Olivia Reeder reaches the net, and she scores!

“I’m really outgoing, I’m definitely very energetic, and I would tend to say I have a little more of a bubbly personality, and I try to be funny sometimes, by cracking a lot of jokes, and I just try to be nice to everyone, all of which I definitely think I get from my mom,” laughs the 15-year-old sophomore.

By the way, her dad, Curt, is the strength coach for both GHS’s football team and girls’ hoops team, as well as a freshman football coach, and an assistant coach on Mike Vicar’s varsity staff.

“But if I had to say I had a personal hero, it’d definitely be my older sister Melissa,” reflects Olivia on the aforementioned Lady Comets’ softball player, basketball star, and outstanding prep golfer.

Sister Melissa was named First Team on the Girls’ Glass City Golf Tour during her days in the maroon and gray, before going on to garner the “Rookie of the Year” award while swinging the clubs for the Bowling Green Falcons.

“She was always such a great athlete, and is a really hard worker in whatever she does. So, yeah, she’s always been the one I’ve looked up to most, and wanted to be just like, because she was just always so amazing in sports and academics, and also just an all-around great person,” Olivia said.

“But, I think I’d also have to say that I owe a lot of the success that I’ve had so far to my soccer teammates, too,” continues Reeder.

Reeder has managed to stay unscathed just enough throughout her decorated, 12-year career on the local pitch, first by taking aim at the notable Toledo Celtics’ boys’ team of all places, which she easily made and became a solid contributor for some time. Then the ESSL Arsenal club, both of which she helped to plink off a number of championships over the formative years.

During her breakout freshman campaign with the then 5-3-2, MSSL-upstart Lady Comets, Olivia would become a lethal weapon to be feared by the opposition out on the high school pitch. In Genoa’s district final game against longtime nemesis Oak Harbor, Reeder went from rookie to hero by finding the back of the net off of a roof-raising header that finally knocked off the Rockets, a feat which had never been accomplished before by no other Genoa girls’ soccer team.

This season, Genoa got its first-ever, regular-season 2-0 win over Oak Harbor (in which ’Liv scored one goal); plus there was the Comets’ 5-0 shellacking of Cardinal Stritch (Reeder booted three); and in the team’s season-long domination of longtime rival Otsego, as Genoa shut out the Knights 4-0 twice.

She persists to pass out kudos as deftly as she dishes out assists via the ball for this season’s 10-3-3 Comets on the Genoa pitch.

“I mean, all of the players have always been so accepting, and it doesn’t really matter what age you are, or what grade you’re in, it just matters what you can contribute to the team, and what ability you can bring out to the field. And I think all of the senior leaders that I’ve played with, like Christina Hecklinger, and Chelsea Meyer, who is a senior this year, have all been so awesome and supportive to us underclassmen, and have cheered us on no matter if there’s been a younger player playing ahead of a senior or not, because last year, we had so many freshmen who made the varsity team.

“I know they’ve all really accepted and embraced me, which definitely made my first-year varsity experience a lot easier, and the game a lot more fun for me. I just love the thrill of Genoa soccer. And the camaraderie. And the team aspect of the game, because you’re never, ever going to win a soccer game, or do well out there as a player, if you’re not playing as a team.

“We do have a pretty young team again this season, with the majority of our players being sophomores,” adds ’Liv quickly, “but I just think that again with our senior, and junior leadership, and because of the fact that everyone always stays so positive out there, and encourages everyone else, and because we have so much talent, that when we do get out there, and start to play together, it all just sort of comes together, and everything just sort of happens for us. I mean, that’s what stands out the most to me about this team.

“I think we just need to fix a few little things, and to have just a little more confidence, and continue to just play our game like we always do, and we’ll be fine.”

But against new league powerhouse Lake, the Comets managed to muster a respectable 1-1 tie. Genoa did proceed to finish a surprising second in SLL play in the girls league’s inaugural season.

For her efforts, Reeder was named Second-Team All-MSSL, plus she was tabbed as “Female Athlete of the Week” by Toledo radio’s “the Ticket” 1470 AM, and featured on their website 1470theticket.com.

“Playing in the June league together, playing in an indoor league, entering tournaments like the Perrysburg and Bowling Green tourneys, and just always playing soccer, and doing stuff together all year long, and hanging out in the off-season like a family,” mediates Olivia on the Comets’ team secret to their success, “I just think it gives us an advantage, because we’re always playing with the same girls we’re going to be playing with in the fall of the year, we’re always learning about what each others’ going to be doing out on the field, and it just makes us more fluent as a team.

“I just want to say that I think our team is doing great this year,” she adds, quickly getting in yet one more assist, “and I think that if we continue to stick together, and play together like a team, like I know we can, we’ll go far. I’ve always wanted what’s best for this team. And that’s the legacy I want to leave behind, when I leave here. That I was always a good leader. That I was always positive, not just on the field, but also off. And that I always gave my best to my team, and played my hardest. Because I believe in my teammates 100%, just like they believe in me. I’ll never slack off.”

The Press

The Press
1550 Woodville Road
Millbury, OH 43447

(419) 836-2221

Email Us

Facebook Twitter

Ohio News Media Association