Washington Spirit Names Albertin Montoya Interim Head Coach
September 2, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Washington Spirit News Release
Washington Spirit Interim Head Coach Albertin Montoya
(Washington Spirit)
Washington, D.C. – The Washington Spirit has named Albertin Montoya as its interim head coach, the club announced today. Montoya’s experience in women’s soccer spans across the professional, college and youth national team ranks in the United States.
Montoya served as the co-head coach of the California Storm of the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) starting in 1999 before becoming an assistant coach at Santa Clara University, his alma mater, and Stanford University. Returning to the professional ranks in 2009, Montoya became the head coach of Women’s Professional Soccer’s (WPS) FC Gold Pride where he coached current Spirit players Nicole Barnhart and Kelley O’Hara and led the team to a championship title in 2010. In addition to his college and professional coaching experience, Montoya has also coached the U.S. Women’s U-17 youth national team.
“We are thrilled that Albertin has agreed to join us as interim coach for the remainder of the season,” said Mark Krikorian, President of Soccer Operations. “He is a wonderful teacher of the game and our players will benefit from his development and leadership. We look forward to having Albertin lead this group through the final five regular season matches and are optimistic about what he will be able to add to our club.”
After playing for the North Carolina State Wolfpack and Santa Clara Broncos at the collegiate level, Montoya played professionally in MLS and the A-League before beginning his coaching career in 1999.
“It’s an incredible honor to be named interim coach,” said Montoya. “I want to thank Michele Kang and Mark Krikorian for trusting me with this opportunity. My goal is to provide the best possible experience for these players and do my part to help Michele and Mark build the foundation for the future of the Washington Spirit organization.”
Montoya will take the helm for Washington’s next match on Saturday, September 10 at Audi Field when San Diego Wave FC comes to the nation’s capital. Angela Salem will again serve as assistant coach. The game is slated for a 1 p.m. EST kickoff, moved up from the original 5 p.m. time. The game will be nationally televised on CBS. Fans looking to attend the game can purchase tickets at www.washingtonspirit.com/tickets.
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