In February 2020, Lauren Reid found herself in a strange country with no family or friends, hoping to make a name for herself.
The COVID-19 pandemic was just days from exploding across the world. But in the Estadio Panamericano in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, Reid was focused on soccer.
Then a 17-year-old junior at Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver, Reid was a well-regarded defender who was a little more than a year away from moving across the country to join the UMBC women’s soccer program.
The competition was the 2020 CONCACAF U-20 Championship. Reid was representing Jamaica, her first experience on an international soccer stage.
“I was in a new country with people I didn’t really know. I don’t have my parents around. I’m thrown into this, let’s see what it’s all about,” Reid, now 20, said. “It was so cool to be in a stadium with fans and people screaming.”
For the next week, Jamaica blitzed through its group competition, including a 4-1 thrashing of El Salvador, a dramatic 4-4 draw with Guatemala and the country’s first-ever victory against Canada, 3-1.
The team’s run ended with a 2-1 loss to host Dominican Republic in the knockout stage. However, it showed promise for a young group of players looking to rebuild the Jamaica women’s program, which had folded in 2010 because of financial issues and re-launched in 2014.
The tournament was the springboard for Reid’s international career. More call-ups followed and last year Reid played her first games with Jamaica’s senior national team, The Reggae Girlz.
As her senior season at UMBC gets underway, Reid will use her international experience to help lift another rebuilding program trying to dig itself out of the America East Conference cellar.
Last season, the Retrievers finished 3-11-4 and failed to win a conference game (0-4-4, AEC). But there are some positive signs for second-year head coach Rick Stainton, namely the return of a combined 12 seniors and graduate students.
“We have an awful lot of players that have the technical and tactical savviness to be successful,” said Stainton, who joined the team in December 2022 after serving as an assistant with Georgetown for three seasons. “And now what we’re trying to instill is that competitive mindset.”
A key piece is Reid, who in her first three seasons has racked up nearly 4,500 minutes in more than 50 starts. She is a captain and a versatile defender who can play both centrally and on the wing.
“Coming in, I watched a ton of video on the entire team and Lauren was one of the players that stuck out,” Stainton said. “Her athleticism. She has pace. When she’s on the ball she is comfortable and can maintain possession.”
Something Reid won’t have to work on is her competitiveness and hard-nosed defensive play. Those traits come naturally from her father Shawn Reid, who played hockey at Colorado College in the 1990s. The journeyman defenseman spent time in the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers organizations. Despite her dad’s best efforts to recruit her to the ice, the younger Reid wanted to play soccer.
That decision paid dividends years later when Lorne Donaldson, Reid’s coach at Real Colorado, asked about the Jamaican heritage she gets from her father. In addition to coaching Real Colorado, which has pumped out U.S. soccer stars like Sophia Smith, Mallory Swanson and Shae Holmes, Donaldson also coached in the Jamaica national team system.
“I think I was in eighth grade the first time I ever got invited to a camp,” Reid said. “It was intimidating at that age because I was so much younger than all the girls.”
For Reid, the U-20 tournament helped open the door to camps, games and tournaments the next three years. But once August came each year, Reid’s focus was fully on UMBC.
From nearly the moment she arrived on campus, Reid became a critical piece of UMBC’s defense. She led the team in minutes as a freshman, playing in central defense. Back-to-back shutouts at Wagner and Maine helped her earn America East Conference Defensive Player and co-Rookie of the Week honors. As a sophomore, she again started every game for the Retrievers, playing the full 90 minutes 16 times.
UMBC will need Reid’s durability again this season as it welcomes two reigning conference champions, Towson and Bucknell, in its first two games.
Stainton coached at Seton Hall, College of Saint Elizabeth’s and Fairleigh Dickinson and briefly served as head coach of the women’s professional soccer team NY/NJ Gotham in 2011, then known as Sky Blue FC. The coach believes in scheduling difficult competition.
“Sometimes people think I’m foolish, but what’s competition without a challenge?” Stainton said. “For me, I’d rather challenge ourselves and see how close we are.”
For Stainton, challenges go beyond scheduling. At the start of last season, he surprised Reid by suggesting a move to outside defender, a role she had never played before.
“A lot of it is take the opportunities that you are given and put everything into it,” Reid said. “It was cool and I now have that tool in my toolbox, you know. Anything to help my team.”
That flexibility and willingness to do what’s best for the team is why she is a captain, Stainton said. It could also prove to Jamaica’s coaches that she can bring even more value as a defender.
The move appeared to pay off almost immediately last fall when Reid got a call that she would be part of the senior team playing in Gold Cup qualifying matches in Panama. She played the full 90 minutes in three matches.
“I never thought I would have gotten this far playing-wise. Every single time I’m called up, I’m like, ‘Dang, not a lot of people get an experience like this,'” Reid said. “I have put in the time. I’ve worked so hard and it is gratifying to see it pay off.”
The America East playoffs are set to begin in early November. If UMBC qualifies, Reid will fulfill a dream that began when she committed to the school four years ago. But once her college career ends, more international soccer with Jamaica surely awaits.
Photo Credit: UMBC Athletic Communications
Issue 288: August/September 2024
Originally published Aug. 14, 2024