Megan Reid: From aspiring EMT to NWSL Iron Woman

Angel City FC center back Megan Reid did something just six other NWSL players accomplished last season — playing every single minute and getting what the league dubs as "Iron Woman" status. 

But it's all the more remarkable for Reid. She wasn’t supposed to be on any NWSL roster last season, be any club’s starting center back and certainly not receive a contract extension she rightfully earned during this offseason. 

She didn't even have it in her plans to play professional soccer. 

Reid played soccer at the University of Virginia between 2014 and 2017. While some of her Cavalier teammates pursued professional soccer, Reid had aspirations of becoming an EMT, satisfied with switching from the soccer field to the medical field. Four years later, Reid was working at the John Muir Medical Center close to her hometown in Walnut Creek, Calif., still with no intentions of leaving. 

But some of her college teammates — including Veronica Latsko, who plays for the OL Reign – continued to believe Reid could play in the NWSL. Even though Reid was four years removed from any high-end soccer competition or training, they felt could play in one of the top leagues in the world. When Reid found out about the conversations her teammates were having, she had one response: "Is that a challenge?” 

Last year proved conclusively: Challenge accepted.

To SoCal via Denmark

Reid was still close to the game when she decided to get back into NWSL shape, coaching her former youth club team and finding her passion for the game again. Almost instantly, it was apparent her soccer skills had not left her. During the summer of 2021, she joined the newly founded WPSL team Lamorinda SC and helped it win the league title. 

As Reid won the title with her WPSL club, she became a certified paramedic. She had a decision to make. “What do I do now? Do I just jump into the fire world? Or do I keep going with soccer?” Reid said. “At this point, I was like, I kind of want to do soccer.”

Through connections with her college coach, Steve Swanson, Reid went to Denmark to train with FC Thisted. After a month there, Reid went back to the States and to San Diego Wave FC, as she'd been on the team's Discovery List. But after a month of preseason training with the club, she was waived. 

“I guess I'm going home and we're gonna go back to the fire stuff,” Reid said after being released by Wave FC, believing her chance at professional soccer in the NWSL was over. “It just so happened that Angel City had had a lot of defenders drop. So they invited me to come in basically the next day.”

'I thought I was just going to be a number'

And after training with the Los Angeles club, Reid performed well enough to earn a roster spot and a contract for the 2022 season. 

Making ACFC’s roster after four years of not playing soccer in itself was a massive accomplishment and one Reid was content with. 

“I thought I was just going to be a number," she observed. "I was like I know I’m going to be a bench player,” she said. “I’m here to love the sport, enjoy, the atmosphere and have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

That is what was supposed to happen. But injuries to the club’s backline said otherwise. In ACFC’s first-ever regular season game, Reid was the club’s starting center-back. ACFC’s head coach Freya Coombe reminded Reid to play straightforwardly. 

“Freya [Coombe] was telling me she's like, just do the very simple things. Don't worry about doing all the complicated nice long balls and slip passes and cutting people she's like, just focus on making the passes and defending,” Reid said. “I think having that like that focus on an objective really helped to kind of clear out the rest of the anxiety and the nerves that usually come with it.”

It was in her second-ever game that Reid felt like she belonged on the field with the other players around her. ACFC was playing Orlando Pride, who had star forward (and now her ACFC teammate) Sydney Leroux playing up top. 

“I had multiple one v. ones with Sydney Leroux and I won most of the battles,” Reid said. “This is someone I watched growing up and admired. And in that moment, I was like, wow, this is cool. Like I can do this.”

Anchoring a solid backline

Reid continued to play and became one of the anchors in the ACFC backline. The club’s defense finished the season ranked fourth in goals conceded per game with 1.2 and led the league in tackles per match and clearances per match. In its first season, ACFC proved it was one of the top defenses in the league.

“I think just like getting familiar with one another is a really big thing. I'm not trying to do anything fancy, Jazzy [Jasmyne Spencer] can get out of all these little tight situations and Tyler [Lussi] is going to make all these runs forward,” Reid said about ACFC’s backline success. “I think that really helps to kind of solidify backline, just like getting familiar and then knowing your roles. I think once we had both those things established [the defense] fell into place a little bit better.”

Reid finished the season with an assist, a 78.4 successful passing rate and 137 clearances. She was first on the team in clearances and second in blocks per 90 and long ball success rate per 90, all while starting and playing every minute of the 22 regular season games. She was the only ACFC player to reach Iron Woman status. 

“I think it just solidified in my mind that I made the right decision,” Reid said about her getting the Iron Woman title. “This is where I'm meant to be right now in my life. this is what's making me happy and I had fun doing it.”

This offseason, Reid signed a contract extension with ACFC through the 2023 season to reward her dependability. Even though she put soccer in the rear view mirror for almost four years, she's proved what her college teammates knew all along. She belongs in the NWSL.

“I am where I'm supposed to be," she reflected. "I do have the ability to play at this level and I think that you can think it, but unless other people like are on the same wavelength, you're not going to get that opportunity.

"I'm just fortunate enough that they saw the same things that I was feeling…and that we're gonna continue this journey together and continue to improve and build off of what we started last season.”

Becoming one of the most reliable players in the NWSL, Reid has shown whatever challenge is put in front of her, she's up for the task.