14] After the season, she was awarded the Honda Sports Award as the best player in college soccer.[15]
Reale led the Bruins to her second Pac-12 championship in her junior season in 2023. She was named first-team All-American and became the only player to win consecutive Pac-12 Defender of the Year awards (and second to win twice overall after Naomi Girma).[2][16] With the program's move to the Big Ten Conference in her senior season in 2024, Reale helped UCLA win the Big Ten championship without conceding in three tournament games. She was named the Big Ten Defender of the Year, first-team All-Big Ten, and first-team All-American.[17][18]
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Club career
Gotham FC
Gotham FC announced on January 3, 2025, that the club had signed Reale to her first professional contract on a three-year deal.[19] She was moved to left back from central defense at the start of her professional career.[20] She made her professional debut on March 15, coming on as a substitute after Mandy Freeman was ejected late in the season opener.[21] One week later, her first professional start was soured by an own goal two minutes into the game, which ended as a 2–0 victory for the Orlando Pride.[22] Gotham head coach Juan Carlos Amorós said Reale "was outstanding" through the rest of the game after the error.[23] She scored her first professional goal on April 13, heading in Gotham's third goal in a 3–1 win against the North Carolina Courage.[20] On May 25, she started in the 2025 CONCACAF W Champions Cup final against Tigres, where Gotham won 1–0 to become the inaugural winners of the competition.[24]
International career
Reale was first called into training camp with the United States national under-15 team in 2017.[2][25] She played international friendly matches for the under-15 and under-16 teams in 2018 and the under-17 team the following year.[26] While in college, Reale started for the under-20s at the 2022 CONCACAF Women's U-20 Championship, winning the United States won.[27] She competed with the team at the 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, where they did not advance out of the group stage.[28] She played friendlies for the under-23 team in 2023.[29] She was called up by Emma Hayes into Futures Camp, practicing alongside the senior national team, in January 2025.[30] In May 2025, Reale was called up to the under-23 team for a set of friendlies against Germany, scoring in the first game.[31]
Hayes gave Reale her first senior national team call-up in June 2025.[32] She made her senior debut in the June 26 friendly against the Republic of Ireland, playing the full match and assisting Alyssa Thompson in the 4–0 win.[33]
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Career statistics
- As of May 24, 2025
- Includes the CONCACAF W Champions Cup
International
- As of match played July 2, 2025
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Honors
Gotham FC
UCLA Bruins
- NCAA Division I women's soccer tournament: 2022
- Pac-12 Conference: 2021, 2023
- Big Ten women's soccer tournament: 2024
United States U-20
Individual
References
External links
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