‘Really positive so far.’ Lexington Sporting Club’s pro women’s team preps for 1st season.
One club, one crest.
“That’s what we believe we’re building here,” said Michelle Rayner, the women’s sporting director for Lexington Sporting Club.
The rollout for LSC’s new professional women’s soccer team has been ongoing for the last six months with a focus on building community before the team debuts in the new USL Super League.
Announced in September 2021, the USL Super League is a professional women’s soccer league that’s 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).
The USL Super League begins later this month, with Lexington Sporting Club set to be one of eight teams the first season.
“What we’re really looking to do is ensure that the community feels that this is their club, which is vitally important to us and our growth,” Rayner said. “I think our players are doing amazing stuff, doing an amazing job at being at these events and really being that face so people have an understanding of who we are.”
Rayner has been with LSC since the club’s creation. She was promoted to her current role in late 2022 and said LSC aims to replicate models found in European soccer.
This includes establishing a foundation and youth level, while providing players with a clear pathway to the men’s and women’s professional side.
“It’s very rare that you find that in the United States of America,” Rayner said.
What is the USL Super League?
According to Lexington SC’s website, the USL Super League “will sit at the top the USL’s distinct youth-to-pro women’s pathway.”
“The complete pathway includes the USL W League, the leading pre-professional women’s soccer league in the United States; the USL Academy, an advanced talent-development platform connected to professional and pre-professional USL clubs; and the Super Y League, a premier national youth competition.”
The 2024-25 edition of the USL Super League will feature eight teams: Brooklyn FC, Carolina Ascent FC, Dallas Trinity FC, DC Power Football Club, Fort Lauderdale United FC, Lexington SC, Spokane Zephyr FC and Tampa Bay Sun FC.
The USL Super League website has eight additional cities (Chattanooga, Tennessee; Indianapolis; Madison, Wisconsin; Oakland, California; Palm Beach, Florida; Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona) listed as planned locations for future teams.
The Super League season will mirror the European club season, playing from August to June.
“This calendar prioritizes the fan experience, on-field competition and commercial opportunities, ensuring players are easily able to represent both club and country and facilitating USL Super League clubs’ participation in the emerging global women’s transfer market,” the league’s website said.
LSC head coach Mike Dickey, who was appointed to his post in January, said the major goal in his first few months on the job was spreading the word about the new league.
“People didn’t know what the Super League was,” Dickey said. “Certainly they knew what the NWSL was, they know what MLS is, so this was a new concept. … We needed to educate everyone across the country, in the United States, but also globally.”
Dickey said once the Super League was granted Division I status, business started booming.
“Suddenly everybody goes, ‘OK, now let’s get serious,’ because we’re on the same playing field as the top Division I teams globally,” he said. “Then right away more agents, more players started contacting us, we didn’t have to even solicit them and, initially, we were probably doing more of reaching out.”
How will Lexington Sporting Club’s new women’s team play?
Visually, Rayner said the goal is to have LSC replicate the Spanish and Japanese styles of play seen at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“It’s very intentional with our ball movement,” Rayner said. “It’s short, short, long sort of passes in order to break lines. Hopefully, it’s going to be a very exciting style of play.”
She said the style of play should replicate some of the hallmarks of the commonwealth.
“The (Kentucky) Derby is a fast-paced game; UK basketball, it’s a fast-paced game,” Rayner said. “We want to be right there with it in everything we’re doing and being very intentional and methodical about how we play.”
Dickey said LSC is looking to build a team that can be organized and is able to defend as a group and individually, press high up the field to gain possession and hold onto the ball while playing the quick-combination game Rayner highlighted.
“What I interpret to the players is positionally, they have flexibility in where they go, but if they leave their position, somebody else needs to fill their position,” Dickey said. “You shouldn’t see a lot of open gaps on the field.”
Dickey said the recruitment process didn’t begin with players, but with creating a game model and a style of play for Lexington with Rayner and the technical staff. With a style of play set, the staff created player profiles to identify which ones could help the model.
“Each position has a specific characteristic that we’re looking for,” Rayner said. “From there, we went globally through data and all sorts of areas and got a scouting team globally. From that, now we can identify players who can suit those positions and the needs of how we’re looking to play.”
In addition to scouting, Dickey said LSC hosted combines for players to come and showcase themselves for the staff.
“They were initially all invitation-only and then some of them were open,” Dickey said. “We had players come in and we got the chance to see them play and see if they fit. Some did not and, of course, we have 20 players right now that did fit for what we were looking for.”
One such player who fit the bill for Lexington is former UK women’s soccer forward Hannah Richardson, who played for the Wildcats from 2019-2022. During that span, Richardson scored 22 goals and recorded 14 assists in 62 total appearances with the Cats.
This included a pair of eight-goal seasons by Richardson, who played last season for HB Koge, a top-flight club in Denmark.
“I do love scoring,” Richardson said. “… I think the fans can look forward to, hopefully, goals this season and assists.”
“The culture is really good,” Richardson added of LSC. “It’s been really positive so far. The girls are great. Everyone was just coming in really excited to be a part of something brand new in the state of Kentucky and specifically Lexington.”
Another former SEC standout who will be part of Lexington’s first team is forward Marykate McGuire. At Ole Miss, McGuire scored seven goals and tallied four assists in 14 appearances during the 2022 season. Prior to her time at Ole Miss, she spent four years at Duke, scoring 19 goals and recording 16 assists in 80 games played.
“I’m hoping to bring an aspect of attack,” McGuire said. “I want to help us score goals, make up positive plays and help us win.”
McGuire wasn’t totally familiar with Lexington before signing for LSC, but she said it was always a fond spot to visit when traveling for matches in college.
“When I came down for the first time I was like, ‘Wow, Lexington is actually a really nice community, it’s beautiful,’” McGuire said. “The month we’ve been here has just been incredible. Just the atmosphere, everybody coming together and the team environment. … It’s been really energetic and we’re just so excited to get started.”
Lexington will begin the USL Super League season on the road against Carolina Ascent on Aug. 25, before playing its first home matches in September.
Those matches are expected to include LSC’s first game at its brand-new stadium located along Athens Boonesboro Road.
On Tuesday afternoon, tickets went on sale for LSC’s first home match in the USL Super League. That contest is set for 4 p.m. on Sept. 8 at the new stadium.
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