It’s that time of the year again, when I attempt to convince you to vote for one of five nominated clubs for Protagonist Soccer’s Club of the Year. We’ve done this four times before. In 2018, Inocentes FC from Ft. Worth, Texas won with an amazing story of immigrants finding success on the fields of the UPSL. In 2019, Pensacola FC won the WPSL title and the Club of the Year award. In 2020, one of the strangest of years due to the spiking pandemic, the Maryland Bobcats, fresh off a UPSL title and an announced move to becoming a professional club, took home the hardware. Last year, KC Courage were chosen as the Club of the Year for their heroic approach to supporting their players during the pandemic.

As always, our award is chosen by our readers. Our goal, as a staff, is to work together to narrow the field to 4-5 clubs in the lower league ranks, both men’s and women’s, and offer our choices to the readers of our site. It has yielded interesting results, honestly. Clubs seen as favorites have been passed over and dark horses have certainly surged across the finish line to take the silver. This year offered the first, in three years of pandemic, full seasons for all clubs nominated. In the end, it will be up to the readers to decide. Here’s to an amazing season of lower league stories. And here’s to our second nomination, California Storm.

You’d be hard pressed to find many women’s soccer clubs with the legacy of California Storm. Founded in 1995, the Sacramento powerhouse has generated generations of talent. Alex Morgan, Brandi Chastain, Julie Foudy, players that have defined the legacy of American soccer one World Cup win at a time, all spent time with Storm. Clubs like this aren’t supposed to survive in the American hellscape, but this one has thrived, putting its stamp on the history of American soccer. California Storm has outlived league after league, serving as the gold standard of women’s soccer.

While the team has excelled on the field for years now, Storm has always focused on being the primary talent developer in California for girls and women hoping to take their game to a higher level. Current club owner Jamie Howard-Levoy sees the club’s role as more than just the Storm, it’s about facilitating the success of all women’s programs in the area. “We cater to every club primarily in the Sacramento region but not limited to just those clubs. We focus on growing the game of soccer for both girls and women.” Storm’s success has benefited an entire ecosystem of feeder clubs and generations of players have reaped the rewards.

Mitsy Ramirez celebrates after scoring in the WPSL Championship match.

In 2022, California Storm dominated the Pac North Conference with outstanding play from Janae Gonzalez, Liz Hutchison, Haylee Bettencourt, and Maya Doms. After a great run in the regular season, Storm lost the conference title on penalties. The club went into the playoffs as the wild card and proceeded to win the West Region. In the semifinal matchup with Nashville Rhythm, Janae Gonzalez would score the winning goal early in the first half and, after a long weather delay, Storm would hold on for a tight 1-0 win.

The WPSL Championship matchup with Colorado Rapids would be much more lopsided. Storm won 3-1 after 90 minutes of dominant pressing and clean marking. “They [the Storm] made it incrediblty difficult for us to play the way we wanted—particularly in the beginning of the game,” Sebastian Giraldo, Rapids head coach, said. “This is one of few teams we have come up against all season that have been able to make us change the way we do things. Full credit to them; they deserve to be national champions.” Judit Gonzalez, Storm goalkeeper, cited watching and studying game footage with the team and staff for the first goal, a corner kick taken off of her own boot straight into Alexander Klos’ head. After halftime, the Rapids leveled right off the gate, but it would only be a consolation. The Storm scored twice more in the half from Mitsy Ramirez and Brenda Uribe stunners and thanks to Gonzalez’s stalwart presence in the back and athletic feats (despite her small stature), the Storm were declared the winners at the whistle and they lifted the trophy named their late owner, Jerry Zanelli.

On the heels of its fourth WPSL National Championship, the Storm recently announced its expansion into the USL W. Obviously, this club is a massive get for any league, given its pedigree and alumni. Even bigger with Storm coming off winning the WPSL title, given the competition for turf in the women’s amateur game. The Storm clearly are a cornerstone for the USL W’s first California division, the NorCal Division. For now, the club plans to field teams in both leagues, but the expansion into USL W raises the prestige of a league coming off a stellar inaugural season.

A vote for California Storm is a validating vote for the legacy of women’s soccer. The Storm way has always been to increase the tide and raise all boats. It’s a communal, supportive, inclusive, and nurturing approach to the network of women’s clubs in California. Cal Storm is a model of doing things the right way, benefiting the sport overall. Voting for Storm as Protagonist Soccer’s Club of the Year is a stamp of approval on 3 decades of excellence, on and off the field.

- Dan Vaughn