In the first edition of "Meet the Pride", we sit down with center-back Toni Pressley to talk about her homecoming, experience, and playing through a blizzard in Russia.

Q: You’re originally from Melbourne and you went to FSU. What does it mean to come home?

A: I was shocked. When the expansion draft was happening I really hoped I would end up here. When it happened I was just really excited. My mom was super happy. She always wants me home. It will be nice to be around her more and have her come to every home game.

It’s a big responsibility, being from the area, and having my mom sacrifice so much for me to play. Now that there is a professional team here to play for all of our handwork has paid off.

Q: What are your thoughts on playing for Tom Sermanni?

A: I’m very excited about playing for Tom. Everyone that I know really likes him and thinks he’s a great guy. I’m excited to get to know him on and off the pitch.



Q: Talk about your goals coming into the 2016 season?

A: Staying healthy. Getting back to being myself again — I’ve been injured a lot. I finally have gotten back to the point where I feel right. It will be nice to be in this environment, playing with all these great players and getting back to being me.

I think having a new team and players coming from all over the place maybe people won’t expect us to do very well, but I think we have a great group of girls and I think we will have a very good chance to compete for the title.

Q: What are your impressions of women’s soccer in the United States after playing domestically for the last four years?

A: It has grown a lot. This game is growing and just having the NWSL be a consistent presence over the last few years is amazing. I’m looking forward to the amount of support the league gets this year — especially here in Orlando. There is such a huge following here — I think it will be exciting.

Hopefully we can have 20 plus teams in the future and be like MLS. It will be an avenue for young girls to keep playing soccer.

Q: You played in Russia for a season. What was that like?

A: It was different. I really enjoyed my experience there. Learned a bit of Russian and it was just good to live on my own in a different country, get to learn a new culture and just be around different people.

Q: Was it cold?

A: In the winter it was very cold. There was one point where I was basically playing in a blizzard and they had to plow snow off at halftime. It was insane. I was not used to anything like that being from Florida.

Q: Do you have any hobbies? Anything you like to do off-the-field?

A: I like to draw and paint a bit. I have a dog, so I spend a lot of time with her. I like to cook and bake, and I’m trying to pick back up the violin.