Covid 19 took its toll on amateur soccer in the Pacific Northwest - in 2020 the NWPL season was cancelled, and today, as many other regional men’s and women’s leagues gear up for their (albeit modified) 2021 seasons, some women’s soccer teams are still trying to figure out if they can even piece together a 2021 season.

Enter: the Oregon Women’s Open Cup. Teams from Oregon have agreed to band together and start the inaugural Oregon Women's Open Cup - which currently involves, but is not exclusive to, amateur teams. Two teams from the WPSL have agreed to enter: Westside Timbers and Eugene Timber Azul. Three teams from the NWPL: AC Chehalem Valley, CFC Atletica, and guests Vancouver Victory from just across the Oregon/Washington Border. Non-league-affiliated OVF Alliance out of Albany, Oregon also plans on participating. The hope is someday, as the competition grows in prestige and maybe even prize amount, eventually the Portland Thorns will enter their academy team.

Cups, by nature, are an exciting concept, which is exactly what enticed Joshua Duder to becoming the driving force behind the OWOC. Besides it being an opportunity for players and teams to get some gametime, Duder also saw this as a chance to bring a Cup-formatted competition to his own backyard.

“I am a huge fan of Cups because I like to see teams matched up who normally wouldn’t play each other,” stated Duder, who besides being the Director of Marketing for the Protagonist Soccer is also the current president of OWOC participant, AC Chehalem Valley. “I’d love to see a US Women’s Open Cup someday and kind of thought, well, you gotta start somewhere.”

The format is a first round bye for the WPSL teams, and a random draw for the four amateur sides. They will play-in to face a WPSL side in the semi finals and the respective winners will play in the first ever Oregon Women's Open Cup final during the 4th of July week, exact date tbd.

United Women's Soccer has agreed to partner with the participating Oregon teams to support the cup with $1000 in subsidized USASA player registrations for the amateur players, as well as equipment for the semifinals and final.

There are many like it, but this one is ours… A 10” Crystal Trophy to be awarded to the inaugural OWOC Champion

“Our league has been a supporter of starting an Open Cup competition from day 1, so the idea of partnering to help launch one is putting our words into action,” said Francisco Cleaves, UWS CFO/Co-Founder, when asked what about the competition enticed UWS. The UWS has had numerous clubs in the PNW reach out to them for more info and Francisco and other league leaders see this as an opportunity to help develop relations in the area and in the future, perhaps create a Pacific Northwest conference (currently, the UWS’ west coast presence is only in Southern California).

The semi-finals and final will be live-streamed by Oregon Sportsbeat and there may be a cash-prize, depending on what the teams agree to, in addition to a trophy made out of crystal. Winners of the cup qualify as the Champions of Oregon and will be invited to the McAdams Cup, a larger regional women's championship, hosted by the PCSL out of British Columbia.

The first round of the OWOC is scheduled to begin Mid-June. More information to come.