Charlotte goes professional in women’s soccer debut

CAROLINA ASCENT

Carolina Ascent players show off the inaugural season kits at a July 10 public event in Charlotte. The club makes its USL Super League debut Aug. 17 against DC Power.

As Charlotte ascends into the top tier of women’s professional soccer in America, it will do so with a significant amount of home cooking.

Nine players on the inaugural Carolina Ascent roster of 26 athletes are from the Carolinas, seven from the Charlotte area. For them, Saturday’s opening game against DC Power at American Legion Memorial Stadium will be a homecoming of the highest order. Kickoff for the USL Super League match is at 7 p.m.

Sitting next to Ashley Serepca and Cannon Clough at Monday’s introduction to local media, Vicky Bruce said, “The three of us grew up here; born and raised. So, to have a coach that valued having some players that have roots here, I think that's really important in just getting the city around it, and the fans and the crowd. I think it's going to be really special, especially in this first game, but all season long.”

The core of players with local roots is by design.

STEVE GOLDBERG | THE CHARLOTTE POST

The Ascent has a large contingent of Carolinas players (left to right): Renee Guion, Jaida McGrew, Josie Studer, Ashlynn Serepca, Isabella Franco, Vicky Bruce, Emily Moxley, Cannon Clough and B Hylton.

“From the beginning, we have talked about building a club by the Carolinas, for the Carolinas and connecting with the community in everything we do,” said head coach Philip Poole, who has been in Charlotte for 25 years, working on the youth development level but also as an assistant coach with the U.S. Women’s National Team since 2020. A Newcastle, England native, Poole moved to Monroe in 2000 to play soccer at Wingate University.    

For Serepca, it means a chance to create an impression and provide a role model they didn’t have as younger players.

“We never really had people, especially female athletes, female soccer players to look up to in this area. And so now, for us, I think it's even bigger than just our team. It's to give back to those little girls that are going be in the stands and now have (athletes) to look up to and be that example for them (on how) to grow up in Charlotte and still have an opportunity to stay home and be able to pursue their dreams and careers.”

They all grasped the bigger picture beyond themselves.

“Because we grew up here, and we played since we were 4, 5, 6 (years old), and done everything through the system of the Carolinas and Charlotte specifically, I think it's just going to feel that much better when we're out there,” Clough said. “This is our hometown. This is our home turf. I can't believe this is where it all started for us.

“And then to know that little girls, like Ashley was saying, are going through what we went through, 20 years ago, and they then have this to look forward to, it's pretty awesome.”

Along with the three above, the other players with Carolina connections are Isabella Franco, Renee Guion, B Hylton, Emily Moxley, Jaida McGrew, and Josie Studer.

International players

Super League is open to international players like every other professional circuit in the country. Each club is allotted seven international spots but the Ascent roster is purely American at this time, though one player, Isabella Franco, has represented Colombia at the U17 level and trained with the U19 squad.

Poole said the strategy is deliberate. First is that this is a domestic league, and it comes with a responsibility to develop American players. Second, he wants to see where the team is so that international talent can be recruited smartly.

“As you start getting into the market, you start to navigate what kind of players would be a good fit,” he said. “We don't want to take too many wild chances in year one. So, I look at it from a continuity, from a predictability standpoint.

“So, it’s very deliberate, not because we're going to be a solely domestic based team, but we want to make sure that we get the right people in the room so we can establish a foundation and can have some continuity in what we want to do and get ourselves off and running, I think we'll definitely add international players.”

What is USL Super League?

Announced in 2021, USL Super League is a first division level women’s professional soccer league that will play from August to the beginning of next summer, concurrent with European leagues’ seasons. It is the second first-tier women’s professional league in the US. That doesn’t exist in men’s or women’s soccer anywhere else in the world.

The Ascent, one of the inaugural eight teams, was announced in 2023 and is operated by the same ownership of the USL One Charlotte Independence, with additional investors for the women’s team which will operate with a far more substantial budget as required for a top tier league.

The competition format features a balanced 14-match schedule – seven at home and seven away in the fall – followed by a similarly balanced 14-match schedule in the spring. The spring schedule will kick off in February with matches to be announced later. The full regular season will run from August to May.

The league is also an avenue for talented young players to compete against top level players without losing college eligibility. USL Academy contracts allow players to sign, train and compete in matches with professional senior teams without affecting their status to play college soccer.

Who are the Carolina players?

• Vicky Bruce: The club’s very first signing, Bruce played two seasons at UNC before transferring to Davidson after graduating from Cannon School near her home in Cornelius.

She’s played the last seven years in Australia and Europe, most recently for the Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian A-League, starting all 22 matches and scoring three goals.

The season prior, she played for English club Bristol City in the Women’s Championship during the 2022-23 season.

• Cannon Clough: The former Charlotte Latin stalwart comes home after playing for multiple clubs in Australia for the past five years, winning the Queensland NPL Championship with Lions FC before moving to the Australian Liberty A-League for the past three seasons.

After playing for two years with the Charlotte 49ers, she transferred to North Carolina, where she helped the Tar Heels win the 2017 ACC regular season title. 

• Isabella Franco: Born in Florida, Franco has been living in Huntersville and competed with the Ascent’s USL W League team this summer.

She has played club ball for the Charlotte Independence Soccer Club’s ECNL team and was selected last year for the ECNL Girls Conference Cup as one of the top rising players in the country. 

Franco also competes for Colombia on the youth level including a pair of U17 matches against Uruguay and may be called up for the 2024 FIFA U17 World Cup in the fall.

• Renee Guion: Originally from Simpsonville, South Carolina, Guion played four years at Clemson before heading to Europe. She competed the past two seasons with Fortuna Hjørring in the premier women’s division in Denmark. She played previously with FC Gintra, winning the Lithuanian Women’s A League, and the Women’s Baltic Football League.

• B Hylton: A USL Academy contract player, she’s not the first in her family to play professionally in Charlotte. Her father Andy spent a couple of seasons with the Charlotte Eagles before becoming a physician’s assistant at OrthoCarolina.

Playing for the Charlotte Development Academy, Hylton is the first-ever Development Player League National Player of the Year, a two-time DPL All-Star Selection, and 2023 DPL U19 National Champion. She also played three seasons with Covenant Day School.

• Emily Moxley: Born in Charlotte, Moxley played high school soccer at Panther Creek in Cary and graduated from North Carolina last December. She spent the first part of the 2024 season with NWSL side Orlando Pride.

Moxley started every match as a senior in Chapel Hill on a defense that allowed just 8 goals in ACC play. She played as a freshman at UNCW.

• Jaida McGrew: McGrew, who is from Huntersville, is also on an academy contract. As a high school senior, McGrew led Providence Day to an NCISAA state title last year and has already committed to play for 2023 NCAA champion Florida State.

McGrew’s also on the radar of U.S. Soccer, having been called up for another U17 Women’s National Team in a training camp last April. 

• Ashlynn Serepca: The Cornelius native returns home after playing a season with Austria’s FC Pinzgau Saalfelden, where she scored 16 goals through 12 games.

Serepca played three seasons for the University of Virginia before transferring to Alabama. A two-time North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year at Hough High, Serepca represented the U.S. at the U16, U17, and U18 levels.

• Josie Studer: The Waxhaw native played five years at Louisiana Tech and returns to Charlotte on her first professional contract.

Studer was All-Conference USA each year and All-South in 2020-21. As a defender, Studer totaled seven goals and three assists from the backline over her college career, including three game-winning goals.

“We're finally here,” Poole said. “It seems so far away, and now it's just a few days out. We're excited. I know the team are excited. I know the community is excited and energized. We just need to play our role as a club and as a team, and it should be a great opening day.”

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