Carolina Ascent Kicks Off Today
Carolina Ascent Kicks Off Today
Catch up on our coverage of Charlotte's newest Soccer Team
Editor’s Note: It’s your last chance to vote in the Footy Awards. We’ve added to the giveaways, and now we have some great gifts from the Carolina Ascent, Charlotte FC, and Crown Legacy FC. Previous winners have won Charlotte FC tickets and Carolina Core swag just for casting their ballot. Vote today!
The Carolina Ascent will kick off the new USL Super League today, Saturday, April 17. The Ascent will face DC Power FC, another of the eight initial clubs playing in the league’s first season, at 7:00 PM at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.
As of this writing, there are fewer than 500 tickets left for what is expected to be a sellout of the stadium’s 10,500 fan capacity.
Festivities begin before the match, with a tailgate party scheduled across from the stadium at 3:00 PM. The weather forecast anticipates a hot, partly cloudy day with a minimal chance of rain.
A Second League at the Top Tier
The USL Super League is a new Division I women’s professional soccer league on the same tier as the NWSL, the league which currently features the most stars from the U.S. Women’s National Team. With the launch of the Ascent, it’s the first time top-level professional women’s sports have been played in Charlotte since the Charlotte Sting played their final match 18 years ago on August 12, 2024.
“[The Carolina Ascent] gives a lot of little girls around the world, around the city of Charlotte, dreaming, believing that one day that could be them,” said Muggsy Bogues, the final coach of the Charlotte Sting, in an interview with Y’all Weekly. “Inclusion is where it's at … These young ladies are really showing how capable, how skillful they are across the board. It's just a great treat to be witnessing it all.”
Whenever a team or club is born, it creates a community. In soccer, that community involves not only players but fans, supporters groups, “ultras,” and all of the people employed directly or indirectly by the club.
For an article on the Ascent in Queen City Nerve, I spoke with coach Philip Poole and player Vicky Bruce about what the team means for Charlotte and the Carolinas:
Connecting with the community is a priority for the new club. The Carolina Ascent told Queen City Nerve they expect to sell out the home opener and “put on an incredible show that will help sustain the tremendous momentum we currently have.”
“I can’t wait to hopefully get the hype even higher here and have all of our fans come out and just make this the thing that it should be,” said Bruce. “Women’s sports is going to be huge. It is huge. And now you can come support [the Ascent] and we’re the only female team here. So hopefully that means we get all the ladies coming out and cheering us on.”
“This is a massive opportunity to be with us right from the start, to see an exciting team of women play that are young and vibrant and exciting and that want to add something to the city,” said Poole. “I think the other piece is, you know, sports fans want connection, right? We can all attend a game, we can buy a ticket for anything, but when you want a connection to a team, when you want a connection to an identity, when you want to be part of building a team and a fan base and an identity, then coming in at ground level zero is the best part.”
Bruce and Coach Poole are excited about what the team is going to be, and Poole wants the energy around the players to match the other soccer team in town.
“I'll give [Charlotte FC] a lot of credit, right? Every time I go in that stadium, five minutes before they kick off and the crowd start, turn their backs and start jumping, it's exciting,” said Poole in an April interview. “And it's something where I'm like, I want that here. I want those fans to be with us. We want to make sure that those fans are engaged and feel part of what we do. They can never be underestimated how important they are. And that's where we talk about the connection with them. And just people first, we understand they're going to come to a game because there's a curiosity early, but we have to do what's right to bring them back and to show them that they're important. So that's why you should buy a ticket.”
If you want to get in at the ground floor, limited tickets are still available for today’s fixture.