UPSL Women Begin Play in First-Ever Winter Season in California and Florida
With the UPSL Women winter season set to continue this weekend in Florida and Southern California, the UPSL Women’s league becomes one of the only women’s leagues in the US to operate year-round, in all seasons. This UPSL Women winter season is also one of the only women’s winter seasons to operate nationwide, meaning Division 1 college players, pro soccer prospects and even active professional players in Florida and South California have the option of playing high-level winter soccer.
Sierra Rudini, UPSL SoCal Women’s Conference manager spoke about the role the league plays in the women’s game.
“The goal is to provide soccer for women year-round at the semi-pro level, which is important. The level is very high with a mix of NCAA college players in between seasons and players training to go pro in South America or Europe.
This level of competition is very close to NCAA Division 1, if not better. And we try to make this league as accessible as possible, we serve a big purpose by helping develop talent across Southern California and the rest of the country. We support and work with the NCAA schedule and try to give players the opportunity to play as much as possible. A lot of players have scholarships or pro contracts on the line, so we push to keep them playing at a high-level year-round.”
Competing in the SoCal Womens Conference this season will include two previous regular season champions, United City FC who won Fall 2021 and SoCal FC who won the league this past Fall 2022. In Florida, we see top soccer clubs like Florida United and Dade County FC set to take part. UPSL Vice-President Christian Vallejos spoke about the excitement in offering a winter season and helping push for year-round women’s soccer.
“We are really excited to offer this competition during the winter and help develop the year-round game for our women’s teams. The UPSL Women’s calendar is unique in that we adjust our schedule a bit differently to accommodate the NCAA and high-level youth soccer calendar, to ensure we always have the best female players and prospects competing in the UPSL.
Most leagues are summer-oriented, we are proud to offer high-level soccer throughout the year, inclusive to more clubs and more accessible to play.”
The UPSL Women Winter season began play last weekend and will continue until the Spring when NCAA teams begin training. UPSL Women is set to continue play this weekend with LA Soccer Club facing United City FC Women on Saturday. On Sunday, SoCal FC with play Sporting FC Women and in Florida, Dade County FC Women face Little Haiti FC Supreme. Visit womenupsl.com for more information or to join.
About United Premier Soccer League
The UPSL was formed in 2011 and occupies the unofficial fourth tier of US Soccer. Across its Premier, Division 1 and Womens leagues there are more than 400 teams competing nationwide. The UPSL is now the largest Pro Development League in North America and is a National Affiliate member of the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). Each UPSL team is individually owned and operated. UPSL teams are eligible to participate in the U.S. Open Cup Qualifying Rounds through the league’s affiliation with USSF.
More information about UPSL can be found at www.upsl.com or by following the league on Facebook (facebook.com/upslsoccer), Instagram (@upslsoccer) and Twitter (@upslsoccer).
Contact UPSL: [email protected] / Media: [email protected]