Soccer for Women in New England

Women's soccer in New England has been dominated in recent years by three leagues and three teams. First is the Boston Breakers of the WUSA, which was perhaps the best run of the eight teams in that league, and will be resurrected when professional women's soccer returns in 2009 in the new Women's Professional Soccer.

Boston Renegades Fans

The amateur level of the women’s game used to be dominated by the Boston Renegades of the W-League. The two-time national champion has long been held up as one of the best-run franchises in the women’s arm of the USL and has established itself not only at the senior level, but also as a force to be reckoned with in youth soccer, with several high-level junior teams feeding talented players into the parent club.

More recently, the Renegades have had some serious competition for the best players in the region from the New England Mutiny of the WPSL. Formed on the West coast by Jerry Zanelli, a disgruntled former W-League owner, the WPSL came to the East coast in 2004, and quickly attracted a number of teams from the New England region.

The first of these was the Mutiny, out of Springfield, MA who quickly established themselves as one of the top teams in the new league. The Mutiny has since been joined by the Massachusetts Stingers, Bay State Select, the Boston Aztecs and SoccerPlus, CT, while additional W-League teams can be found in Vermont, Western Mass. and Connecticut.

This is the part of the site where we cover all of these teams, plus the amateur teams from local leagues like the Eastern Massachusetts Women’s Soccer League.

Latest Women's Soccer Stories

5/7/08 - Crusaders, Renegades Open Season Saturday. The Boston Renegades and Cape Cod Crusaders open their respective seasons this Saturday, the former at Framingham’s Bowditch Stadium and the latter at Mass Maritime Academy.

5/4/08 - Wild Win for US Women. In a wild match that saw the U.S. Women's National Team score two own goals and give up a three-goal lead in the second half, substitute midfielder Angela Hucles provided the game-winner in the 94th minute to lead the Americans to a 5-4 victory over Australia.

4/20/08 - US Women Convene for Exhibitions. CHICAGO – In their first action since winning the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament, 25 members of the U.S. women’s soccer team will convene in North Carolina on April 22 to gear up for a three-game exhibition slate against Australia and Canada.

4/14/08 - SoccerPlus Reds Add Three. FARMINGTON, Conn. – Three players from the Florida State team that made it to the women’s soccer championship last season have committed to play for the WPSL’s SoccerPlus Connecticut Reds this summer.

4/13/08 - US Wins Women's CONCACAF. MEXICO -- The U.S. women's soccer team, after a big save from goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart, prevailed 6-5 in penalty kicks to win the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament Saturday.

4/11/08 - Eagles' Defender Signs Overseas. CHESTNUT HILL -- Boston College defender Kia McNeill has signed a contract to play with Kristianstad of the professional women's league Allsvenska in Sweden.

4/10/08 - US Women in Olympics. MEXICO – The U.S. Women’s National Team rebounded from a frustrating first half to score three second half goals – two by Natasha Kai – and clinch a spot in the Beijing Summer Olympics with a 3-0 win over Costa Rica Wednesday.

4/9/08 - Mutiny Complete Puzzle. The New England Mutiny resigned the final piece to the puzzle, inking goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe for the 2008 season and ensuring the team will return all 21 players from a squad that made it to the WPSL National Championship Finals.

4/7/08 - US Women Best Mexico. MEXICO -- The U.S. Women's National Team got two goals from Natasha Kai and one from Abby Wambach in a rousing 3-1 victory over Mexico in front of a sold-out crowd of 22,280 at the Estadio Olimpico Benito Juarez.

4/5/08 - Jamaica Easy Fodder for US. MEXICO – Striker Abby Wambach had two goals and two assists and the United States women’s soccer team started Olympic Qualifying with a bang, routing Jamaica, 6-0, on Friday.

4/2/08 - Breakers to Play at Harvard. WESTWOOD, Mass. – The new Boston Breakers in the new women’s pro league, Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS), announced Wednesday that Harvard Stadium will serve as the team’s home venue.

3/31/08 - Roster Set for Women's Olympic Qualifying. CHICAGO -- United States women's soccer coach Pia Sundhage finalized the 20-player roster to travel to Mexico for 2008 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying as the USA attempts to earn one of two berths to the summer's Beijing Olympics.

3/25/08 - Aztecs Ink Former Breaker. The Boston Aztecs women’s team signed Cambridge (Mass.) native and former Boston Breakers forward Rebekah Splaine for the 2008 season.

3/18/08 - Aztecs Sign Two BC Players. The Boston Aztec WPSL team signed two more Boston College players for this summer, adding Braintree’s (Mass.) Amy Caldwell and Marshfield’s (Mass.) Jill McNeil.

3/14/08 - Renegades Sign Franklin Pierce Standout. The MPS Boston Renegades recently signed Franklin Pierce’s Gabriella Demoner and Swede native Therese Luckner as well as three players from Texas A&M.

3/12/08 - Mutiny Bring Back Record 20 Players. The WPSL’s New England Mutiny have resigned 20 of 21 players from last year, the most ever returnees in the 10-year history of the Women’s Professional Soccer League.

3/12/08 - Women Win Algarve Cup. PORTUGAL -- Abby Wambach's 49th-minute goal proved to be the difference as the U.S. women's soccer team beat Denmark, 2-1, Wednesday to capture its sixth Algarve Cup championship.

3/11/08 - US Women Roll Past Norway. The U.S. women?s soccer team got goals from Natasha Kai, Abby Wambach and Heather O'Reilly in an 11-minute span before second-half sub Amy Rodriguez finished the scoring in the 90th minute to cap a 4-0 victory over Norway and vault the Americans into their sixth straight Algarve Cup final.

3/10/08 - Aztecs Ink Former UConn Captain. The Boston Aztec WPSL women's team inked former UConn All-American and WUSA veteran Kerry Connors for the 2008 season.

2/22/08 - Quartet Returning to Renegades. WALTHAM, Mass. – The W-League’s Boston Renegades announced this week that Lauren MacIver, Kelsey Hood, Jamie Craft and Jasmine Phillips will each return for the 2008 season.

2/6/08 - DiCicco, Weimer Returning to WPSL. SACRAMENTO, CA – Connecticut natives Tony DiCicco and Tiffany Weimer will both return to SoccerPlus CT, DiCicco’s club, for the upcoming Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) season.

1/29/08 - Connecticut Natives Among U.S. Women Call-Ups. CHICAGO -- Connecticut natives Tiffany Weimer (North Haven) and Manya Makoski (Trumbull) were two of the 37 players called into the next U.S. Women's National Team training camp in preparations for the CONCACAF Olympic qualifying tournament.

1/27/08 - DiCicco To Coach US U-20 Women. CHICAGO -- Boston Breakers coach and former U.S. Women's National Team headman Tony DiCicco has been named head coach of the U.S. Under-20 women's team.

1/18/08 - New England Teams Start on W-League Opening Night. TAMPA, FL – The Boston Renegades and the expansion Connecticut FC are two of the 18 clubs that will see action on the USL's W-League Opening Night on Saturday, May 10.

1/17/08 - New Women's League Announces Name, Logo. BALTIMORE – Women's pro soccer is now officially back, complete with a new name and a fresh Mia Hamm-inspired logo.

1/17/08 - Solo Back In Sundhage's First Win. GUANGZHOU, China – It took Pia Sundhage one game to get her first win with the United States women's soccer team -- and it took Hope Solo one game to win back her starting job.

1/12/08 - US Women's Teams Realign for '08. CHICAGO -- The U.S. women's soccer program is undergoing a reconstruction at the youth level. The program will reinstitue its Under-18 team and the Under-21 team is being converted to a U-23 side to continue to compete in the annual Nordic Cup.

1/8/08 - Lilly To Miss Olympics. Connecticut native and former Boston Breaker Kristine Lilly announced she will not compete in the 2008 Olympic Games next summer if the United States qualifies in April.

12/28/07 - Sundhage Opens Camp With US. New U.S. women's soccer coach Pia Sundhage called 27 players to a six-day training camp that will run from Jan. 3-8 in Carson, Calif., in the team's first action of the new year.

12/5/07 - Women Set for First Training Camp Under Sundhage. The U.S. women's soccer team starts its first training camp under new coach Pia Sundhage this Saturday in Carson, Calif.

11/13/07 - Sundhage Named New US Women's Coach. Former Swedish star and Boston Breakers coach Pia Sundhage was named the new head coach of the United States Women's National Team Tuesday.

11/9/07 - WPSL Coming to Maine. The Women's Premier Soccer League is coming to Bangor, Maine.

10/14/07 - Scurry and US Beat Mexico. Briana Scurry started and played the entire game, this time earning a much more favorable result, albeit on an almost meaningless stage, as the U.S. women's national team downed Mexico, 5-1, in the squad's first match since the World Cup.

10/12/07 - Solo Back With US Banished and disgruntled U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo was on the Women's National Team's roster for its season-closing, three game exhibition set with Mexico.

10/2/07 - The Girls of Fall Tim Bresnahan takes a look at the rise and fall from grace of the US Women's National team.

9/30/07 - Germans Win Second Straight Cup Germany defeated Brazil, 2-0, to win its second straight Women's World Cup Sunday.

9/30/07 - US Takes Third Place The United States women received some solace at least, winning third place in the Women?s World Cup Sunday with a 4-1 rout of Norway.

9/27/07 - Disaster - US Routed by Brazil. The United States? goalkeeping switch didn?t work, but not much else did either in the Americans 4-0 loss to Brazil Thursday.

9/26/07 - US Switching Goalies. Former UMass standout Briana Scurry will start in goal in place of Hope Solo in the U.S. women?s soccer team?s match against Brazil tomorrow, according to reports from multiple media outlets.

9/23/07 - Sitting Down with DiCicco Soccer New England recently caught up with Tony DiCicco, who was named head coach of the new Boston Breakers last Friday.

9/17/07 - Group B Showdown. The US Women's National team needs to score plenty of goals against Nigeria in tomorrow's fianl Group B Game if they want to avoid Germany in the quarter finals.

9/17/07 - Group B Showdown. The US Women's National team needs to score plenty of goals against Nigeria in tomorrow's fianl Group B Game if they want to avoid Germany in the quarter finals.

9/9/07 - US Women Ready. The US Women's National team heads to China in preparation for their Group B opener agaisnt North Korea.

9/5/07 - Women's Pro Soccer League Returns. Investors and league officials announced Tuesday the establishment of a new North American women's professional league, under the temporary working title of Women's Soccer LLC, created to fill the void left when the WUSA folded in 2003.

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Soccer for Women in New England

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