Transylvania University

Transylvania University Pioneers Athletics
300 North Broadway Lexington, KY 40508

Division 3 Kentucky Midwest

Private Small Developing team

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Ashley Reinecke

Ashley Reinecke enters her fourth year as a Co-Head Coach of the Transylvania women’s soccer team for the 2024 season, and sixth with the program overall. In her first season as Co-Head Coach, Reinecke led the Pioneers to an 8-4-5 record.

After serving as the top assistant on legendary head coach Patrick Farmer’s staff for three years, Reinecke takes over after Farmer’s retirement, alongside Marcus Aldaba, as co-head coaches.

“Ashley Reinecke has proven during her time at Transylvania that she is ready to take the reins of the program. She is passionate about the sport of soccer and about developing student-athletes not only to win championships, but for life”, says Dr. Holly Sheilley, Athletic Director and University Vice President for Athletics.

In her time as an assistant, Reinecke helped lead the Pioneers to a top-3 finish on the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference table in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season as Transylvania produced a 5-3-1 record against the opposition. As an assistant coach, Reinecke was instrumental in the development of five All-Conference players in 2020-21 including three All-HCAC First Team selections.

Reinecke brings a transcontinental coaching resume spanning multiple college and youth programs to Transylvania. During the 2019 season, her first with the Pioneers, Reinecke helped develop four HCAC All-Conference players, including First Team Selection, freshman Meron Roach. Reinecke helped design a defense which recorded four shutouts during the 2019 campaign.

In the 2021 season, her last as an assistant, the Pioneers went 10-7-2 as Reinecke’s squad had five All-HCAC student-athletes. Senior Abby Baker was named to the First Team, along with three Second Team selections, including first year Abby Dean who had an outstanding debut campaign learning under Reinecke.

A native of Toms River, New Jersey, Reinecke comes north to Lexington after serving as an assistant coach at NCAA Division III Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, where she was part of a staff which led the Lakers to three winning seasons and two postseason appearances during her three-year tenure.

Along with her position at Clayton State which elapsed from 2014 through 2017, Reinecke has held leadership and coaching roles in the Triumph Youth Soccer Association of Tucker, Georgia where she served as an Academy Coach and Club Administrator. Having worked in the organization since 2014, Reinecke earned the Georgia Soccer Select Coach of the Year Award in 2016.

Prior to her arrival in the Peach State, Reinecke cultivated her coaching career overseas. While playing professionally for five years for the Keynsham Town Ladies Football Club in Bristol, England, Reinecke also was a youth coach with the Keynsham Town Football Club.

Reinecke’s coaching and playing endeavors in England followed a playing career domestically from 2010 through 2012, during which she played for the New Jersey Wildcats of the United Soccer League’s W-League.

A 2008 graduate of Division I Seton Hall University in Orange, New Jersey, Reinecke started as a midfielder for the Pirates and holds a master’s degree in Brand Design and a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations.

Reinecke holds a USSF D Coaching License.

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Marcus Aldaba

Marcus Aldaba entered his first season as a co-head coach of the Transylvania women's soccer team in 2022.

Albaba brings a wealth of experience to Transylvania, and a fresh outside mindset, having served as the Director of Operations for the University of Kentucky's men's soccer team since 2018. At UK, Aldaba helped develop numerous standout players, also having major contributions to the program off the pitch in operations roles.

"The opportunity to have Marcus Aldaba join aside Coach Reinecke as the co-head coach is a great opportunity to propel our program to the next level. Their experience will no doubt make them a dynamic duo. I am excited to see where they take our team", said Dr. Holly Sheilley, Athletic Director and University Vice President for Athletics.

As Director of Operations for the University of Kentucky men's soccer team, Albaba's teams won two Conference USA Championships and qualified for the NCAA Tournament all four years, making it as far as the fourth round in 2018. Aldaba mentored several elite players including Enrique Facusse, who was a member of the Honduras Olympic Qualifying team, and Aime Mabika, a First-Round selection in the 2021 Major League Soccer SuperDraft. He assisted in planning training sessions for the team, monitored the program's budgets, and managed the arrangement of away matches. Aldaba marketed all the boys' and girls' fall soccer camps, setting records for turnout in 2018 and exceeding them in the following year.

Prior to his time at the UK, Aldaba served as an assistant coach for Mercer University Men's Soccer, where he was directly involved with the recruiting efforts of student-athletes, coaching, and conducting logistics across the program as well. In each of his two seasons at Mercer, Aldaba helped the Bears take home back-to-back SoCon Tournament Championships and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament. In both of his seasons on the staff, Mercer defeated ranked opponents in No. 16 Washington and No. 24 South Carolina. Aldaba helped coach and mentor great talent, including the 2017 SoCon Male Athlete of the Year, Will Bagrou, who was selected in the 2018 Major League Soccer Draft.

Aldaba also has experience serving as the Director of Operations at Southern Methodist University’s Men’s Soccer program, from 2015-2016, where the Mustangs qualified for the NCAA Tournament with the AAC Coaching Staff of the Year. Aldaba mentored a pair of 2018 MLS Draft selections in Michael Nelson and Mauro Cichero.

Aldaba was a Division III student-athlete, playing as a midfielder at the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas from 2010-2013, where he was named to the All-ASC Honorable Mention Team in 2010.

He also currently serves as a youth soccer coach with the Lexington F.C. program in the U10 Age Group, having served there since the Fall of 2020. Aldaba holds a U.S. Soccer Federation D License and is actively working towards C accreditation.