With the USL Super League set to kick off on Saturday, the crew of the Protagonist Podcast Super Show have rallied together to produce a primer for any new fan looking to find out about the 8 clubs beginning play in the Super League. They gathered the information they could, without any play on the field just yet, and have the goods on every team!

Brooklyn FC

While plenty of the Super League launch clubs have work to do to connect with their local fans, no one has a tougher task than Brooklyn FC. Fighting through the crowded soccer media market to find fans will be no easy task for the expansion side. Max Mansfield, Brooklyn FC’s CEO, already has some experience with bringing a new pro soccer club into this market, having been involved with the launch of the now-defunct New Amsterdam FC in NISA. He’s a veteran of the youth game in NYC and will be key to finding talent from the area. Home games will be at Maimonides Park on Coney Island, a baseball park with a capacity of 7,000.

Key Signings

Taylor Smith bolsters the defense with her professional and USWNT experience. Her professional career goes back to 2016, playing on the inaugural NWSL championship team Western New York Flash.
Sydney Martinez, goalkeeper, is one of the biggest gets for the USL Super League. The former USF Bull and current Puerto Rican national team starter is primed to be a star for this league. Given her play for PR, probably could destined for greener pastures eventually.
Defender Samantha Rosette is a local, born in the Bronx. She returns home with her experiences playing in Europe.
Hope Breslin is an attacking midfielder and is also a local product, having won three state high school championships for Massapequa High School. First pick ever by Angel City FC, she played this past season in Australia.

Coaching

As of this article, Brooklyn FC has not announced a head coach. This is, to put it mildly, concerning. One would hope that a coach is coming very soon and will help to create the style of play for the club.

Outlook

Without a head coach, and with the first player signing not happening until June, the assembly of this team looks and feels very much like a work in progress as the season begins. The good news is that the club doesn’t play its first game until August 31st, so there’s a little more time to get the squad together. Still, expect a rough going to the start of the season.

Carolina Ascent FC

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Carolina Ascent FC jumps right from finishing its USL W League season and gets ready for the fall pro season in the Super League. The main owner of the club is Dan DiMiccio, who has become a controversial figure in lower-league soccer. Recently, however, a Charlotte-area investment group of eleven women made a 25% purchase of the club.

Key Signings

Taylor Porter is a midfielder who has played in Europe as well as with Portland Thorns in NWSL
Stella Spitzer is a young, and we mean young, forward. At 14 years old, she was invited to the U.S. U-14 Youth National Team training camp this year and played for Sioux City Falls FC in the WPSL this summer with college players.
Vicky Bruce is a defender who has played professionally in Europe and, most recently, for Western Sydney Wanderers in Australia’s A-League. She brings seven years of professional experience to Ascent FC’s backline.

Coaching

Philip Poole is doing double duty as head coach and general manager for Ascent FC. Poole was part of the USWNT technical staff during qualifying for the Olympics in 2020 and 2024, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and winning four She Believes Championships (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023). He also coached at Wake Forest and UNC-Charlotte.

Outlook

Ascent FC has brought in a lot of youth and experienced players who have local ties. That should help the team connect to area fans in their home market. The question remains, does that translate to a winning team on the field? Poole has worked with talented rosters on the international scene, so he should be able to shape this roster into a functional force.

Dallas Trinity FC

Bringing in a balance of international players and college standouts they are building a well rounded squad of youth and technical understanding of the game. On paper they have a resume of experience untested at the highest levels. This causes some doubt about where they will end up on the season, but who doesn't love a good underdog story? Seeing the potential, ownership went all in on this team. They have secured the Cotton Bowl as their venue, it seats 92,000. Their first home match is against Barcelona feminil.

Key Signings

Amber Brooks is a recognizable name to NWSL fans. She was a staunch defender for the Houston Dash and has over 10 years as a pro. She’s a UNC alum winning the College Cup in 2009 and 2012. She was their first signing for a reason, I expect her to anchor that back line and bring veteran leadership to the team.
Allie Thornton is as a local player, who racked up 37 goals for SMU during college. She played for Belgian side Anderlecht scoring 25 goals in 2 years and winning back to back league championships in 2023 and 2024.
Gracie Brian holds TCU program records: all-time leader in assists (27), second all time in points (97) and third player in program history to record 30+ goals. She should be the midfielder pulling the strings.
Cyera Hintzen, forward, played for UT Longhorns contributing 27 goals in 72 matches and was the 31st draft pick in the 2020 NWSL draft.
Chioma Ubogagu, forward, came up in the US Youth National team, but has her senior caps with England. She won the FIFA U-20 WWC with the US in 2012. She was recruited by Stanford as the Top Drawer Soccer top recruit in 2011. She has time in the NWSL, England WSL, la liga. She was recently out for a bout with ovarian cancer, expect her to be back on the field fighting for it all.

Coaching

Pauline MacDonald is a former Scottish national player with 20 years coaching in Scotland. She is a former Arsenal player, 1999-2003, and is a perpetual winner as a player. She holds a UEFA pro license with a solid youth national team background. This hiring has potential, but she is untested at this competitive level, the physicality, tactics, and competitive nature. We’ve seen European coaches come to the NWSL and struggle.

Outlook

They have strongly recruited defenders with experience, look for this to be the focus and hard for other teams to break down in the final third. Scoring may come sparingly as they just rounded out their roster with a few attacking additions. Look for this team to slowly build up through the season and gel together as the younger players learn from the more experienced.

DC Power Football Club

This team has, so far, been a picture of how NOT to launch a new soccer club, especially in a market with another big name team in it. After announcing its existence, it was radio silence for several months, before announcing a surprise REBRAND! Shocking, seriously. On top of that, the club hasn’t been super active on social media, limiting the majority of its posts to player signings and little otherwise (aside from a couple of team outings). The team had a friendly against NC Tarheels and then posted zero photos of the match on Twitter and only a handful of photos its goalkeeper, Adelaide Gay, on Insta (featured above). Most of the clubs on this list would have plastered photos from that match all over their socials, but not DC. Plenty of things to worry about with DC Power launch, without a doubt, but the roster is chock full of veteran players who’ve played extensively for other professional sides.

Key Signings

Jorian Baucom is where this list starts for sure. The standout forward is a former SEC freshman of the year for LSU before transferring to Colorado, scoring 12 goals in her final year. She’s been rostered by multiple NWSL teams, with a sprinkling of play in several foreign leagues. Her final foreign club stint was with Hibernian in the Scottish Women’s Premier League where she scored 25 goals in 32 appearances.
Charlie Escourt is a current Welsh National Team midfielder. The 26-year-old was named Wales’ Young Player of the Year in 2015. She’s played for multiple teams in England, racking up over 100 caps in the country across various competitions.
Abbey-Leigh Stringer has had an extensive career playing for several women’s clubs in England. The midfielder has played for West Ham, Everton, and Aston Villa during her club career and made multiple appearances for the English national team. She’ll be a veteran presence in the DC midfield.
The goalkeeping unit is stacked for Power. Morgan Aquino is the younger stud with some great experience in the Australian A League, playing for three seasons for Perth Glory and winning the 2022-2023 Goalkeeper of the Year. She’s also made appearances for the Australian national team. The veteran on the roster is Adelaide Gay, who has played extensively within the NWSL and in several foreign leagues. Goalkeeping should be a strong point for DC.

Coaching

Frédéric Brillant is a former French professional player. Brilliant was most recently an assistant coach for Loudon United then became an Assistant coach with DC United. He most recently spent a some time coaching with the Utah Royals in the NWSL. This will be his head coaching debut. We’ll see if his experience and abilities on the field can be channeled into his players.

Outlook

So maybe the brand launch was a little rocky and the roster build didn’t start until well after most other clubs, there’s still plenty of reason to think this team has what it takes to impact the Super League from day one. Brilliant will bring his playing experience to shape this squad of quality players into something special. We believe, for now.

Fort Lauderdale United FC

Founded by Tommy Smith, Fort Lauderdale FC has been slightly overshadowed by the other Florida team in the Super League. That doesn’t mean the season will end that way, but Tampa flew out of the gate with signings and social media posts, leaving FTL to play catch-up. The roster has come together impressively, but new head coach Tyrone Mears is unproven. Ownership is investing $7 million to upgrade the stadium on Nova Southeastern University’s campus, expanding capacity from 2,000 to 7,000.

Key Signings

Laveni Vaka is a defender and the first professional women’s soccer player from Tonga; originally drafted by Bay FC in the 2024 NWSL Draft.
Makenna Gottschalk is a talented goalkeeper who shined in college playing for NMSU. She won tournament awards and set records playing in the net for the Aggies.
Felicia Knox was a standout midfielder for Alabama, winning 2022 All-American honors and SEC Midfielder of the Year. Originally drafted into the NWSL, she’s got talent and will be able to put up big numbers in FTL’s midfield.
Gianna Gourley was an attacking superstar for Grand Canyon University, in three seasons, she amassed 46 goals and 12 assists. If she can translate that success to the Super League, she’ll be a key contributor for FTL.

Coaching

After coming through the Manchester City youth program, FTL head coach Tyrone Mears made the rounds in his professional playing career. Stops include Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End, West Ham United, Derby County, Olympique de Marseille, Burnley, Seattle Sounders FC, Atlanta United FC, Minnesota United FC, and West Bromwich Albion. That’s a pretty impressive number of crests to wear, totaling 346 appearances at right back. Now we’ll see if all that playing time can translate into being a coach in the professional women’s game. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

Outlook

There’s a lot of talent on this roster, but plenty for them to prove in year one. It will be interesting to see how this team performs and we should get indications of Mears effectiveness very early on. If he’s the real deal, this team could be dangerous. If he struggles to find his footing as a head coach, there may be problems.

Lexington SC

Formerly an offshoot of a USL League One club, now this Super League team is an offshoot of a Championship club (with the recent announcement of moving up). One of the better dressed teams in the league, it will be interesting to see if the team can excel where it’s men’s sides have yet to. Like all the Super League teams, the organization has put together a functional roster of players with plenty of talent and experience to shine. Dickey, the head coach, will be a big part of the any success as he brings his experience to bear.

Key Signings

Emmi Dunn, midfielder, successful player in the WPSL, including captaining Charlotte Eagles to a national championship in 2023. Spent a season in Finland playing for Nurmijärven Jalkapalloseura (NJS).
Hannah Richardson, Forward, star player for University of Kentucky, spent time with Everton and Danish club, HB Køge.
Trinity Watson, center back, after a successful 5 year career with Pepperdine (including being shortlisted for the Mac Hermann Award), was a trialist with Racing Louisville FC and San Diego Wave in the NWSL before joining Indy Eleven in the USL W League, where she helped lead Indy to the 2023 USL W League Championship.
Grace Wisnewski, midfielder, has seen several stints with the New Zealand national team and played several years in the A-League with limited success.
Kailey Utley, forward, leading scorer for the club’s W League team last season. Brings plenty of leadership ability.

Coaching

Mike Dickey is the head coach of Lexington and brings some international experience that might be hard to find at this level. He’s coached within the US women’s youth programs and with the national women’s team of Jordan. Dickey’s resume is fleshed out by almost a decade coaching in youth academies. He’ll know how to handle the younger players on this team, but a lack of great success leaves us wondering how ready he is to take Lexington to the top of the table.

Outlook

Being paired with an existing club should pay plenty of early dividends for Lexington. Front office organization and best practices should already be in place, setting up the team to deliver on the field. While we wouldn’t pick Lexington to finish top of the table, we’d predict top half for sure.

Spokane Zephyr FC

The ownership of two power couples in the region: Katie and Ryan Harnetiaux, and Whitney and Jordan Tampien. They like a good crest with stripes, as one can see with both Zephyr FC and Velocity FC. That aside, there’s plenty of mysteries about this squad and what we can expect. Of all the USL Super League teams, Zephyr should have an advantage of an excited fanbase and have a true home crowd. The men draw 4k regularly in League One, so sky’s the limit when it comes to fan support.

Key Signings

Emina Ekic is a forward who scored eight goals in 21 games for Melbourne City in Australia.
Thais Reiss is a forward from Brazil who most recently played a season at Villarreal CF in Spain
Alyssa Walker is a forward who has European experience, having played in Norway, Sweden and Denmark
Midfielder Mollie Rouse comes from England but has US collegiate experience as well as playing in England and Germany

Coaching

Head Coach Jo Johnson had a successful collegiate career as a defender (All-American in junior college, All-conference player at UTEP); head coach at the high school level and an assistant coach at the college level (UTEP, Tulsa). Johnson wants to play a style she refers to as ‘aggressive possession’: moving the ball quickly and being able to take the ball away quickly. Will this new head coach be able to establish herself in this new league?

Outlook

Benji Ward of the Spokane Soccer Show Podcast offered his perspective on this team and what he expects this season. “The thing that fascinates me about this team is how differently it’s been built when compared to Velocity’s initial roster. There isn’t a lot of experience on this Zephyr team but there’s tons of high talent ceiling youth. Even their oldest players are a few years from 30. Meanwhile, they also have 25 players and depth at every position. So a lot of us in the Spokane market, including the 509 Syndicate, are really feeling spoiled going into the first game vs. Ft. Lauderdale. My expectations, having talked to coach Jo Johnson and several of the players is, at bare minimum, they will absolutely compete with any team in the super league.”

Tampa Bay Sun FC

If there’s one club on this list people are expecting to good right out of the box, it’s Tampa Bay Sun. The club probably had the biggest signing of year before a single player had been inked, when it added superstar refereeing expert Christina Unkel as its club president. Unkel is seen as a visionary and natural leader and the team was the first to announce signings and flesh out its front office, indicating a high level of organization and professionalism from the start.

Key Signings

Kristen Edmonds, defender, was announced this week. The veteran NWSL player will bring championship pedigree to Sun’s backline.
Sydny Nasello a forward with plenty of talent, makes her return to the American soccer scene. She was an absolute menace for USF in college, but social media damaged her public profile beyond what NWSL could stomach, even after being drafted. There’s a redemption arc here, maybe.
Erika Tymrak is a midfielder with a wealth of experience playing in the NWSL for over a decade. She’s also had a couple of call-ups for the USWNT earlier in her career. At 33, she’s still young enough to impact this squad, both on the field and off.
Jade Moore is another 33-year old midfielder that could shine for Tampa. Her resume includes multiple stops across England and 51 caps for the Lionesses.

Coaching

Tampa needed a coach, but wanted a local. They got one in Denise Schilte-Brown. She’s coached USF for 17 years and has her finger on the pulse of Florida soccer. Under her watch, USF made 10 NCAA Appearances and won two conference championships. If there’s a player in Florida, Schilte-Brown knows who she is and if she can help the Sun. She’s a veteran leader and will make a massive difference this season.

Outlook

Tampa Bay should be the favorite heading into this season. They’ve got plenty of talent on the field, on the touch line, and in the front office. That feels like a recipe for success and should pay dividends immediately in the Super League.

- Protagonist Staff