- February 3, 2026
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The huddle gradually disbanded as the players finished putting on their shinguards and tying their shoelaces tight. All of them trotted to the sun-soaked turf as if part of a procession.
Cones and balls were gathered together to set up the first drill of an afternoon practice. Among the players, laughs and smiles were contagious.
Megan Nugent glanced over at her teammates and allowed a smile to creep across her own face.
“That, to me, is the most rewarding part,” Nugent said. “Seeing that they’re all here.”
Nearly three months into the season, no key players have been lost to injuries. She has one, unified team.
It’s exactly what she hoped for in her new role.
Nugent is in her first year as The Out-of-Door Academy's head girls soccer coach and she has guided her players to a 14-2-1 record, as of Jan. 30. Her players are champions of FHSAA Class 1A-District 10 and own the No. 2 seed in Region 3 for the state tournament.
What they hope will be a trek to the regional title began against Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Feb. 2 in the 1A regional quarterfinals. Just as she has all season long, Nugent once again guided her players flawlessly.
“She’s taken the leadership role this year and it’s been amazing,” said junior Maggie Yull. “She’s listened to us every step of the way, she’s funny, and she always incorporates fun things into our practices — it’s never straight or boring.”
In 2024-25, Nugent was an assistant under former coach Wayne Ramsey. She helped ODA to a 14-5-2 finish and district title en route to the 2A regional quarterfinals.
That was just part of the success that came before her. The Thunder assembled a perfect 12-0-1 regular season in 2023-24, though fell in the opening rounds of both the district and regional tournaments.
ODA went 35-13-3 over three seasons of Ramsey’s tutelage. By taking the reins, Nugent inherited that high standard, and she understood the expectations that came with it.
“I definitely felt pressure, because we have a very good, talented group of girls here,” Nugent said. “And I knew from the start that we had the ability to win, but the biggest challenge is bringing individual players together, and that’s something we struggled with a bit last year.”
Soccer was a sport that took her places in the years before she began spending her afternoons on the fields of ODA’s campus.
She was born in Dublin, Ireland, but spent much of her childhood in the U.S. It was in this country — not her native land — where she kicked a soccer ball for the first time.
At 10 years old, though, she boarded a plane to Ireland and remained there through her teenage years. She stuck with the game and was called up to the Irish national team at 13 years old, staying with the team until she was 19.
The competitiveness of the sport kept her hooked. To this day, she proudly coaches with that Irish accent intact.
“I feel like it’s in our blood. We were just born to love the game,” Nugent said. “I loved being a girl playing in a boys’ league, especially in Ireland. I was actually a captain on a boys’ team. It drove me to want to be better and succeed.”
Eventually, she did find her way back to the U.S. She earned a scholarship to the New York Institute of Technology, which when she arrived in 2009, fielded an NCAA Division II women’s soccer team in the East Coast Conference.
Graduation in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in health science marked the end of her playing days. She promptly began building her career in New York, starting out as a personal trainer and later moving into management roles.
Soccer, though, was usually on her mind. So when she moved to Lakewood Ranch with her family in summer 2024, she was all-in on becoming a full-time coach.
Nugent joined the Chargers Soccer Club and currently coaches the 2014 Girls Elite team, also assisting with the club’s recreation program and administration.
With ODA, she jumped at the opportunity to coach a high school girls soccer team — something she always yearned to do.
“I can talk to her about anything, and it’s not hard,” said eighth grader Bianca Arslaner. “As an eighth grader, you’d be scared to talk to seniors, but she helps me not feel as awkward around them.”
As a coach, development is at the core of Nugent’s philosophy. It’s her mode of operation.
Whether it’s the Thunder’s highest-skilled player or most casual contributor, she wants every one of them to feel like they improved in some way after any given practice, so when called upon, they are ready.
It’s all about ensuring that her players want to contribute to their team and want to be part of something special. That reflects in her style of coaching, which strikes a balance between being tough and supportive.
“That’s what makes her an amazing coach,” Yull said. “She can be strict and she can get us all motivated to work, but there’s also the side of her where she is super chill and can understand everything. Sometimes she can be a coach, and sometimes she can be a friend.”
With the post season beginning, it’s win-or-go-home time for the Thunder, and with every passing round, opponents only get tougher.
With Nugent at the helm, the players all will be pulling together at the toughest moments.
“They all still have smiles on their faces,” Nugent said. “They’re all showing up, wanting to compete and to lift each other up.”
