New look for women’s soccer league
It will be called the National Women’s Soccer League, and the U.S. Soccer Federation will help finance and direct the eight-team league, which will include the Chicago Red Stars franchise.
The USSF unveil its new logo and the name of the league Saturday night as the women’s national team wrapped up its season with a closing victory over China.
The NWSL will start play next spring and replaces the Women’s Professional Soccer league, which folded in May after three seasons. Its predecessor, Women’s United Soccer Association, lasted only three seasons, from 2001-03.
The eight teams in the new league are: Boston Breakers, Chicago Red Stars, FC Kansas City, Portland Thorns FC, Sky Blue FC, Washington Spirit, Western New York Flash and Seattle, which has yet to announce its name.
The Red Stars are expected to play the majority of their home games in Lisle at the Benedictine University Sports Complex, which includes a 3,000-seat stadium featuring an artificial surface and grass practice fields that were built by Benedictine University and the Village of Lisle. No official announcement has been made by the league or Red Stars officials, however.
The Red Stars will be directed by head coach Rory Dames, who has been with the club for two seasons, helping them reach the WPSL Finals in 2011 and then the WPSL Elite Finals in 2012. The Red Stars also were the U.S. National Cup champions in 2012.
Dames, a Chicagoland native, is well known on the national youth soccer scene. He was director of coaching for Eclipse Select since 1996 and helped it become one of the top clubs in the nation for female youth players. During his time with Eclipse and Red Stars, Dames has coached many professional players including Lori Chalupny, Leslie Osborne, Jen Buczkowski, Elise Weber, Amanda Cinalli, Ella Masar, and collegiate stars such as Rachel Quon (Stanford) and Vanessa DiBernardo (Illinois).
Former Northwestern star Stephanie Foster (nee Erickson) will be first assistant coach under Dames, with Christian Lavers as the team’s second assistant coach. Trae Manny will return as the team’s goalkeeper coach.