What to know before Lexington Sporting Club’s pro women’s soccer team plays its first game

Lexington Sporting Club’s new professional women’s soccer team is finally set for its on-field debut.

LSC — one of eight teams in the new, Division I-sanctioned USL Super League — will play its first match in the league Sunday afternoon in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Then, on Sept. 8, a milestone moment in the Central Kentucky sports landscape will occur as the LSC women’s team plays its home opener inside a new, soccer-specific stadium located near Athens Boonesboro Road and Interstate 75 in Lexington.

From the team’s roster and anticipated style of play, to the new top-level league that LSC plays in, here’s what you need to know ahead of Lexington Sporting Club’s first-ever professional women’s soccer match.

How did Lexington Sporting Club get a pro women’s soccer team?

In October 2021, Lexington was awarded a USL League One expansion franchise. USL League One is the third-tier of American men’s pro soccer.

Initially announced with the placeholder name of Lexington Pro Soccer, the current Lexington Sporting Club name and branding was unveiled in March 2022.

That USL League One team began play in March 2023. LSC also fielded youth academy teams, as well as a pre-professional women’s soccer team in the USL W League.

In May 2023, it was announced that Lexington Sporting Club would be one of the initial markets to field a team in the new USL Super League. The Super League began play this month and includes eight teams around the country.

Those teams are: Brooklyn FC (New York), Carolina Ascent FC (North Carolina), Dallas Trinity FC (Texas), DC Power FC (Washington D.C.), Fort Lauderdale United FC (Florida), Lexington Sporting Club (Kentucky), Spokane Zephyr FC (Washington) and Tampa Bay Sun FC (Florida).

The Super League has been sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation as a Division I league, which places it on the same level as the already-established National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Kentucky’s other pro women’s soccer team, Racing Louisville FC, plays in the NWSL.

In January, Michael Dickey was named the first head coach of the LSC professional women’s team. Dickey was formerly the head coach for the Jordan women’s national team, and also enjoyed success in international soccer as the head coach of the United States Under-17 women’s youth national team.

Additionally, Dickey spent time in a coaching capacity with the Under-15 and Under-16 United States women’s youth national teams.

Most recently, Dickey served as the director of coaching and player development at Mockingbird Valley Premier Soccer Club in Louisville.

Who will be on the first Lexington Sporting Club USL Super League team?

As of Thursday afternoon, LSC has announced the signings of 25 players to its first Super League team.

Those players, sorted by position group (and alphabetically by last name), are:

▪ Goalkeepers: Sarah Cox, Bridgette Skiba, Taiana Tolleson.

▪ Defenders: Elysia Laramie (also plays forward), Maddy Perez, Sydney Shepherd, NaYeong Shin, Trinity Watson, Autumn Weeks.

▪ Midfielders: Emmi Dunn, Alyssa Frazier, Natalie Higgins, Shea Moyer, Natalie Turner-Wyatt, Grace Wisnewski.

▪ Forwards: JJ Aalbue (also plays midfielder), Madelen Holme, Courtney Jones (also plays defender), Julie Mackin (also plays defender), Marykate McGuire, Kimberly Mendez, Madison Parsons, Hannah Richardson, Cori Sullivan, Kailey Utley.

These players arrived at LSC through a variety of pathways. Many played college soccer in the United States, such as Skiba (Oregon State), Shepherd (Michigan), Higgins (Oregon State), McGuire (Duke and Ole Miss) and Richardson (Kentucky).

“There’s definitely been a big, big emphasis on wanting to be ready to get going,” McGuire said. “... It’s ground zero. We’re starting from scratch. This whole league is from scratch. And I think a lot of us (have) a lot of butterflies, not just for us but for the whole league and all other teams. I think our momentum going forward is to give 110% with everything we’re doing and everything going forward.”

Additionally, international playing experience from Australia, Germany, Italy, Scotland, Spain and several other countries are reflected in LSC’s roster.

Several players also earned a pro contract with LSC as the result of previous standout play with Lexington Sporting Club’s pre-professional women’s team in the USL W League. This includes Utley, who is LSC’s all-time leading scorer in the W League.

“The versatility (in the roster) is important, because you can’t change into a different system if you don’t have versatile players,” Dickey said. “... You also have to be able to change your system in the flow of the game. ... In order to do that, you have to have players that are flexible and adaptable and when we’ve gone out to look for players, it’s been intentional. We looked for players that can play more than one position.”

What is the season format for the USL Super League?

Notably, the Super League season runs from August until June 2025. According to the USL, this makes the Super League the “first and only U.S.-based soccer league competing on the traditional soccer calendar.”

This fall-to-summer calendar includes a break of play in the winter.

Currently, Lexington Sporting Club has the dates, opponents and locations for the 2024 portion of the Super League season. For LSC, these matches begin Sunday and continue through Dec. 14.

During this first portion of the season, LSC will play 14 matches, with seven at home and seven on the road. LSC will play each of the other seven teams in the Super League both home and away during the 2024 portion of the season.

The spring 2025 portion of the schedule will also feature 14 matches, meaning the Super League’s regular season will total 28 matches.

Following the regular season, the top four teams in the Super League standings will compete in a single-elimination playoff tournament.

All of LSC’s home matches are scheduled to take place at the club’s new, 7,500-seat soccer-specific stadium, which is located near Athens Boonesboro Road and Interstate 75 in Lexington.

Lexington Sporting Club set to open new soccer stadium

LSC’s Sept. 8 home opener in the Super League doubles as the debut event for the club’s new soccer-specific stadium.

Plans for the new stadium — which is part of a larger soccer complex at the same location that already includes seven training and youth fields — were announced last October. In less than one year, LSC has put together the new venue by building it in a modular fashion.

The new stadium will have 7,500 seats.

“It’s gone from just being nothing to, suddenly, you can really visualize and see it,” Dickey said of the new stadium. “Green grass, and the bleachers, the stands are there, the buildings, the locker rooms. Everything is forming.”

According to LSC, the entire soccer complex represents an $80 million investment by the team’s ownership, which is led by majority owner Bill Shively.

The stadium is also set to be used by Lexington Sporting Club’s professional men’s soccer team, which currently plays in USL League One, the third tier of American men’s pro soccer. The LSC men’s team will play the final three home games of its 2024 regular season at the new stadium, starting Sept. 14.

Earlier this month, it was announced that LSC would be moving up from USL League One to the USL Championship — the second-tier of American men’s pro soccer and the highest level overseen by the USL — starting in 2025.

A major reason for this step up is due to the opening of the stadium.

“It will be the place to be on a Saturday night for the men’s team, or the women’s team, and a place that the youth can look over and have aspirations, and again, have that ambition, to perhaps be there someday,” USL Championship president Jeremy Alumbaugh said.

When speaking at a formal event announcing plans for the stadium last fall, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said $92.4 million is estimated to be generated over the next decade thanks to the stadium and further development, such as nearby hotels and restaurants.

Previously, Lexington Sporting Club has hosted home matches at Toyota Stadium, a 5,000-seat venue on the campus of Georgetown College in Georgetown. Toyota Stadium also hosts the football, lacrosse and soccer teams for Georgetown College, an NAIA school about 13 miles north of Lexington.

Three Super League matches already took place last weekend, and the bar has been set high when it comes to stadium attendance and local interest in the new league.

Carolina Ascent — the team Lexington travels to play Sunday — drew a crowd of 10,553 for its first match last Saturday. Spokane Zephyr reported an attendance of nearly 5,000 for its first match. Tampa Bay Sun announced a sellout crowd of more than 5,200 for its first Super League match last Sunday.

The highest attendance for a Lexington Sporting Club men’s professional match at Toyota Stadium in Georgetown was 3,029 fans, who showed up for the first pro match in franchise history in April 2023.

This season, the largest gate for an LSC men’s match was 1,672 fans in late March.

How to watch Lexington Sporting Club play in the USL Super League

Tickets to Lexington Sporting Club’s home matches in the Super League — including the home opener and first match in the new stadium on Sept. 8 — can be found by visiting www.lexsporting.com/tickets.

Every Super League match is available to stream on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service.

Fans can visit www.peacocktv.com/sports to access Super League matches on Peacock.

Lexington Sporting Club 2024 USL Super League schedule

Home matches in all capital letters.

The 2025 portion of the USL Super League schedule for Lexington Sporting Club hasn’t yet been released.

Aug. 25: At Carolina Ascent FC, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 8: TAMPA BAY SUN FC, 4 p.m.

Sept. 13: At Dallas Trinity FC, 8 p.m.

Sept. 22: FORT LAUDERDALE FC, 4 p.m.

Sept. 28: At Brooklyn FC, 7 p.m.

Oct. 6: CAROLINA ASCENT FC, 4 p.m.

Oct. 13: At Spokane Zephyr FC, 9 p.m.

Oct. 19: At Fort Lauderdale FC, TBA

Oct. 27: At DC Power FC, 2 p.m.

Nov. 2: At Tampa Bay Sun FC, 7 p.m.

Nov. 9: DALLAS TRINITY FC, 7 p.m.

Nov. 13: SPOKANE ZEPHYR FC, 7 p.m.

Dec. 7: BROOKLYN FC, 7 p.m.

Dec. 14: DC POWER FC, 7 p.m.

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