PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Lincoln High School Girls Soccer is looking to keep the momentum going this season after last year’s postseason run where they beat their PIL rivals, the Grant Generals, to advance to the state quarterfinals.
A big piece of the puzzle to Lincoln’s success is sophomore Frances Reuland.
As a freshman last season, Reuland earned First-Team All-PIL League Honors with 14 goals and 14 assists.
Her love for soccer and sports is in big thanks to her older brother, Henry.
“From a young age, we were always playing competitive games,” Reuland said. “We have a basketball hoop in his room and one time, I was pretty mad. He goes up for a lay-up and I give him a little shove in the back, break the wall, huge gap between our rooms to this day.”
The competitive spirit is still very strong with Reuland.
And the Cards squad isn’t even close to being satisfied.
“Our team, I feel like is progressing forward on an uphill track,” Reuland said. “Last year, reaching the quarterfinals and we just want to go higher. The vibe is everyone just wants to be better.”
Lincoln head coach Lainey Hulsizer has the Cards making a change to their gameplan and Reuland fits in perfectly with the possession focused offense.
“She just plays fearless every single time she’s out here,” Hulsizer said. “She’s willing to try anything and everything to get the ball into the back of the net … I think the strongest part about Fran is that her soccer IQ. When she’s up top, she’s looking through those through balls. A lot of that comes from on the weekends, she’s watching high-level soccer.”
With Reuland’s love of sports and gift of communicating, she was one of the founding members of Lincoln’s new television broadcasting class.
“I was kind of one of the beginning members and we kind of had to make the class for ourselves,” Reuland explained. “I’m sports editor this year. So we’re just going to try to keep progressing our program.”
Now on the mic, she’s looking to help advocate for Lincoln girls’ sports and women’s sports in general.
“I’m trying to get more people to come out to the women’s games – all different types of sports, not just soccer,” she said.
Frances can lean on her 7-year-old broadcasting moment when she recalled trick or treating at soccer icon Abby Wamback’s house for Fox Soccer.
WARNING: Cuteness overload alert of young Frances at the 10:10 mark of this YouTube video.
As a 7-year-old, Frances told Fox Soccer, “[Abby’s] wife opened the door, and she was like, ‘Abby come!!’ and Abby came and took a selfie and I was so amazed … I came home not walking, but running, skipping or dancing. This is a souvenir she gave me, a sharing size M&Ms… I still have it because she’s my favorite player and I still want to have it until I’m like 37 or so.”
“I just love her. She’s like the GOAT. I like to model my game after her,” Reuland said of Abby Wambach now.
And in case you’re wondering — Frances has not parted with the M&Ms that Abby gave her that Halloween.
“I still have the candy bar to this day. It’s like rotted away, but I still have it,’ she said.
With the M&Ms oftentimes within eye shot, Frances now sets her sights on playing college ball.
“I definitely want to play collegiate soccer someday,” she said.
Now we can all keep tabs on Reuland’s soccer career. Check out Lincoln Girls Soccer schedule here.
