Natalie Means Scores Goals. As a Defender. Here's What Denver Summit FC Just Got.

The Georgetown rookie who talks her way into programs, out-works everyone around her, and somehow ends up exactly where she was supposed to be.

She wasn't heavily recruited. She was small, late to develop, and doing Zoom calls during COVID because no one could see her in person. Her new coach at Georgetown was hesitant. She wasn't on much scholarship.

So Natalie Means did what she always does. She put her head down and proved everyone wrong.

Four years later, she left Georgetown as a unanimous First Team All-Big East defender — with 21 goals to her name. As a defender. And now she's suiting up for Denver Summit FC in the NWSL's inaugural season for the city of Colorado.

The path was never supposed to look like this. It looks exactly right.

The Defender Who Never Stopped Being a Forward

Means was recruited to Georgetown as a center forward. A nine. Her coach thought she'd be a winger because she was fast. She ended up a wingback in a 3-5-2 — a position she'd never played, in a formation she'd never run.

And then she started scoring goals from it.

Twenty-one over four years. Fourteen assists. She started 77 of her 79 appearances and was captain her senior season. The numbers don't really make sense until you understand who she is as a player — someone who grew up as an attacker, learned to pick her spots as a defender, and never lost the instinct to hurt you going forward.

"Growing up and always being an attacker, I just have that in my head that I want to score goals," she told me on the podcast this week. "And at Georgetown being a wingback, I had to learn the balance of — okay, I am a defender, but I'm also a forward. When do I do what?"

Nick Cushing apparently has a very clear answer to that question. More of both.

Why Denver? And Why Now?

When Denver Summit FC was announced — however long ago it was on social media — Means was just a Georgetown player with family in Colorado, watching from the outside like the rest of us. Her family lit up. She let herself dream a little, then tucked it away. It felt too good to be real.

She figured she'd graduate, head to Europe, play somewhere overseas. That felt like the realistic version of the plan.

Then she had a good fall season in 2025. NWSL teams started calling. Denver was one of them.

"I didn't expect the NWSL would probably be an option," she said. "And then after last fall, I had a pretty good season and started getting interest from some NWSL teams. And that was when I kind of realized — okay, like this is actually a reality for me now."

She got on a call with Nick Cushing. Heard how he talked about the club, the expectations, the standard he was setting from day one. He wasn't interested in being a nice expansion team story. He wanted to win.

She signed a two-year deal. She couldn't say no.

The Rookie Reality

Let's be clear about what Natalie Means is navigating right now. She's never been a true fullback. She's playing her first professional season. And on either side of her in that back line, she's got Carson Pickett — 185 NWSL appearances — and Kaleigh Kurtz, who has played every single regular season minute since June 2021.

That's a lot of experience to absorb from.

But here's the thing about Means: she's been the underdog before. She knows how to ask questions, study film, and figure things out from a deficit position. She did it her freshman year at Georgetown when everything was new. She's doing it again now.

"Every veteran on our team is so welcoming, so encouraging, so helpful," she said. "And it's made it so much easier for a rookie coming in, especially learning a new position. I'm so comfortable asking questions — and I'm asking these questions to players who have so much experience."

Kaleigh Kurtz, for her part, was one of the people who vouched for Means before I even had her on the podcast. That detail matters. When a player of Kurtz's caliber mentions a rookie by name and talks about how much she enjoys playing alongside her — that's something.

What She's Building Toward

Summit's record through the first stretch of the season — one win, three draws, one loss — might not look flashy on paper. But Means sees it clearly. The backline and Abby Smith have been exceptional. The offense is still finding its rhythm. And Means is honest about that without being down about it.

"I forget that we're an expansion team sometimes," she said. And she means it. The expectations she's absorbed from this group aren't expansion-team expectations. They're championship expectations.

She's also working on the part of her game she knows needs time — one-v-one defending. The footwork, the body shape, the angles. The stuff college programs don't always have time to teach. She's learning it now, from some of the best defenders in the league, in real NWSL games that count.

Denver fans haven't seen everything she has yet. That's not a concern — it's a preview.

The home opener at Mile High stopped her breath. Standing on the field, looking up at 63,000 people, thinking back to being a kid at big soccer games dreaming of being on the pitch. She was on the pitch. In Denver. In the NWSL.

The path was never linear. It never is for the players who end up being worth watching.