Fifty years ago, the first all-girls soccer club was started in Dallas. The Dallas Sting became the country’s primary representative for women’s soccer on the international stage.
North Texas remains a powerhouse market for young female players, with the Sting and over 50 competitive-level clubs, as well as the largest state soccer association in the country, but it’s never had a professional women’s soccer team.
Until now.
Dallas Trinity FC will kick off this August as a member of the eight-team USL Super League, a new Division One-level professional league.
Trinity will play its home games at the Cotton Bowl in Fair Park with a lineup of women mostly from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and a coach, Pauline MacDonald, who played for Scotland’s national team.
Players say they’re ready to fill the city’s long-overdue need for a professional women’s soccer team, and that they understand people are looking to them to uphold the legacy of the sport in Dallas.
“Dallas has been needing a women’s professional soccer team since I was young,” Trinity goalkeeper and Rockwall native Madison White told The Dallas Morning News. “I started playing when I was 4, and growing up, I never had anything like this, to come to a game and see women playing at such a high level.”
Hometown players
The majority of Trinity’s team played for or against Sting Soccer Club, which was founded in 1973 and still ranks among the top girls’ programs in North Texas. The under-19 Sting was the first women’s team to travel outside of the United States, facing Mexico in 1976 and competing in the first FIFA-sanctioned world women’s tournament in China in 1986.
Having so many homegrown players who understand the city’s soccer history and passion for the sport was intentional, said team officials, adding that they didn’t have to compromise talent to sign them.
“There is so much natural talent here,” Trinity chief operating officer Trip Neil said. “If you look at the best talent in the country, the best talent is coming out of North Texas and out of California. When we’re trying to build the best roster possible, it’s a perfect fit. We are an attractive place for the talent already here. It is home to them.”
Neil’s father, Jim Neil, is the team’s CEO as well as the co-founder and CEO of real estate investment firm Churchill Capital Company. Jim Neil’s son Charlie Neil, the team’s president, said it’s named after the Trinity River, which runs through North Texas. Its logo is a Pegasus, Dallas’ unofficial mascot; and its colors are maroon and gold in honor of Texas’ sunrises and prairies.
All players in the Super League are free agents, allowed to choose which of the league’s teams they want to join as opposed to being drafted. All of Trinity’s players have chosen to be in Dallas, and many returned home after several years of playing abroad.
“We thought that a lot of those players would love to come back here to play and be closer to home,” said general manager Chris Petrucelli, a former SMU and Texas women’s soccer coach. “And there’s a lot of really talented ones. Many of them have played together or against each other. They know each other pretty well. I think that will help us.”
Midfielder Haley Berg and forward Cyera Hintzen played on the same youth teams and through college at Texas. They were 10 when they first competed against forward Allie Thornton, who overlapped with goalkeeper Sam Estrada at SMU.
“We have the ability to win games — win important games — and compete,” Estrada said. “I know a lot of girls are here from Texas, and I know we do not like to lose. The biggest expectation is for us to win the league, and I think we can do it. We have that drive in us. We are excited to play and represent Dallas itself.”
Community outreach
The Trinity players plan to be familiar faces in Dallas, perhaps even local celebrities just as the Sting women were.
The club has partnered with the North Texas Soccer Association to interact with youth soccer clubs, meet players, drive a fanbase, and serve as proof of the level of talent that can be achieved. The players were recently at a June 23 Copa America game at AT&T Stadium, taking pictures and signing autographs.
“My expectation is that our players become intertwined with this market, that people hopefully get to know them better,” team president Charlie Neil said. “They’ll certainly be out in the community as much as possible, teaching the game of soccer, but also teaching health and wellness and inspiring young women and young men to achieve their goals.”
Trinity will seek to harness the vast pool of youth talent in Dallas and will invite rising stars to wear the jersey.
The USL Super League allows teams to roster up to five youth players who can train and play in league matches without losing amateur status or college eligibility.
“All the talent, all the clubs, Sting, Solar, Texans,” Trinity defender Amber Brooks said. “All these clubs are massive and produce these tremendous players, and before now, there was not a pathway for them to play professionally in their home city. It is just crazy.”
Petrucelli said he is already tapping into the youth market, bringing in players for preseason training.
Trinity reaps the benefit of added numbers and extra competition, while the youth players gain experience if they decide to pursue the sport at the professional level.
“As a young player, I had to look up to the FC Dallas men,” Trinity midfielder and Frisco native Gracie Brian said. “So for us to be able to be here, and inspire the next generation of this vast market of young girls wanting to play soccer when they are older, is something super special.”
Trinity’s first game is at Tampa Bay Sun FC on Aug. 18. The women then return home for a high-profile friendly against UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona on Aug. 30, followed by the regular season home opener Sept. 7 against DC Power FC.
