Over the next few days, in an effort to familiarize our readers with some key women’s soccer landscapes in the US, we’ll be highlighting 4 different regions in the country that are not only developing today’s and tomorrow’s biggest talents, but are quickly setting the tone for what the future of women’s soccer can look like. These regions are: Texas, California, New York/New Jersey, and Minnesota.

Obviously, our list is not exhaustive. These four regions aren’t the only hotbeds for talent, but they’re ones we’re most excited about here at Protagonist Soccer and also, most curious about. We encourage you to consider your own region’s women’s soccer environments. What teams play there, what leagues? What does your pipeline for local talent look like, what is special about it, and what are ways it could be improved? What are ways you as a fan can engage and get involved? And ultimately, if you find you’re passionate about your region’s women’s soccer scene and maybe want to help us cover it here at Protagonist Soccer, we encourage you to reach out to us to let us know.

Our next feature covers Minnesota, where we think magic is about to take place soon.

Over in Minnesota, there’s something special brewing on the women’s soccer front, and the country and even the world is taking notice. There’s no one covering it better than my friends at Equal Time Soccer, so make sure you’re following them for all the in-depth Minnesota women’s soccer content.

Minnesota Aurora sold out their community owner shares in the middle of December 2021, a full 6 months before playing their first game. They didn’t have a name, a logo, a coach, or players but they had a vision and that vision resonated with thousands of people across the globe. Aurora FC played their first game on May 26, 2022 against Green Bay Glory. 5,219 fans attended and cheered them on loudly, many of them community owners, and from that moment on, they never took their foot off the gas.

Minnesota Aurora FC players rally during their first home game against the Green Bay Glory. Courtesy of Minnesota Aurora FC.

Aurora FC went on to play in the USL W Championship match against Tormenta FC and in the process, they put the state of Minnesota on the map.

But Aurora FC didn’t come onto the scene in a vacuum. Minnesota is made up of an intricate web of WPSL clubs and well-established and supported D1, D2, NAIA, and D3 schools. Many cities in Minnesota also boast academies, as well, many of which are attached to semi-professional teams.

Saint Paul, Minneapolis, and the surrounding cities

State capitals usually are the epicenter for most things. That’s true, in this regard, for soccer.

St. Paul hosts the state’s only professional soccer team, Minnesota United FC. Next door to St. Paul is Minneapolis (the two make up the moniker the Twin Cities), which is home to the ever-stylish men’s semi-professional USL League Two team, Minneapolis City SC. Neither entity has a women’s program of any kind, not even an academy, and there aren’t any rumors at this moment of either aiming for a semi-professional team, let alone a professional team in NWSL, USL Super League, or the incoming WISL.

But that honestly isn’t a big deal because there are plenty of other organizations in the region who are doing women’s soccer well.

WPSL is very established in the state, with seven teams total, all in the Northern Conference and five of which play in this area alone. Joy FC (St. Louis Park), Manitou FC (White Bear Lake), MapleBrook Fury (Minneapolis), MN Thunder (Richfield), and Salvo (Eagan) are all about a 30 minute car ride from one another (give or take). That proximity makes for fun rivalries and healthy competition, especially since there’s plenty of talent in the region to go around. And with WPSL always considering a professional league, it makes sense that one of those organizations would have the infrastructure in place to support a third or second division professional team.

One potential WPSL club to keep an eye out for is Minnesota Thunder, who are attached to a regionally prestigious academy system that has produced some of the area’s (and their competitors) biggest talent. With local support, potentially the funds to support it, and a competitive drive, they’re an organization that could find success in a third division professional setting.

As for USL W League, they’re a late player in the area, but with Aurora FC as its darling, it’s bound to remain firmly in the region for many years and maybe even convince a few WPSL teams to make the move over. Aurora FC, specifically, is creating a name for themselves, with their unique business model, on field quality, engaged fans, and most recently, their bid for an NWSL team. Time will tell whether they continue to pursue NWSL (as its expansion fees continue to soar), remain in the USL and join the Super League, or build new frontiers with WISL. But we can agree on one thing: the sky is the limit for them.

And finally, collegiately. The area isn’t hurting for college teams to draw from local talent and attract bigger talent from other parts of the country (some of whom may stay over the summer to play with a local semi-pro team). The Minnesota Gophers (coached by Brandi Chastain’s sister-in-law, Erin, who is a soccer powerhouse of her own) is the area’s biggest program and play in the Big 10 Conference. Smaller programs in division 2 and 3 are Bethel, Concordia, and St. Thomas, to name a few.

Greater Minnesota

Outside of the Twin Cities, things are a little less bustling but not to be discounted. Rochester United FC in Rochester and Mankato United SC in Mankato are both an hour and a half from Minneapolis and each other. They reside in cities with less than 150,000 but as the only organizations in the area, they have dibs on all the talent, partnerships, fields, and sponsorships.

NPSL has a presence in other parts of the state, such as Duluth in the north. However, they don’t currently have a women’s program and at 2-3 hours away from opponents, the club likely isn’t motivated to bring one in.

Duluth does however have a division 2 school, UMD, which has a sturdy women’s soccer program. Likewise, there are division 2 schools in (to name a few) Bemidji, Mankato, and Moorhead, way in the west on the border of South Dakota. Division 3 and NAIA schools are also scattered throughout the state as well.

In Conclusion

Minnesota hasn’t produced a Christen Press or Rose Lavelle. Yet. They don’t have professional women’s soccer. Yet. They aren’t creating waves in the NCAA world. Yet.

But they’re a regular stop for the USWNT. Minneapolis’ WNBA team, the Lynx, regularly have an above average attendance and have a devoted fanbase nationwide. Minnesota Aurora FC is proving states outside of the typical women’s soccer hubs in California and Oregon can have passionate fans, exciting game day atmospheres, profitable organizations, and a soccer culture to take notice.

And that’s what we think the soccer community at large should do: take notice of Minnesota. Stream one of their WPSL teams’ games. Plan a trip to an Aurora FC home game, if you can. Grab a pint after the game at Black Hart of Saint Paul. Take a picture with the Megan Rapinoe mural. Follow Equal Time Soccer. In three or five years, it’s easy to predict, Minnesota is going to be the epicenter for another women’s soccer renaissance.

-Elisabeth Schendel