Reading United’s women finished the season with 6 wins, 2 losses, and 2 ties and finished in second place in the challenging Mid Atlantic Division.  The Reading United women’s team featured several WPSL debutants that feature in the Women Players of the Year categories.

Young Player of the Year – Cadi Hoke

Hoke, a defensive midfielder and center back featured in two Monmouth University games her freshman year.  Cadie was a three time All Berks selection during her time at Wyomissing HS where she helped the team to three district championships and two Berks County championships. Hoke featured in 9 regular season games (starting all nine) and all three playoff games.  Hoke showed her versatility in playing midfield and defense for Reading while also taking the lead on most Reading corner kicks throughout the year.

Defensive Player of the Year – Autum Monty

Former HS All American and newcomer Autum Monty joined Reading from Biola University where she completed her senior season after transferring from San Jose State. After starting and playing in every game for Biola, she quickly claimed the Reading starting GK position and started all 10 games and all three playoff games.

Midfield Player of the Year – Ashley Lavrich

Lavrich is a Monmouth University commit who graduated from Twin Valley HS this past spring.  The former All State and two time All-Berks forward selection led the Raiders with 18 goals and three assists in 2023. She scored 50 career goals and was named the Twin Valley team MVP for three seasons. She is also a past ODP selection while with her FC Revolution youth team.  Additionally, she was a 2023 U17 National League PRO Best XI Midfielder in Greensboro, N.C.  She wasted no time in making her mark in the WPSL as she led the WPSL Mid Atlantic Division with 8 goals and three assists in the regular season.  She also scored the opening goal in the East Region Semi-Final against SUSA FC.

Offensive Player of the Year – Becca Kotula

The returning captain of the club, Kotula picked up where she left off in featuring in 9 of the Reading 10 regular season games.  She was second on the team in regular season scoring with 5 goals and 3 assists.  She was a key figure in the team’s playoff run, with a goal and four assists against SJEB FC in the Mid Atlantic Division championship, and her goal against SUSA FC in the East Region semi-final propelled the club to their first ever East Region Final.  The Wyomissing HS and East Stroudsburg alum was a two time CSC Academic All American, and two time all PSAC East First team selection.

After a thrilling 6-1 win over SJEB FC on July 6th, the Reading United women booked their passage to a second straight WPSL East Region Championship July 13-14 in Islip NY.  The Reading women were drawn against host and Metropolitan Conference winners SUSA Academy.  As hosts, SUSA chose to avoid some of the high temperatures in the northeast by playing a 7:30PM semi-final kickoff against Reading United, the repeat Mid Atlantic Conference Champions. SUSA entered the game with a record of 7 wins, 0 draws, and 1 loss, while Reading finished the regular season with 6 wins, 2 draws, and 2 losses.  The winner would face the winner of the first semifinal, Clarkstown, who like Reading was a returnee to the East Region Playoffs. 

Both teams entered the semi-final looking to put their stamp on the game and the first half was a relatively close affair, with Reading enjoying and advantage in shots on goal and corner kicks, with ‘keeper Autum Monty rarely challenged.  Unfortunately Reading entered the half with nothing to show except a 0-0 scoreboard. 

The second half was another story.  Reading started strong and immediately their midfield dominance and offensive pressure paid off and in the 47th minute the tireless Ashley Lavrich pounced on a SUSA defensive miscue and slotted the ball home to spot the visitors to a 1-0 scoreline and Reading women’s first ever lead in a WPSL playoff game.  A few minutes later, in the 50th minute, the Reading pressure got the better of SUSA who committed a rough tackle and SUSA’s Jill Garcia was shown a yellow card. Six minutes later Reading captain Becca Kotula found space on the left side of the field just outside the 18 and unleashed a sweet long distance strike that stranded the SUSA GK and spotted Reading to a well deserved 2-0 lead.  Reading was in complete control but in the 80th minute a Reading defensive turnover resulted in a foul that gave SUSA a direct kick just outside the box that they put up and over the Reading wall past Reading’s GK Sarah Crowley who dove valiantly but the ball squeaked past her to cut the SUSA deficit to one.    Reading maintained possession and was able to see out the final 10 minutes to book their first trip to the East Region Final.

Due to a very large lacrosse tournament across Long Island, Reading had to resort to travelling back through NYC to a hotel in northern NJ and did not arrive to the hotel until 11:30 at night where the team had to eat, shower, wake up and return to Islip for a 1PM WPSL East Region Final against Clarkstown.  While the conditions, time, heat, and tired legs conspired against the Reading women, they showed up to the SUSA Academy complex looking to continue their march to the WPSL Final Four.  Clarkstown had the benefit playing the earlier Saturday semifinal game and sleeping in their own beds but when both teams took the field the game had all the markings of a quality championship game. 

Unfortunately in the 6th minute the speedy Clarkstown midfield exploited the tired legs of Reading and jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead.  While both teams enjoyed spells of possession and opportunities on goal, it was Clarkstown that once again capitalized and in the 23rd minute added to their tally with a goal to claim a 2-0 lead.  In the 31st minute Reading’s Autum Monty made a brilliant stop on a Clarkstown breakaway to limit the Clarkstown lead to 2-0.  Less than 5 minutes later, Sophia Zeppos pounced on a loose ball in the Clarkstown box and smashed it home to halve the scoreline deficit.  Clarkstown took a 2-1 lead into halftime.

Like the semi-final the day before, Reading started the 2nd half hotter than the midday sun beating down on Long Island.  In the 50th minute Reading’s Haley Gschrey used her skill to get herself in front of a Clarkstown defender who committed a clumsy foul that awarded Reading a PK opportunity.  Gschrey would step up and slot home her opportunity to even the game 2-2.  With less than 20 minutes to go and quite a few Reading players showing some heat exhaustion, Clarkstown would have a counter attack and slot home a 71st minute goal to restore their lead, 3-2.  Both teams were feeling the difficulties of playing back to back games (with both teams perplexed why a championship game would be played at 1PM on a 95 degree day).  In the 74th minute Clarkstown would close out the scoring and claim a 4-2 lead that they would not give up.  Clarkstown would see out the game to book their spot in the WPSL Final Four as the East Region representatives.  Reading would see their season end but show pride in taking one step further from their inaugural season.  Reading would finish their sophomore season in the WPSL with 8 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses.