Everything you need to know before Carolina Ascent's inaugural season
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Fans watching matches at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Elizabeth have a Charlotte skyline view. Photo: Ashley Mahoney/Axios
Carolina Ascent, Charlotte's new professional women's soccer team, kicks off its inaugural season this week.
Why it matters: Women's sports are finally getting mainstream attention in Charlotte and beyond. But "the quality has always been there, for years. It's a sleeping giant," Carolina Ascent head coach Philip Poole told reporters Monday.
Context: Carolina Ascent is Charlotte's first top-tier professional women's soccer team. It's one of eight teams playing in the United Soccer League Super League, a new professional women's league kicking off this month.
- Charlotte's oldest stadium, American Legion Memorial Stadium in Elizabeth, will serve as the Ascent's home. It holds roughly 10,000 and underwent a $40.5 million renovation, reopening in 2021.
What to expect: Tickets for Saturday's match vs. DC Power start at $22 and around 90% of tickets have been sold, Poole said. The match kicks off at 7pm.
- Carolina Ascent will host a tailgate in neighboring Independence Park from 3-6pm. Fans will march to the stadium at 6pm.
- Expect a bounce house, live music, rock climbing wall and food trucks at the tailgate.
Zoom in: Charlotte-area natives defenders Vicky Bruce and Cannon Clough and midfielder Ashlynn Serepca are showing little girls growing up in Charlotte that they can make a career out of playing the sport they love in their hometown.
The big picture: The Ascent was founded by the same ownership group as the Charlotte Independence, a minor league soccer team playing in USL League One.
- The plan is for the Ascent to ultimately have a majority female ownership under a group of women investors called Empower HER Fund, LLC.
- Empower HER Fund currently owns 25% of the Ascent.
What's next: The club hosts Lexington SC on Aug. 25 at 2:30pm. Find the full schedule here.
Go deeper: Female investors join new Charlotte professional women's soccer team's ownership