With COVID19 Spiking, UWS Cancels Cup

July 9th was supposed to bring the UWS to the forefront of the grassroots soccer landscape, but the pandemic decided otherwise. With cases spiking in Texas (and many other parts of the country), the league has decided to cancel the UWS National Cup.

The Medical Director for the UWS, Dr. Martha Pyron, expressed the league’s concerns in a press release. “Due to the increase in cases in our area and the fact that teams would be flying in, I felt that the risk had increased to a point where we could not ensure the safety of all participants.” Danny Woodfill, owner and GM of FC Austin Elite, offered his own thoughts. “When we first started planning, things looked very promising, but since announcing the cup things haven’t been as rosy. Taking into account Gov. Abbott’s recent announcement and our medical advice from Dr. Martha Pyron, now is not the time to have teams flying in from around the country to Austin. We’ll look at what we can do within our local area and what competition would be appropriate, but this national tournament doesn’t make sense at this time.”

With the Challenge Cup cancelled, there are some friendlies still scheduled in the month of July. If things continue to spiral, those may be in jeopardy as well.

- Dan Vaughn

Ryan’s Weekend Recap

UPSL

In UPSL Division One action, 2020 newcomer Alaska Timbers kicked off The Last Frontier Conference season against 2019 Conference champion Arctic Rush. If there were any nerves for the league rookies, it certainly didn’t show in their on-the-pitch performance.

In the eighth minute, Arctic was dispossessed of the ball after a promising sequence in the attacking half, and the Timbers countered with a through pass through the middle to a just barely onside forward who split the nearest defenders, then calmly slotted away the opening goal of the match in a 1v1 with the Rush goalkeeper. The Timbers would take full advantage of the momentum switch from there on in the first half, seizing on a sloppy clearance by Arctic on a Timbers corner to slip a goal through heavy traffic in the box for their second score. Three minutes later, a near deja ‘vu moment for the Timbers as they crossed a free kick opportunity from the near corner into the box, Rush made the initial touch, but again with a poor clearance, and Timbers struck for their third goal into an all but wide open net.

The second half would see Timbers continue to dominate possession with sustained attacking sequences of play, clearly using their advantage on the scoreboard to work on their hold-up and crossing play while wearing down the flustered Arctic defense chasing the ball. In the 56th minute, the Timbers would slip a through pass into the penalty area, where the forward chipped the keeper for Portland Timbers Alaska affiliate to take a commanding 4-0 lead. Arctic would find some attacking rhythm late, due in large part to the tireless efforts of their forwards and wings chasing plays back deep int the defensive half and countering together down the wide boundaries of the pitch. They were rewarded with a goal to salvage some positives going into their next match, while the Timbers, for now, are certainly sitting comfortably in the driver’s seat for the conference title in 2020.

Alaska Timbers 4, Arctic Rush 1

Up Next:

Arctic Rush @ MatSu Utd FC (Formerly Alaska City FC), Sunday, June 28th

Alaska Timbers vs MatSu United FC, Sunday, July 12th

Other UPSL Action

Division One:

Division Two:

UWS League 2

The inaugural season of United Women’s Soccer’s League 2 kicked off in Central Florida with Unity FC and Orlando FC Royals.

Unity FC opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a low cross from just outside the penalty area being toe’d into the bottom corner of the goal in a baseball-like sliding effort from the center forward. The Royals and Unity would then trade a flurry of chances and near-goals through the next twenty minutes in an even match, until Unity had free kick in the 32nd. The Unity FC kicker drilled a shot through the Royals’ defense and buried it outside the goalkeeper’s reach just inside the left post. The Royals countered with a gifted 1v1 chance, but the Unity keeper stood on her head and left the Royal without a score at the end of the half.

The second half saw the Royals step up their attacking play, but remained goalless despite a number of early chances. The Royals received a penalty kick opportunity in the 48th, but they failed to convert, and Unity FC scored again on the counter in the 53rd, all but putting the match out of reach at 3-0. The Royals would continue to dial up the attacking pressure, registering another 6 scoring chances before finally scoring with a strike launched from 35-40 yards out that will probably be a favorite for UWS goal of the year.

The Royals would come away empty on another 6 scoring chances, while Unity would again counter in the 84th minute with a well timed through pass and 1v1 opportunity for their 5th goal of the match. After 90 minutes, despite having a 16-11 advantage in shots taken, the Royals would fall to Unity FC by three goals.

Unity FC 4

Orlando FC Royals 1

Up Next: Unity FC vs SportsParadize SA, Saturday, June 27th

Other Matches: Gulf Coast Premier League newcomers Crescent City FC played the NPSL’s Port City FC to a 0-0 draw Saturday evening in an inter-league friendly match.

Working for the Weekend

UWS Prepares for Center Stage

While my opinions about soccer in the pandemic wouldn’t shock anyone that frequents this website, I can’t pretend I’m not a tiny bit excited for the UWS to be center stage. The league announced late last week that a National Cup would be help in Round Rock, Texas, July 9-17. As of the time of this article, the confirmed total of 7 teams will be participating, with 3 clubs from outside the state joining 4 Texas clubs. The 7 clubs are: Bat Country FC, CTX Hornets, Dallas International, FC Austin Elite, Lancaster Inferno, Santa Clarita Blue Heat, and Worcester Smiles.

I approached Danny Woodfill, GM of FC Austin Elite, about his plans for the Cup his team will be hosting. First off, why Austin? “Round Rock and Williamson County were much more lightly affected by the COVID Pandemic and as we considered playing this Summer, we thought we’d be able to and there probably teams across the country in lightly affected areas that might want to play. We have the facilities and more favorable conditions, so I thought we had to do something.”

The players will be dormed at Concordia University Texas which has a newer campus that is currently closed to outsiders, just the kind of environment needed to sequester and protect the health of the players involved. And the chance of sickness is a real thing, but Woodfill highlighted the UWS’ focus on the safety of every player. “You can never fully insure the safety of players, soccer is a game of risks; however, we have worked very hard to minimize risk. We’ve worked with our medical director, Dr. Pyron and her Medicine in Motion staff to make sure that we put in strong standards and we reduce risks. We will sequester travelling teams in dorms so they minimize their exposure to regular travellers. Additionally the city of Round Rock is fully committed to helping maximize safety and minimize risk, so we feel we can do this safely.”

The league’s press statement outlined the details of the competition: “a 9-day tournament format of three games, semifinals, and final.  The tournament will be held without fans, and games will be live-streamed.” Woodfill mentioned that his goal is for the live-stream to be HD. “It’s expensive, but we want as many people to watch as possible.” The league is currently looking for sponsors to cover the cost of streaming.

Registration for the tournament is open for all teams (UWS or otherwise) until Friday. Until that deadline is reached, the UWS can’t finalize lineups, format or matches. So we’re expecting next week to bring more details on the tournament.

- Dan Vaughn

Soccer in the Age of COVID - an Editorial

Last week, UWS announced the 2020 National Cup, a small format (currently 7 clubs) tournament to be held in Round Rock, TX (story to come later this week). Several weeks ago, UPSL announced that the 2020 Spring season would kick off in a limited number of states across the country. There will be no national playoffs, but locally, there will be matches. And while many in the soccer community are celebrating this return to soccer, I’m left wondering if this is the right decision.

The pandemic has really derailed life across the world. For months now, people have been forced to adjust their lives in hopes of flattening the curve. Facial protections, social distancing, and limited travel have all become a part of the equation which governs our daily lives. With schools and daycares now closed, kids are kept home to stay safe. Unemployment has surged nationally, while many have lost jobs, and others have had hours severely slashed. In most circumstances, those that are continuing to work have to take their lives into their own hands, particularly if they are older or immunocompromised. And ALL sports were cancelled for a time.

But life finds a way.

People are beginning to go out, some with care, while others seem to throw caution to the wind. Stores are packed in parts of the country, while restaurants seem to have customers on every corner. Beaches are crowded with people. Protests for reopening seem to have had some effect as more and more states are trying to take the economy back online.

In soccer, the Bundesliga was back first, then the Premier League is coming back online in a week or so, and soon NWSL and MLS will follow suit in this country. NISA is in talks for a summer tournament, while USL seems to be headed towards playing a limited schedule with some audience (not sure just yet). And while it seems like these leagues have some protocols in place, the further down the chain you go, the less money is available to implement rigid testing and sequestering.

I understand that every person’s reaction to the pandemic and their level of care is based on a host of factors - personal risk, family risk, economic status, geographic location, political affiliation, scientific background, information level - all of those things play a role in how you’ve decided to deal with the pandemic. And while I think I am right, I live in a pluralistic society, we’re in this together and I’m not the king. So, we have to come to a consensus locally, state-wide, and as a nation. We have to decide how we will function.

For me, I am a 41-year-old, type 2 diabetic. I feel a high level of risk due to my own health, but that’s pretty specific to me. My city has seen our numbers rise and our curve has never “flattened” but continued to rise. I am forced to work because I have bills to pay and my company has remained open, and that makes me worry a lot. I see so many people who refuse to wear masks, regardless of the science behind it. Not wearing a mask has become some sort of badge to prove loyalty to political persuasion. The political machinations have also fostered a rising wave of anti-science and anti-media sentiment, which amplifies people’s second guessing. It’s frustrating and makes me feel unsafe. For me, no amount of soccer is worth the risk of death - to me or anyone else. And I am the editor of this tiny section of the internet called Protagonist Soccer.

So, with all that being said, UPSL and UWS are readying to kick off. How should we handle our coverage? My staff is divided. One argued no. One argued yes, but with disclaimers. One has remained silent on the matter so far. But in the end, this is my call.

And that’s why I’m writing this article. Because the baby has to be split some way and this article is that split. We’ll continue to cover soccer, but we will do it with great fear about the health ramifications for those involved. We’ll cover it remotely (as we do most of the time anyway), but we’ll generate articles and reports on the leagues that are playing. I believe in the game and want to see it flourish, so we’ll cover it. This site occupies a particular niche that few else fill - we cover these levels of soccer (to the best of our ability). If we don’t write the articles, who else will?

So, we will.

- Dan Vaughn

A COVID19 Report Card: Grading the Leagues' Response to the Pandemic

With the UWS finally cancelling their season, we’ve finally reached the conclusion of leagues we cover. With that in mind, I’m going to recap how and when each club decided how to handle their season in the time of pandemic and I’ll give them a rating A-F. I used to be a middle school teacher, so I should be able to handle this.

How it Happened: The spring season kicked off, sparking a ton of excitement, with newcomers Detroit City FC, Chattanooga FC, and Michigan Stars bringing a surge of talent to the league. Two weeks into the season, the pandemic was finally ramping up to the point it couldn’t be ignored. On March 12th, the league office announced it would be putting the spring season on hold for 30 days to allow the situation to unfold. After a month and a half, the league officially pulled the plug on April 27th.

The Aftermath: When the league announced the spring cancellation, they immediately announced plans for a summer challenge cup that would involve multiple amateur clubs along with NISA sides. As of now, that is still in the works. NISA also set up an eLeague and began play. The league has also made an announcement about the format and schedule of the fall season, giving fans a lot to look forward to. NISA finances are less clear than many leagues, so how they handled the obvious losses, it’s hard to tell from the outside. We do know some clubs are definitely continuing to honor player contracts and there are some that have not.

Got it almost perfect - regular communication, few leaks, future plans in place to hold fan attention. Only miss, player salaries.

How it Happened: Rumblings of the cancelled season began leaking very soon after talks began. I received multiple contacts from within the league that this was coming, but had to hold until we had concrete information. Unlike the UPSL, which has a fall season to regroup in, the NPSL, mostly due to the collegiate players, has to play in the early summer. On March 25th, Michael Lewis of Front Row Soccer put out a story claiming the league was cancelling the 2020 season. Soon after, we received confirmation from sources in the league and ran the story as well. The plan had been for the league to announce the cancellation the next day. Leaks happen.

An internal email revealed the league was relying on the decision from USASA, which recommended cancelling any group through April 30th. The league decided it was best to cancel the season.

The Aftermath: While the decision to cancel the season was probably the right one, the league was prepared an eLeague rollout soon after. That helped take a tiny bit of the heat off the league in the social media sector, but there were some issues that emerged, regardless.

In a move that at least one other league would mirror, the NPSL decided to keep the entirety of the league fee, while only supplying a partial credit for 2021. The fee of $5,500 was reduced to a $2,000 credit. I can tell you, clubs are NOT happy about this move. Maybe it’s a reality is grassroots soccer, but it felt really unfair to clubs operating on a shoestring budget.

And aside from that decision, everything the league did leaked before it was officially announced. This is good from a media perspective, but not good if you’re a league trying to crisis manage.

Not Good, Bob - kept their league fees, leaked like a sieve, pissed off their fans and clubs.

WPSL

How it Happened: On March 20th, the WPSL announced they would be postponing the start of the league by a month, moving the season kickoff from May 9th to May 29th. The press release contained a word of caution from Sean Jones, “If the situation doesn’t seem to be improving by the end of April and our top medical experts are recommending avoiding outdoor activities, then the WPSL will comply and not compete in 2020. We have informed our teams that we will provide them 30 days advanced notice if the cancelation does take place.” That would prove to be the case, so on April 30th, the league announced the cancellation of the season.

The Aftermath: Contained in the press release cancelling the season was a precursor announcement of a potential, one-off, fall season. This would be challenging, with the large amount of college players that participate in the league, but it certainly kept up hopes that amatuer women’s soccer would be seen in 2020. However, much like the NPSL, the league decided to keep the now cancelled 2020 season fees, $3,500 per club, but offering only $1,000 credit for 2021 (or the potential fall league). Unlike the NPSL, Sean Jones got ahead of this story and gave the logic and reasoning behind the decision, which staunched the bleeding a bit.

Better, but not perfect - kept in front of the story, prepped a fan pleaser, did damage control. All in all, a mixed bag.

How it Happened: The UWS was great at keeping their clubs updated on the situation. Kudos on that. The league ran the clock out on this one, hoping to find a way to fit in a season. On March 12th, the league continued to plan on a season. On the 20th, the announced that the schedule would be adjusted. On April 4th, the league announced they still intended to play a 2020 season. However, on June 9th, the season was called and the league announced the regular 2020 season wasn’t going to happen. They just announced (June 12th) the UWS National Cup. As of today, seven teams are participating and the tournament will be hosted in Texas by FC Austin Elite.

The Aftermath: The big benefit of waiting until the last possible moment to cancel the season was that the UWS had learned from the missteps made by the other national amateur leagues. Every league that had given severely limited credit had been raked over the coals on social media. UWS, in a move their own press release called “bucking the trend,” the league announced they would be giving their clubs “approximately 80% credit towards next season’s fees.” And don’t think that last line of the press release isn’t an invite to other amatuer woso clubs “United Women’s Soccer looks forward to returning even stronger in 2021 with a full season of high level competition.”

I have two major complaints. One is that the league could have shown more leadership in cancelling the season earlier. Felt like it dragged out about two weeks longer than it should have. The other complaint is the inherent risks that come with playing soccer without the payroll to establish strong safety protocols with rigorous testing.

Close, very close - good communication, learned from other leagues’ mistakes, took care of clubs. Should have called it earlier.

How it Happened: The UPSL has, at times, struggled in moving with agility in public relations. I say this as a guy who emails the league looking for information on the regular. They are polite, but I’m almost always told, “we’re working on that.”

The league announced they would postpone the season on March 25th, using similar logic to the NPSL. The date the UPSL gave was May 2nd, which many scoffed at for being way too early for resuming play. Then an announcement came out on May 15th that league play would resume, in limited scope, on June 20th. Some states won’t allow play at this point, so those clubs won’t be participating. However, league powerhouse states like Florida and Texas, with governors set on reopening the economy, would be up and running. The league did stipulate that “The intention is to run a 10-game regular season ending the weekend of August 22-23 followed by two weekends of play-off competition, the second of those being Regional Finals on the weekend of September 5-7. Once participating divisions and teams are known, the play-off structure and season schedule will be released. This will occur no later than Thursday, June 11.”

The Aftermath: And this is the big gamble that I’ve discussed on at least 4 podcasts at this point. What happens if there’s a team infection scenario? Or if a player potentially dies from this? Or a fan gets sick from attending a match? Unlike the big professional leagues, the UPSL can’t have the same level of safety protocols. It’s a gamble, but will it pay off. That remains to be seen.

We just don’t know yet. Good communication, but with play about to resume, we shall see if the gamble pays off.

An Interview with DCFC's Sarah Huge

So tell us about yourself!

Sarah Huge (actually pronounced like Hugee and not just huge haha though I definitely respond to “huge”). I grew up in Northville, MI as Sarah Stern and played locally with MI Rush and Hawks. I earned a scholarship to play at Michigan State University for the 2008-2011 seasons. I met my husband there, Cody Huge (always called ”Huge”) who played baseball for MSU. I earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and eventually my Masters. I taught 4th grade for 5 years in Ann Arbor. While I did my student teaching, I began coaching youth club soccer. We moved to Canton and I fell in love with the Canton Soccer Club which is the DCFC Youth West program you see today! I never stopped playing soccer. I played for a couple women’s club teams, Motor City FC, and Ann Arbor Lumberjills. My times off were to have our daughter in 2017 and son in 2019. I was super motivated to get back in shape for the forming DCFC Women’s team. I just celebrated my quarantined 30th birthday in April. 

Can you describe your game?

I’ve always been an attacker but I’ve played defense for teams that needed it specifically. I have scored a lot of goals in my day but assists have always been as important to me. I was the youth player that after I scored multiple goals, I’d hold the ball in the opponents box and wait for a teammate to get there. Most of my coaches didn’t like it. 

What was your experience/knowledge with DCFC prior to trying out this year?

I would say I have a pretty good soccer IQ and see the field well. I am very vocal on the field and am sure you will never hear me shut up in the center back position. 

You were named the first women's captain of DCFC, how does that feel?

I am honored for the opportunity and will take the role seriously. I know several of the players through playing with them at some point in my career or know them from coaching youth soccer. Hopefully I am a good link to keep everyone motivated in this weird time.

Have you been captain on previous clubs?

I was captain of my youth and women’s club teams, high school soccer, high school basketball, and I have been given the band for games with my previous semi-pro teams.

What's the experience with DCFC been like so far (barring the pandemic, obviously)

The DCFC has given me an experience that I’ve never had before! I’ve never experienced this type of fan support, hype, or excitement with a team I’ve played for, and that’s saying something coming from Big10 soccer. The organization and professionalism is so amazing as well. 

The pandemic sort of shut everything down, how have you been coping?

It’s been interesting. Luckily my kiddos are young enough they won’t remember this and our schedule didn’t change all the much besides activities we would go to throughout the week. We all really miss our frequent visits from my mom, GiGi! Who with her help and my husband’s makes playing even possible!  Trying to stay in shape in the sometimes 40 minutes of nap time is tough, but my husband has been doing an amazing job taking the kids for me to do stuff as well between his busy and demanding schedule running a heating and cooling business. Shout out to Crain Heating and Cooling!  

Will the club be getting in any soccer in 2020?

The club is very committed to getting us on the field in some fashion but obviously changes have already been made to the season and more will come I'm sure. I am very hopeful, though! 

What kind of formation/tactics/style will the club bring to the field?

I’ve worked with the legendary Coach Sam Praine, for several years now and he actually coached me in my first travel club soccer year at U10! He knows how to take talent and put us in the best position to win. We have so many amazing attacking players that it will be a fun challenge putting together the right combination and formation. With the help of the rest of the awesome staff, Charlie Bell, Kyle Winningham, and Jon Evans, it’s going to be fun to watch! Defensively, we will be organized and disciplined but we have a ton of skill and speed to contribute on the attack as well. 

Any hype music you listen to every match?

At MSU it was anything we could dance to and the dance parties before games in the locker room were pretty epic but otherwise I am one that plays best when I am relaxed and having a great time with the laser focus starting with the whistle, so I’ll jam to anything up until that point! 

Chips Ahoy: original or soft baked?

Original I guess, though I’m much more of an ice cream gal!

Anything else we should know?

Thanks to all the supporters that have continued to stay engaged and excited with us!  Cannot flipping wait to get going!!! Mama needs some soccer in her life again!!! Lol 

Salvatore Piraine: Taking DCFC Into Uncharted Waters

Last year, with some fanfare, Detroit City FC announced major plans for the future and a brand new club expansion. After 8 years of playing men’s soccer in multiple leagues (NPSL, NISA), the rouge and gold are entering new territory by rolling out a women’s side into the United Women’s Soccer. The club is known for having talented sides and supporters as notorious as any player on the field. As the kickoff to the next UWS season approaches, we sat down with head coach Salvatore Piraine to discuss how he’s preparing his club for their first season in a new league.

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You've been coaching since 2002, can you talk about the path that brought you to Detroit City FC? 

I have been coaching for a while now, and I would say in the last 10 years I have not only coached in the youth game, but also with some men’s amateur teams over the summers.  So the level of summer "Semi-pro" summer ball is something that helped me get to this point.. The relationship now with Detroit City FC and the youth affiliates has also helped with the working relationship we have created.

DCFC has a strong track record for sustainable growth, what made the time right for a WOSO side?

Couple things that I think has made this the right time for the club to add a UWS side. The level of soccer for females has grown within the UWS and the state of Michigan, along with the strong support of the female side of our youth affiliates made it a no brainer to put out a women's team to compete. 

Do you feel extra pressure to succeed because of the DCFC brand?

I wouldn't say that I feel pressure but do expect for us to compete immediately... It is always tough coming into an established division of a league and try to compete immediately but there is no reason why we shouldn't be able to. There will be definite learning moments that we will have being new to the league, but again, expect for us to learn and grow during the season to hopefully be competing in July.

What sort of support do you expect from the Northern Guard?

I feel that we will have massive support for the City faithful just based on the large amount of support we have already received. We had over 1,000 fans at our first ever tryout in January and the support via all social media has been amazing… Super excited!!!

Where are you in the process of staffing and roster building?

I would say that I have my staff in place, with maybe 1 or 2 volunteer opportunities that I am working on. As for the roster, it is a work in progress. Making sure that I am building a team that will buy into the culture we are trying to create. With the season being so short, my goal is to build a side that will work hard for me and each other. It is not necessarily what college you play or have played for, but more of buying in to what we want here at DCFC.

You’re building a roster from local talent, so how did your tryouts go?

We had 67 players turn up for tryouts and the level of play was good. I was able to narrow the number down and currently have a smaller pool of players that I am still looking at.

What are your expectations for season one?

Like mentioned above I would like to compete immediately. The UWS division we are playing in has teams that have challenged for a title so this division is not a walk in the park. I am looking for us to be as competitive as we can, that is all i can ask of the ladies...

The UWS site hasn't been updated yet, but I assume you'll be playing in the Midwest conference, several clubs familiar to DCFC from NPSL competition, plus Detroit Sun. Who do you see as rivals from day one?

Tough to say, I am sure every match will feel like an immediate rivalry but to just name one team, I cannot do.

How will you measure success this season?

I think we will sit at the end and take a look at what we accomplished and from there we will make the necessary changes for the following years if needed. 

Ten UWS Players Receive All-America Honors

With the Women’s College Cup last weekend, the United Soccer Coaches announced their Division I Women’s All-America Teams. On the list were 10 UWS players, including three time-selections Catarina Macario and Deyna Castellanos. According to a UWS press release, “this year's All-Americans will be acknowledged at the USC All-America Ceremony & Reception on Saturday, January 18, 2020 at the Baltimore Convention Center in conjunction with the United Soccer Coaches Convention.”

With a grand total of fifty-one players receiving All-America honors, the UWS features a full fifth of the top talent in Division I women’s soccer. Without a doubt the league is showing itself as a place for young women to develop their talent. The full list of UWS players who earned All-America honors is below.

Tara McKeown (credit Katie Chin)

2019 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-America First Team

D Stasia Mallin (University of Memphis - Indiana Union)

M Catarina Macario** (Stanford University - LA Galaxy OC)

F Tara McKeown (University of Southern California - Santa Clarita Blue Heat)

2019 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-America Second Team

D Sydney Cummings (Brown University - New Jersey Copa FC)

M Deyna Castellanos** (Florida State University - Santa Clarita Blue Heat)

M Roma McLaughlin (Central Connecticut State University - New England Mutiny)

2019 United Soccer Coaches NCAA Division I Women's All-America Third Team

M Samantha Dewey (Xavier University - Indiana Union)

M Taylor Kornieck* (University of Colorado - LA Galaxy OC)

M Atlanta Primus (California State University Fullerton - LA Galaxy OC)

F Evdokia Popadinova* (Florida Gulf Coast University - Santa Clarita Blue Heat)

* – denotes previous selection

Joe Ferrara Jr. and the State of United Women's Soccer

Amid one women’s soccer league folding and frustration over the direction of another, the United Women’s Soccer league formed in 2015. A Second Division women’s league, it was created to address the gap in player development from college to the professional leagues. 

Starting with only a few teams, the UWS now has twenty four clubs and has grown into a strong women’s soccer league. Live streaming every match through their website, their teams span from coast to coast. In their mission to develop female soccer players, they have sent over 70 athletes to professional leagues around the world in just the last two years. 

Acting league commissioner Joe Ferrara Jr, took the time to talk with me about the UWS, its mission and how he believes the league pushes women’s soccer even higher. 

- Megan Cleary

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To start off, we know the UWS and other Tier 2 leagues really don’t get that much coverage, so a lot of people might not know who you are. I’d love just a brief introduction into you, how you ended up being head of this league and your background in soccer.

I originally started off as a franchise owner in 1999 of a W-League team and then I had become associate commissioner in the WPSL and brought the team over there. I served as associate commissioner for several years. Then in 2016, with a couple of other owners from the defunct W-league and some disenchanted owners from the WPSL, we decided to create the UWS.

Did you yourself play soccer in the past?

Yes. I played in various amateur leagues here and just played semi-professional here in Lobo, Massachusetts out of Lusitano Stadium, so I’ve been involved in the game from high school to college to adult.

Looking at the past I know that there was a little bit of a fall out between you and the WPSL? Is that correct? 

Correct, now I wouldn’t really term it as a fall out, you know Jerry Zanelli was my mentor. He was the one that first brought me into the WPSL and we worked hand and hand together. I have tremendous respect for what he did for women’s soccer and the league. So it was really more of a philosophical difference.

 Jerry was content with being the largest women’s league and bringing in teams. Geographically made lots of sense but the quality for us, my team in general and others, we want our teams at a “professional level” - quote unquote. So we do all the fan care, with building fan attendance and standards and building media attention. It was difficult for us when we were in a division with four other area Boston teams. It was difficult to market. The level of competition of many of the teams was poor and we’re winning games eight, nine, nothing and it was just not akin to what we were trying to accomplish with our franchise, so it was just really a different philosophy. 

By no means saying there are no capable teams in the WPSL, but that variance in level was hurting us locally. We just felt this direction would raise women’s standards and organizations that want to operate a franchise like this, it was a better way to go for us. I wouldn’t really characterize it as a falling out, just a different philosophy that Jerry and I had.

One of the things that was mentioned, as far as differences between the WPSL and UWS, was that the WPSL can offer prize money and other incentives to be a part of it. What sets the UWS apart from the other second division leagues?

First and foremost, one of the issues that I had when I left the WPSL was that our team was pretty consistently in the playoff picture but we were never really given a subsidy to travel. That put a major hit on our travel budget. Every other season, or every two out of three years, it’s a big expense. So our founding principle, when we started, was to first and foremost ensure there was a sizeable subsidy for our playoff teams. All of our teams, through our [league] history who have legitimately qualified for their playoff position, have been able to go and attend and make the playoffs, which was not the case in the WPSL. It was basically the teams who could afford to go, who basically ended up being the representatives. 

We just felt that was a poor look. It penalized teams for having a good product on the field. That was one of the major focuses that we wanted to have, was to make sure those monies were there for the teams who were going all the way. 

If I’m doing the math right there are 23 teams in the UWS? 

Yes, currently.

That is huge. Where are you pulling from? Where are these athletes coming from? 

The athletes are actually far-reaching. The majority I would say are division one college players, you know, current student athletes. We have several post collegiate and former professionals, a great deal of internationals and some tremendous high school players. 

What’s been great with our league, in the last two offseason alone, I’ve processed over 75 international clearances for players in the UWS to go overseas and play-up in various professional leagues in other countries. Some of them come back and return to us during our season. We’ve been hitting it pretty hard globally and we’ve had tremendous success in being able to place players in the professional leagues. And you know here and there some really high caliber high school players, but for the most part, division one college players, post collegiate players and international is our pool.

Does that limit your season, since they are coming from college? Is it may to August?

Current model, yes. 

Division 1 college players aren’t allowed to join us until May 1st, and depending on the institution, we could have players stretching it to the end of the July. So it’s a short season. We have been discussing in-house what we can do to make a longer season. Now obviously, under current NCAA rules, that would forgo some teams utilizing collegiate players but that’s the model we’re in right now. 

What makes you the most excited about this upcoming season? What are you looking forward to? What changes are you potentially making for the UWS?

The level of competition is what’s been exciting, along with the crowds that some of our teams have been getting. Austin played out of Bold stadium and they had over 1,200 people there. The new England Mutiny had a 1000 people at their opener. The national championship had nearly a 1000 fans in Calgary. The LA Galaxy are always the league leaders in attendance, they are in a tremendous facility out in Orange County. Our championship in Grand Rapids two years ago had nearly 2,000 spectators. That’s really the exciting part. 

We just accepted Detroit City in the league. They’re one of the preeminent organizations on the men’s side out there and we fully expect them to have their women’s side with the same type of electricity in their stadium and fanfare. We’re excited to have them on board. That’s what truly exciting about the league, not only our main standard of operation, but having an organization that has fans in the seats as well and showcases women’s soccer.

There really is limited coverage when it comes to Tier 2 women’s soccer; in what ways would you like to see that change? 

It’s something I’ve really had to deal with for over 20 years, not only my own franchise but in various leagues. We’re out there asking for coverage, looking for coverage, it’s why interviews like we’re having right now are tremendous to get the word out. Anything we can do to be media friendly as a league we’re always accessible. I’ve seen the challenges over the years between layoffs and print media cuts and all that, so I get it, I understand it. It’s rare that resources from some media outlets are used to cover second division women’s soccer in general, but whatever we can do to make it as easy as possible to get the word out is what we’ve tried to accomplish.

Do you have a relationship with US Soccer? 

US Soccer provides us sanctioning. We have all the insurances and have the ability to play international games, register professional players and have our Canadian teams sanctioned through them. So, we have a working relationship with US Soccer. Obviously, I’d like to see more matters accomplished, whether that’s more funds allocated to second division or a different tier, but those conversations are ongoing. 

Do they provide any marketing assistance or is that all pretty much you? 

No they do not, pretty much the league operates part and parcel. They affiliate with US Soccer, but it’s really incumbent on them to how they want to operate and how they market themselves.

Do you have a relationship with the NWSL since some collegiate athletes and some semi-professionals might be coming from them?

Yes we know all the teams and communicate with them regularly for players. We have affiliate teams, “reserve teams” - quote unquote, so there is a relationship there in each individual market. We have been able to accomplish anything on a league-wide basis. Hopefully, the time will come but they’re still trying to gain a solid footing as well. But the communication there has always been great.

I also want to ask if you have a relationship with the MLS because the LA Galaxy were the champions last year, is that correct? I wondered if that was associated with the MLS team?

It’s an affiliate. There are a few affiliates out in the southern California region. There is some synergy, but basically the teams are independent operations of each other currently. The relationships with MLS teams are basically market to market from a league standpoint. 

Is there anything else that you would like the public to know about the UWS?

Well you know we are very proud of the number of professional contracts in the last two off seasons that have been signed from players in our league. I’m getting international clearance requests on a daily basis. Like I said, we’ve processed over 80 clearances in the last two years for players to go overseas. That’s been exciting, to see players being recognized. At the end of the day that’s why we do this. Most of our teams aren’t making money, so to see them promote their female players and have them promoted has been tremendous. 

Which countries have they been going to? 

We have them in teams in: Sweden, Germany, Mexico, Spain, England of course. Then in France, the W-League in Australia. There’s a few others here and there processed, you know just looking at the list: Portugal, Denmark, Italy, Greece, Iceland. But the majority are the more established leagues: England, Spain, Sweden, Australia.

Was there anything else that you wanted to say?

By no means do we want to be the largest league in the world. Our focus is on the quality of our organization and we’ve done a tremendous job with that. Like I said, our attendance figures are up this year once again and now we have a live streaming platform where all of our matches are livestreamed. We’re out providing a professional atmosphere for the players and developing their ability to get them moved on to higher leagues. We’re proud of what we’re doing – we’re just going to maintain course. 

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Where are they now?

UWS has a great track record of getting players into international leagues. At this time, 78 former UWS players are playing professionally around the world in other leagues.

Livestreams of all United Women’s Soccer League games can be found at https://www.uwssoccer.com/home.

Editor’s Note: The introduction contained some inaccurate information about the UWS. It has been corrected.

Sean Jones: The Outspoken President

The world of women’s lower league soccer is effectively split four ways: WPSL, UWS, UPSL, and regional leagues. Much like the men’s side, there is almost no coverage of these lower leagues, as they continue to generate great players without a sniff of national media coverage. In an effort to remedy this situation, I sat down with Sean Jones, President of the WPSL, to discuss the WPSL from a variety of viewpoints. Jones was a candid interview, speaking bluntly about every question I threw at him. Typically these types of interviews yield bland answers that have been carefully cleansed of any strong opinion or outspoken takes. Jones definitely didn’t take that approach. Honestly, his approach was absolutely refreshing. I hope you enjoy this interview and Sean Jones’ perspective on the state of lower league WOSO.

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Protagonist: You’re going to be a complete unknown for most of our audience, so let’s begin with you, personally. What’s your background and how did you come to the sport of soccer?

SJ: That’s going to be a long story... My mother is German, my father was in the military, so I had a little bit of an introduction to soccer because my mom followed it. Every summer spent in Germany, playing, going back and forth, staying with my grandparents. I fell in love with the sport at an early age. Never really got to play because I grew up in central Ohio. The year we moved to Oklahoma from Ohio was the first year they started soccer in schools. So I started playing. Played a little bit collegiately for a year before playing for a rec league at Oklahoma State. After college I played in the USISL, with the Oklahoma City Warriors, but I made no claim to fame as a player, I was a very average player who just really liked it. Got involved, at an early age coaching, started at 14 or 15, helping out with my coach. By the time I was 16, I was helping run Oklahoma and Texas All Star soccer camps. I spent my summers coaching in soccer camps, all the way through college. Paid my way through college basically paying for it by coaching soccer through the summers. Ended up married with 5 children and they were all involved with soccer. My oldest, my son, coached him quite a ways. I had 4 daughters, that was kind of my involvement in women’s soccer. I just enjoyed coaching women more, I really fell in love with that part of the sport.

Jones, center, is an owner in the league as well. (Image courtesy of the Journal Record)

Protagonist: Your 2019 Championship match was less than a month ago. Do you think playing the match in a neutral site offers unique challenges for a league which sometimes struggles to draw crowds in the best of situations? Does a neutral site just magnify that problem?

SJ: There are challenges, but we took this approach - when we took the league over and moved the headquarters to Oklahoma City, for the first several years, we wanted to host it, because we want to make sure it’s a great event, #1. #2, our team [that Jones is involved with], Oklahoma City FC, had made it to three Final Fours. So the first year we made it, we went to Pensacola. They had a home field and there were probably 200 people in the stands, it was not well-supported. This whole argument, “it’s a hometeam, you’re gonna have a crowd.” I think that some teams (Asheville, Tulsa) produce really good crowds during the season and those teams can also draw a good crowd for a championship. There’s others that don’t produce great crowds during the season and I don’t know why a championship would change that.

“Let’s prove the model, that it does benefit the Utah Royals to have a reserve team in a league like this and then maybe we can go and work together to go to the NWSL and see how our leagues can work more closely. That’s something we definitely want to do.”

What we felt was, what if we tried to produce a top-notch event? Where the players are all treated very well, where we do a lunch paid for by the league. We put much more money into making sure it was a great facility, that the livestreaming was good. We wanted all the things around the championship to be done right. When the players arrived, we gave them t shirts, gift baskets, had a luncheon for them. Let’s try that and make it a great event. Then let’s start working on the crowd. Even though we might not have great crowds in the first couple of years, by hosting the championship, over time we can. “If you build it they will come” kind of idea. I'd be willing to bet you a steak dinner we’ll have 1,500 people at next season’s championship.

Protagonist: It seemed like a lot of lower leagues struggled to draw fans to their championships this spring. How much do you worry about fan support and match day atmosphere for a championship match?

SJ: We clearly want it to be better. Like I said before, we first wanted to get it in a great facility, which we did. Second, we wanted to make it an amazing weekend for the players, where we provide everything and they are treated like royalty. Everything was taken care of. So now we have that part hammered out. So the next part is the fans. Let’s give it two years and let’s see if we can drum up interest. Let’s try and get the local community to come out and support it. Let’s see what we can along those lines.

To be honest with you, just because this is our idea doesn’t mean it’s going to work or that it’s right. Let’s give it a couple of years and if we are able to draw good crowds, then we’ve solved that issue.

Protagonist: The two clubs in the Championship were Pensacola FC and Utah Royals Reserves, from a league perspective, is it a good thing to have a NWSL reserve side finish as the runner-up for your 2019 season? Does that question the strength of the league?

SJ: There’s a couple of ways to look at that. Most of their players, even though they are called a reserve side, are collegiate players. I’d venture a guess, if you looked at their roster, 80% of their players were collegiate athletes, just like every other club. So, it wasn’t like it was the 8 players that train with the first team [NWSL] that are filling time with the reserve team. In order to play with collegiate players, they are not under contract. So they are amateurs. The reality is, I know some of those girls train with the first team, but I don’t think a single person on their [Utah Royals Reserves] roster got minutes or even got on the bench for a first team [NWSL] game.

So although they are called “reserves,” I think the way Utah is looking at this is that they are bringing some players in that they may potentially want to draft and look at in the future. Also local players who may have the potential to play for the Royals in the future. That’s the way they are looking at it. It’s not a true “reserve” club.

We’ve got the Chicago Red Stars, they lost in the regional finals last year to Motor City. If all four teams [in the final four] were “reserve” teams, I’d say we have a problem. I think our top 20-30 teams can all compete with them very easily.

Protagonist: What’s the relationship between the WPSL and the NWSL? How do the leagues interact?

SJ: Right now, we really don’t have a relationship, but it’s something we’re working on.

In our first two years [with Jones as WPSL President], we’ve focused on getting the league standards up. Trying to promote the league and get the social media going. Our next step is to meet with the NWSL and find out how to work more closely. Our goal was to get Utah in this year and see how they work. Let’s prove the model, that it does benefit the Utah Royals to have a reserve team in a league like this and then maybe we can go and work together to go to the NWSL and see how our leagues can work more closely. That’s something we definitely want to do.

Protagonist: Well, the small size of the NWSL really sets up the second division leagues to have a high level of talent because there are only so many roster spots in the NWSL. That size issue creates a bottleneck on talent that the WPSL and UWS can absorb.

SJ: Absolutely. I think a lot of people don’t understand that. Last year, there were 36 players drafted in the NWSL. 23 of those 36 played in the WPSL the summer prior and 30 of the 36 have played in the WPSL at some point. 12 of the 23 on the USWNT had played in the WPSL. Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle both played in the WPSL. The talent level in this league is really high, especially on the top end.

I mean, you’re absolutely right. On the men’s side, there’s probably 60-70 teams of professional men’s clubs in North America, if not more. And then there’s 9 women’s teams. You can be an all-american your senior year and still not be drafted to the NWSL. There are a lot of developing opportunities overseas, but a lot of players don’t want to go overseas. So yeah, the level of our league is really high, which is fantastic for the clubs. The problem is, it’s a limited season, October to the end of July because 70-80% of our players are collegiate players, so it limits when they can play, which hurts those players who are post collegiate and want to use it as a springboard. It’s a great thing for our league, but I do think it’s something, over the next five years, that a league like ours and the NWSL do have to solve.

“I can promise you that every decision the UPSL makes is for men and if the women can come along for the ride, fantastic. It’s not a women’s league.”

There should be a second division of professional women’s soccer. And I think that’s coming, but I don’t think it’s happening until the NWSL gets to 18-20 clubs. It’s the same issue that MLS had in the beginning. USL didn’t really start to grow and prosper until MLS had matured and gotten stronger. Then USL solved the regional issue, getting enough clubs to get travel costs down. From my perspective, it’s a great position for the WPSL to be in to eventually help foster that second division, maybe it’s a WPSL Elite or something that the top teams in our leagues aspire to do. I will tell you, that out of the 120 teams in our league, 20-30 of them have that as their ultimate goal but they realize that might be 5, 7, 10 years down the road.

Protagonist: We’re pretty in favor of promotion relegation on our site and, in theory, your league could develop really strong clubs that could eventually move up into the NWSL. They would have already developed both their talent base and their fan base to a point where they could sustain going professional. That kind of idea seems to be something you could get to with a little bit of hard work and coordination between the two leagues.

SJ: I would agree 100% and I think the first step there is to get those clubs that are interested, maybe 8-10 regional clubs, who are interested in taking that next step and having an extended season. Those who have a reserve side in the WPSL during the summer, but their first team is post-collegiate players and ex professionals. They could play in a 5-6 month league. That could become a true second tier professional league. The key is we have to get enough teams close together to where they aren’t spending $20,000 a week on travel costs. That’s the problem with the UWS, isn’t it? The Western Conference, there’s a team in Colorado, two in Canada, two in California. Every week is a flight. For me, that’s a tough sell when that $100,000 you spent on travel could have been reinvested in your club. That’s the difficulty.

If you’re going to start paying players and have professional staff and invest the money to do that, yet the 20 game season, 10 trips, is going to be $250,000 to $300,000 to travel, that really makes it difficult. Now if you could put it together where out of your 10 trips, eight of them were by bus and two are flights, now all of a sudden it becomes much more reasonable. Much more sustainable. We need to grow this league to the point that we have enough clubs to get there. But I think that can happen, I really do.

Pensecola won the 2019 WPSL Title in 2019. (Image courtesy of WPSL and KT King)

Protagonist: You brought up the UWS, so let’s go that direction. Why should a club choose the WPSL over another national league? What sets the WPSL apart?

SJ: I’ll take this backwards first. I completely understood the reasons Joe Ferrara started the UWS in 2015. We were very frustrated with the way the WPSL was being ran, the lack of professionalism. I can remember how we would try to put games on - we would get in the car and drive to Texas and play a match in a mowed pasture with a portapotty in the corner. It was frustrating. It just wasn’t done right. I know that Joe and Jerry [Zanelli, previous commissioner of WPSL] had a falling out. I think he was frustrated with the minimum standards and I think he convinced eight or ten other teams that were all frustrated with the same things - they went out and started this league [UWS]. And I think in the beginning, for some clubs that wanted to play at a higher level, not necessarily on the field, but in standards and organization - Joe’s league had value.

I think since we took the WPSL over, I don’t think that exists any more. I think if you look at what we’ve done, as far as social media, media presence, website updates, statistics, I don’t think there’s any difference. In fact, I think we do a better job, because we have more financial backing. With the volume of teams in our league, we have more money to spend on those things, which we are. So I think the reason the UWS spawned made sense, but if I was looking at coming into the UWS versus our league now, I think it completely depends where you are in the country. In certain areas, the UWS is strong and the travel is good. In other areas, it’s terrible. There’s no reason to be in the UWS if I’m in Colorado and I can make one trip instead of eight, it makes no sense. If I’m in Michigan and I’ve got enough teams close enough, then I have to make a decision on which league I join.

“It’s sort of comical that there’s a bunch of men running a women’s league, right? It is something we are cognizant of and trying to improve.”

I’m not going to say anything negative about the UWS, they’ve done a good job. I do think you’ve seen though, they got as high as 30-32 teams and this year they’re back to 20-22. I think a lot of teams that thought about joining one league or the other, are now looking at us and saying “there’s no reason to join the UWS, this is a better league.” And when I say better, everything else is done well and they don’t have to spend the money on travel. For that reason, I think our league makes more sense.

Secondarily, I also think we have more resources. We had prize money this year. $52,000 went to clubs that made the regionals and nationals. Teams that made it to the finals had prize money, basically a bonus for advancing. We’re able to do that because of the volume of teams we have.

So, again I’m not saying anything negative about another league, but I think, looking from the outside looking in, if the travel is better in the WPSL and everything else is the same or better, why would I join one league versus the other? I think in the beginning, Joe and the UWS could push the fact that they were “a higher level.” That’s what they told everyone - “a higher level of soccer.” If you look at the competitions where our teams have played one another, like the Milk Cup in Michigan. There was a very good UWS team, Detroit, Motor City beat them 7-0 in the final. So, Houston Aces is one of the best UWS sides, the Houston Aces struggled to win our conference last couple of years before they went over to the UWS. We beat them, FC Dallas beat them, they struggled to win. I can tell you right now, if they came over, they would not win our conference. They just wouldn’t. They are a good club and would be a good addition to the WPSL, but this idea that somehow the UWS is a higher level, I don’t buy it. You’ve got a couple of very good teams, but I promise you, if one of those teams were in our championship, the sixteen teams we had in regionals are just as good or better than any of their teams. I think the level is comparable. We both have the same issues. The bottom 30% of the leagues isn’t good and that’s one of the top things we’re always trying to do.

That would be my sales pitch. I’m not going to say anything negative about another league, but the levels are equal, we have more resources poured into helping our teams positioning themselves as far as sponsorships, we’ve got money to travel after regional play, and you can save money on travel. For all those reasons, that’s what I think our selling points are.

“I don’t think U.S. Soccer even cares - we’re an afterthought. They really don’t care. They only care about the NWSL. ”

As far as the UPSL, there is truly a difference in level there. They are at a much lower level, we even have a couple of our teams with reserve sides in the UPSL and they do very well. I think on the men’s side, the UPSL has done a great job on expanding nationally. But I think, if I’m trying to convince someone to join a women’s league, I’d say you should either join the UWS or the WPSL because those leagues are focused on women. It’s not an afterthought. I can promise you that every decision the UPSL makes is for men and if the women can come along for the ride, fantastic. It’s not a women’s league. To me, they’ve got some great things they do on the men’s side, I just think it’s an afterthought for them, just another way to bring in revenue, same thing with youth soccer. I think they are biting off more than they can chew and the only complaints I hear about the UPSL is that it’s not organized. They have way too much going on. So why would I put a women’s team in that league? It just doesn’t make a lot of sense. I would think you’re always going to have to take the back seat to the men’s sides.

Protagonist: In an interview with you that ran in Midfield Press last year, you were asked about merging the UWS and WPSL. At the time, you said you were just setting up shop and were focused on other things. How would you respond to that same question now?

SJ: I would be happy to talk to Joe and discuss it. I think there are some great synergies were they are strong regionally and we’re a little bit weaker. I think there would be some issues to work out but I am more than willing to sit down and have the conversation. I think we’ve gotten our house in order, though we still have a lot of room to improve. That’s all we talk about, what can we do better, what can we fix? At the time [of that question], we were focused on that, it wasn’t a good time. Now, I think it would be a good time. Will we reach out to him? I don’t know. Would he be willing to do that? I just don’t know. I do know we did exchange some emails and I also exchanged some emails with Yan [Skwara] of the UPSL to restart the talk about the Open Cup and the Amateur Cup, which we’re working on. But we’ve never gotten past that, to have the discussion. I’d be more than willing to sit down and talk about it. It would never hurt to talk.

Key members of the 2019 World Cup Champion USWNT began their careers in the WPSL, including Rose Lavelle. (Image courtesy of WashingtonSpirit.com)

Protagonist: What do you see are the biggest challenges to a Women’s Open Cup?

SJ: Number one, a true Open Cup, the challenge would be getting the buy-in from the NWSL, to be honest with you. Number two, most of the clubs in our league and the UWS use collegiate players, so you’ve got a very small window. You’ve got from early May to late July to get all their Open Cup and league games in. So the idea was, do you start it as a true open cup? Because I think if it fails again, I think it’s done for. So our idea was, and we’ve been working with USASA on, is to use our league as a qualifier. The UWS would use their league as a qualifier. The UPSL would also. Basically, you’d have an eight team Open Cup or an Amateur Cup, that took the champions of all the leagues and a host team. Just to prove that the concept could work.

Then, you go to the NWSL and say “let’s use our qualifier for a true Open Cup.” Because, we can’t start in February or March and our teams can’t afford to play multiple games in an Open Cup scenario. But what if we used our league as a qualifier? So maybe in a couple of years, the NWSL is at twelve teams and you can take the top four from the Open Cup, that have qualified from their leagues, played in the Amateur Cup, and take the top four teams that come out of the Amateur Cup, and put them in the pool to play in a sixteen team Open Cup. I think that would be an idea to make it work. The challenge is that there are so many players on the women’s side that are collegiate players. So it can’t be long, it can’t be 64 teams, I just don’t think there’s time.

I think we have to prove that this model will work, then go to the NWSL. Let’s be honest, the Utah Royals or North Carolina Courage would spank a lot of the amateur sides. It would be so lopsided. On the men’s side it works because there are so many rounds to weed teams out, so get the two or three really exceptional amateur clubs who are fantastic and get to go play those kind of games. But if you take the first couple of rounds opponents and put them against the Seattle Sounders, it would be ugly. You have to have several rounds to bring those teams in. I just don’t think we have that on the women’s side yet.

Protagonist: How could U.S. Soccer help to grow the women’s side of the lower leagues?

SJ: I think for one they could give a rip. Because right now I don’t think they do. I will tell you, USASA has been fantastic - they really do care and want to grow it. I don’t think U.S. Soccer even cares - we’re an afterthought. They really don’t care. They only care about the NWSL. I understand why; they want the NWSL to grow. They are taking a top down approach. We’re taking a bottom up approach. But I do think there are some ways they could help. Help some of the expenses or promote an Open Cup. I think it would be good to sit down with them and brainstorm about how they could help. But, as of right now, I think we’re just a fly on the wall in their world. We’re just not that important to them.

“I’m not going to say anything negative about the UWS, they’ve done a good job. I do think you’ve seen though, they got as high as 30-32 teams and this year they’re back to 20-22. I think a lot of teams that thought about joining one league or the other, are now looking at us and saying ‘there’s no reason to join the UWS, this is a better league.’”

Protagonist: Two years into your role with the league, what are you most proud of?

SJ: Honestly, I think that I’m proud of the teams in our league. We have amazing owners who are so dedicated to providing a top, high quality, professional environment for women to play, which hasn’t been there in the past. I’m very proud of the teams in our league and the owners. It’s 100% about women’s soccer. It’s not an afterthought. I’m very proud of that. I’m proud of how we’ve raised the standard, where the women have a fantastic gameday experience. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but that’s what I’m proud of. We’ve got great people all pulling on the same rope, to keep this league growing.

Protagonist: So what are your biggest priorities moving forward?

SJ: Number one, I think we’ve greatly improved on the technology side, but we’ve got more room for improvement. I really want to make that work better. The less time our teams, coaches and administrators have to spend on player registration and stuff like that, I think that has to improve. I think getting more teams to livestream and finding ways to monetize those streams, helping our clubs realize how easy that is and getting them past challenges they might have. Streaming can be a revenue source that helps sustain those clubs. And finally, bringing more teams into the league in certain areas to help limit travel costs. If a team has to spend $5,000 to travel to a game, that’s $5,000 less for the club. It’s going to hotels, bus companies, etc. We’ve got a lot of areas of the country we need to fill in with good clubs, so that every team’s travel is limited to three or four hours at the top end. That’s a challenge we’re working on and want to improve.

Protagonist: Final question, looking over the makeup of your league staff, the entire executive committee is made up of men. Do you see this as problematic, running a women’s soccer league without a woman being on the executive committee? Has there been any thought given to adding a position that included a women on the committee?

SJ: Yes. So I’ll say this, three of our four associate commissioners are women. And that was intentional. That’s the biggest thing that bothered me to be real honest. We’ve absolutely thought about it. Our commissioner is a man and we brought him on board because he had a lot of experience in leagues. He’s also on the board of the NPSL, so he has a lot of insight on a lot of lower level soccer issues. I would think our next commissioner will be a woman, though I don’t know when that will be. But yeah, that is clearly an issue.

It’s sort of comical that there’s a bunch of men running a women’s league, right? It is something we are cognizant of and trying to improve. We also are cognizant of the fact that a lot of our team owners are men. When we get an application, or a woman that’s involved, we really try to push those. We try to help, we try to make it work. Because we really do want more women owners, women coaches, we like women’s staff. It doesn’t mean that men can’t do a good job, but inherently it’s a league for women players. So I think we would like the female perspective instead of only the male perspective.

But I will tell you, every decision we make, we run it through a group of women. We meet and run things by them. Our three Associate Commissioners are Kendra Halterman, Macy Jo Harrison, and Jessica Mendez. They’re all involved in youth soccer and their state associations, as well as the WPSL. They are all fantastic about giving insight from a woman’s perspective. So we’re cognizant of it. It’s something we’re trying to improve and I know we will get that changed over time.