Monroe College Express Director of Athletics Leonard Pitt has announced that Carlos Ortega will be the second head coach in the history of the Monroe Express men’s soccer program heading into the fall 2022 season. Ortega has been an assistant coach with the Express for two seasons, while also having worked with the Monroe Mustangs.
Ortega has been the goalkeepers coach for the Express men’s soccer team since the 2020-21 season. He also assisted with the Mustangs women’s soccer team in 2021. Ortega has a longer history with Monroe College, having played for the Mustangs’ men’s soccer team as a goalie in 2016. Ortega went on to play at the NCAA Division II level at Post University in Waterbury, Conn.
Ortega was a member of the Express coaching staff in 2020-21, when the team made its first-ever appearance in the NJCAA Div. III Men’s Soccer Championship tournament in Herkimer, N.Y. The team also won its first Region 15 Championship and Northeast District Title that season, and was a nationally ranked program for the first time ever.
A New York native, Ortega went overseas to play semi-professional soccer after completing his collegiate career, playing with ASD Cesano in Rome, Italy, while also studying for his master’s degree across the ocean.
