There are plenty of fresh faces on the 2022 Orlando Pride, some straight from college, others with years of professional experience. But few players, returning or new, can match the seven years of starting-caliber defending that Megan Montefusco brings to the table.
“There’s a lot of young players asking really good questions, so I feel like I have the answers,” Montefusco said this week when asked about stepping into such a young team. “It’s a really good feeling and I’m happy to help.”
Montefusco, formerly Megan Oyster before getting married this past December, was acquired from the Houston Dash along with Allocation Money and a draft pick in exchange for midfielder Marisa Viggiano last month. She has appeared in well over 100 NWSL games in her career between stops in Washington, Boston, Seattle, and Houston, winning the 2020 Challenge Cup with the Dash.
She also has great familiarity with new Pride Head Coach Amanda Cromwell. Montefusco played for Cromwell for her last two years at UCLA, winning the national championship in 2013 and setting a school record with 19 shutouts the following year.
Asked why Orlando was the right place for her at this point in her career, Montefusco pointed to that relationship with Cromwell as a key reason.
“I think that having that support is what I needed,” she said. “There were a lot of ups and downs last season with the Dash, and I was really looking for that [support]. I knew that if I were to come here, that’s exactly what I was going to get.”
While she plays center back and her primary responsibility is to defend, Montefusco is willing and able to get the ball into the attack, as Cromwell has seen first-hand.
“If you go back to our national championship game, you might see Megan getting the game-winning assist,” Cromwell reminisced. “As a center back penetrating with the ball, she’s very comfortable on the dribble, finding seams to start our attack. So I always think of that play, like ‘wow, a center back got our assist to win a national championship,’ and those are things she can do.”
“I like to keep the ball out of the back,” Montefusco said. “I hit a good diagonal ball as well, so I’ve got a variety of passes. And then just leading with communication, I think that’s something that I’ve always done. You can hear me out there, and if you don’t hear me out there, it’s not a good day for me.”
Montefusco has been one of the lead tone-setters at training over the first three weeks, taking charge of the defensive unit and marshaling her teammates. She says the new coaching staff has imparted an “underdog mentality with a championship mindset,” a creed she and her new teammates have found very easy to buy into.
“It’s exciting because you can feel it out on the pitch,” she said. “We’re all fighting for each other. It’s only week three, so to have that mentality already is great.”
