Continuing with our coverage of women’s soccer in the Pacific Northwest, we spoke with Director of Coaching Jurgen Ruckaberle of Eugene Timbers FC Azul, who was happy to answer a few of our questions. Azul, one of only two WPSL sides in Oregon, play in Eugene, Oregon and are about a two-hour drive away from their nearest conference opponent and their furthest conference opponent is a 14-hour, round-trip drive, away. We ask how they cope, how they transition local talent to the first team, and how the World Cup impacted their season.

Though your organization was established in 2006, Eugene Timbers have just recently founded the WPSL Azul side - what was the appeal to establishing an elite women's squad? What is the mission of the club?

We have had a number of very strong girls’ teams in our club and many of them went on to play college soccer. Many of them came home over the summer and had no place to play except with boys’ teams. We wanted to provide opportunities for our players who went on to college. Over the 7 years we have been in the WPSL we added each year players from local college programs, and players from elsewhere in the country. We also had international players from England, Mexico, Germany, and Italy. We are now providing good training and competition opportunities for our older players in the club, returning players from college and other non-club related players.

Eugene is a bit of a drive from Portland, Seattle, or even from the Bay Area; do you get many fans? Not parents, friends or significant others, but actual supporters? Do you have any relationship with the supporter’s group from Lane United, Echo Squadron / Red Aces?

We do have a few Echo Squadron who come to our games but for the most part it is friends and family from the players. There is a good number of fans that are not related but are interested in women's sports. We hope to grow that portion but we are realistic in our expectations.

The popularity of women's soccer seems to wax and wane with World Cup cycles, will any down-cycling of attendance affect your club? How dependent are you on funds from the turnstiles?

We don't rely on ticket revenue since it is our smallest part of income. We do have a number of sponsors for jerseys, poster sponsor, and some smaller ones. We also charge a very small fee to our players to help with the cost. We use club resources to keep the rest of the cost down. The world cup this year has helped with sponsors.

Developing elite players is the dream of most soccer programs; after the development, how should clubs help players advance their athletic and professional goals? How does your organization help players at the end of their development funnel?

We believe that development does not stop. In fact, we believe that the age of 18-28 is also a critical age for players to develop. The WPSL is an opportunity not only for players in college or post college age to develop as players but we also often want those experienced players to become coaches. We hope to help those young women to transition in leadership roles either in our club or whatever professional career they chose. If they stay in athletics or soccer, we can directly help by providing opportunities for them within the club.

The Eugene Timbers FC Azul take on the Westside Timbers in a WPSL Oregon Derby

Some clubs are filled with kids who have come up through the academy while other programs don't have a youth program at all and fill their rosters through tryouts every year; how is Eugene Timbers built? Where do you draw your players from?

We continue to draw kids from our club or with ties to Eugene. We have a D1 program here in town and only a few miles away in Corvallis. We also have other college programs in Oregon whose players have joined us. We also have now ties to several college programs around the country that have had players play for us. Those ties also extend to other countries. the core of our players is from Eugene but we also integrate each year other US based players and international players.

What is the future of your organization? Will we see Azul in the WPSL in 2020? Any chance of a men's club in the NPSL or UPSL?

Yes, we will be back in 2020. We are already planning for the next season. With Lane United FC here in town our top-level players on the boy’s side have a place to play locally in the summer.

For more information about Eugene Timbers FC Azul: http://www.eugenetimbers.org/girls-teams/azul/

For more information about the WPSL: https://www.wpslsoccer.com/