2018 Player Profiles: Sydney Miramontez

Sydney Miramontez is one of the young players on Utah Royals FC’s roster, learning to keep up with the seasoned veterans among her peers in the professional soccer leagues. She shows the ability to play in the field and understands her positioning, especially with her defensive duties, but comes up short with inserting her presence into the game.

During the 2018 season, Miramontez mostly contributed in a supplementary role. Coming off the bench as a tactical change, or more commonly as a backup in the event of a starting player’s injury, she showed versatility as a player in her position. It can’t be easy plugging holes in a ship when it’s not your position, though, even more difficult when it’s at a random moment in a match. What she did do is accept these conditions with determination and the right attitude.

She was pretty consistent with her play throughout the season due injuries in the backline. It kind of worked in her favor. The situation allowed Miramontez to become a trustworthy choice for Laura Harvey when she needed defender. It also allowed her to play on both sides of the field, which is a really valuable experience for a player who obviously wants to make a career in the NWSL.

However, as an outside back, a player with 10 games in a season should have had at least one yellow card, and Miramontez was not carded. This is a tough league that requires players to do more than safe first tackles. This was singlehandedly the biggest issue of her play this past year.

Miramontez has all the potential to become a great player, including the effort and drive to become one of the best defenders in the league. She has taken up the challenge of playing in the Australian W-League this off-season. Probably the perfect place for her to be for continuing her development as a soccer player and in preparation for the 2019 NWSL season.