Boston Unity Soccer Partners team members and officials after the new league’s announcement. Kristine Lilly (from left), Anna Palmer, Ami Danoff, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Jennifer Epstein, Jessica Berman, NWSL commissioner, Stephanie Connaughton, and Tracy Stevens. Photo by Billie Weiss Photography

Boston Sports

Terriers Excited for New Women’s Pro Soccer, Hockey Teams in Boston

“To have our own league is super exciting, not only for our generation, but for the next generation”

The best sports town in America is getting even better. 

Two women’s professional sports teams recently announced they would be headed to Boston: a hockey team playing in the newly formed Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL), and a soccer team that’s an expansion franchise of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). 

And if that’s not enough, there are discussions underway about a WNBA team coming to Boston.

The inaugural PWHL season is slated to kick off in January 2024, and the NWSL team is scheduled to begin play in 2026. 

The latest move to create more opportunities for women in sports stems, at least in part, from anger after social media posts highlighted the disparities between male and female athletes in the 2021 NCAA basketball tournaments. The NCAA commissioned a report around that same time that indicated women’s sports, if given the resources and backing, can be financially successful. Now that finding is about to be put to the test, and women athletes and coaches could not be more excited.

Women’s hockey 

Five former Terriers were selected in the inaugural PWHL Draft on September 18, including former BU standout Rebecca Leslie (Questrom’18), who was picked by Toronto in the 12th round.

Leslie earned $6,000 a year playing for the Calgary Inferno in the Canadian Women’s Hockey League, which was founded in 2007 and shut down in 2019. Her team responsibilities were full-time: she practiced and lifted with the team every day and traveled to games across Canada on weekends. To make ends meet, she picked up a second job as a sales representative at Molson Coors Brewing Company. 

“I didn’t really have a choice but to take an extra job,” she says.

Now, for the first time in her pro career, Leslie can focus fully on hockey. The Ottawa native was a 12th round pick of Toronto’s new PWHL franchise, where she’ll join former Terriers Victoria Bach (COM’18) and Jesse Compher (SHA’21). Leslie played for BU from 2014 to 2018, and is the Terriers’ all-time assist leader, with 102.

“We put in just as many hours of time and dedication as the guys do,” Leslie says. “So to have our own league is super exciting, not only for our generation, but for the next generation.”

The arrival of the league has also changed the perspectives of current college hockey players, who suddenly have a newfound opportunity to make a stable career out of pro hockey.

“We didn’t have a future in hockey after we graduated, just a few years ago,” says BU cocaptain Madison Cardaci (CAS’24). “But now that there’s a stage for us to potentially get a salary and play in a good league in North America, it’s just going to be such a great stage to showcase everything that we have.” 

Tara Watchorn (CAS’12), BU’s new women’s ice hockey head coach, echoed that sentiment.

“What I’ve really seen is the pressure for women to have success so early in their career,” Watchorn says. “That feeling of, I have to go D-1, I have to make my national program’s under-18 team, and then be so discouraged when you don’t.” She says the new league gives players “another goal beyond just the Olympics and college,” and hopefully allows women to stay in the game longer and have careers beyond the college level.

Women’s soccer

Many are having the same reaction to the National Women’s Soccer League—a chance for women college soccer players to continue playing after graduation, and not just in pursuit of Olympic gold.  

The NWSL recently announced that it has awarded expansion rights for the league’s 15th team to the Boston Unity Soccer Partners. Backed by an all-female core ownership group with local ties, big dreams, and a passion to grow the landscape and popularity of women’s sports in the greater Boston area, the unnamed club joins Utah Royals FC and Bay Area FC as the third new team to be declared this season. 

“It just shows that people are taking it seriously now,” says Cambridge native Lily Matthews (CAS’24), BU women’s soccer cocaptain. “There’s funding, there’s a lot of people backing it, so I’m hoping the popularity is only going to grow from here. It’s also an inspiration at the college level to know that there are opportunities after graduation to continue playing.”

The league marks the return of women’s pro soccer to Boston, almost five years after the last female team, the Boston Breakers, folded following a failed ownership proposal to the New England Revolution. 

This time around, investments will be coming from all sectors of the city’s economy, with 95 percent of the capital backed by women and 40 percent investment by persons of color. 

“I think you’re silly not to invest in women’s sports right now, whether it’s soccer or any of these pro teams,” says Casey Brown (COM’10), BU women’s soccer coach, who attended the commencement event and met with investors. “You see when it’s done well, and invested properly, look at what happens, from media rights and money to advertising dollars to you name it, there is a return on your investment.” 

She says the announcement event had a “palpable energy, and I think that’s really exciting, as someone a part of the Boston soccer landscape that I want to continue to grow and advocate for.”

Brown, who was drafted to the Boston Breakers in 2010, says she strongly believes in the investors’ community-based vision. “The New England area is such a hotbed of high-level soccer,” she says, “so to be able to have a professional team here is really important and we were definitely missing it.”

The new club will kick off in 2026 and intends to host its home matches in historic Franklin Park’s White Stadium. The partners will be working closely with Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration on an extensive renovation project that will oversee both improvements to the venue in preparation to play in the Women’s Soccer League and enhancements to help young female soccer stars flourish from all over the city and surrounding communities. 

“Throughout the last four years, there’s been a lot of growth within women’s sports in general, so I think at the collegiate level, we’ve been lucky to be a part of that,” BU women’s soccer cocaptain Abigail McNulty (Sargent’24) says. 

“I think it’s a super exciting opportunity. Obviously it’s been years since there was a professional women’s soccer team in Boston, but there’s just a huge presence of youth soccer in this area,” Matthews says. “Cambridge, Newton, Brookline all produce such high-quality players, so I think for those young players to have professional women’s soccer in the area is going to be a game changer.”