When Olivia Reeder and her current Genoa senior classmates were in the eighth grade, the Comets' varsity girls soccer squad was on its way to finishing with a 1-14-1 record.

Reeder and Mallory Murphy, Kayla Pickard, Olivia Harder and Tiffany Wright played travel soccer together in the seventh and eighth grade, and they decided things were going to change when they hit high school.

“When we came in as freshmen, we were successful in our travel stuff and we weren't used to losing,” said Reeder, a four-year starter at forward. “We decided that (losing) wasn't going to happen. A lot of us started as freshmen and we realized we did have talent. We came in and kind of changed that (mentality), and a lot of teams weren't ready for us.”

When Reeder and her fellow seniors were freshmen, in 2007, the Comets finished 12-6-3. Genoa went 12-4-3 in 2008 and 14-3-1 in 2009. This season, the Comets set a school record for victories after going 15-4-1 and reaching the Division II district finals.

“We've been playing since the sixth or seventh grade and we're all really close,” Reeder said of the senior class. “When we came in our freshman year and helped turn a lot of things around, that made us realize how good we could be and how much potential we had. We came in together and we knew we had to lead our team if we were going to be as good as we could be.”

The other seniors on this year's Genoa squad included Jessica Williams, Sara Welch and Becky Keller.

“It's going to be tough to replace eight seniors, including six who started just about all four years,” second-year coach Mike Harder said. “They've set the standard.”

Murphy scored the only goal in the Comets' 1-0 district semifinal overtime win over Suburban Lakes League champion Lake on Oct. 28. Genoa, which lost to the Flyers twice (6-0 and 2-1) during the regular season, lost to Wauseon 3-0 in the district finals. 

“I think they lived up to their expectations,” Harder said of this year's team. “The seniors have been playing together since they were 9 years old. Their knowledge of the game is going to be hard to replace. We got a big monkey off our back by finally beating Lake. I was wondering when we went up against Wauseon if we would be able to bring out those emotions again, or would we have a letdown. We played tough against Wauseon (19-2-1).”

Olivia Reeder. (Press photo by Harold Hamilton?HEHphotos. lifepics.com

Reeder finished her career with a school-record 59 goals, breaking the previous mark of 55 set by Ariel Estes (2003-06). She earned first-team All-SLL honors for the second time after scoring 20 goals with eight assists this fall. She also garnered Alan Miller Jewelers First Team All-Press accolades.

“Her speed has helped her a lot,” coach Harder said of his 5-foot-1 scorer. “She wasn't the all-star standout player - we had 11 girls score goals this year – so it wasn't like teams marked her with two people. They knew where she was. A lot of times they would say, 'Watch No. 2.' She was a captain for two years and she is unselfish and a good student. Six of my eight seniors are in the National Honor Society.”

Reeder, who has a 3.9 GPA, is a member of the NHS and is her senior class secretary, said she never put much thought into breaking Genoa's career record for goals.

“It was never my intention to break the record, it was to win games,” she said. “If I broke the record, that was just icing on the cake. I was happy I could set the career goals record. Our team's success was the thing that made me the most happy. One of the goals for our senior class was to beat Lake. They have been our problem the last three years. To finally beat them, in the district semifinals, was very satisfying.”

Pickard, the team's goalie, finished with 35 career shutouts to set a school record. She helped the Comets post 10 shutouts this seaason, which is also a school record.

Junior Rachael Albright had a school-record 17 assists this season, and she also set the career mark for assists (29), which was previously held by Estes. Paige Albright, Rachael's sister, had the previous single-season record for assists (12).

Reeder, a three-year starting catcher on Genoa's softball team, said she won't forget what her soccer teammates accomplished over the last four years.

“I'm proud of our team this year and how we came together and peaked at the right time,” she said. “I was proud to be a part of what we had these last four years.”

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