This summer, Urbana will be hosting Junction Football Club, a new semi-professional women’s soccer team.
The club is a member of the Women’s Premier Soccer League, an organization of 170 semi-professional Women’s Soccer teams nationwide, competing in the league’s Gateway Division for Midwest teams. This includes teams from St. Louis, Dayton, Indianapolis and Evansville.
“We build a product that A: treats the college athlete the way that their programs would like us to help them be more successful. And B: that sometimes in Champaign in the summers people are looking for things to do,” said Mark Sikora, Junction FC’s director and men’s soccer coach at Parkland College.
The non-profit organization will offer high-level women’s soccer players the opportunity to continue playing and improving throughout the summer. Regan Moody, a player for University women’s soccer team and a former WPSL athlete, is optimistic about Urbana’s new soccer team.
“There is a women’s soccer team at the University, but there are so many other people that would love to play soccer whether it’s on the intramural team or this. And I know this is an option over the summer that would be nice,” Moody said. “It’s a great opportunity for the younger generation to get their name out there and be looked at by other colleges if they want to play college soccer.”
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Junction FC will play home games at the Urbana High School soccer field, where the team will be holding tryouts on April 7. Sikora hopes to build a strong foundation in CU and make women’s soccer a greater part of the community.
“Maybe it’s camps. Maybe it’s clinics. It is about bringing the team and the players out to the larger community but also opening an opportunity for the community to come see the players and watch them play,” Sikora said. “And, what that looks like for the younger kids, to say this is the training level, this is the playing level.”
The team hopes to fill the gap in women’s soccer in the greater central Illinois area with their first game scheduled for May 17.
“It seems that the women’s game is certainly growing in interest and, in following, I would like to believe that would continue, then that is what Junction FC can serve for, not only CU but really for central Illinois,” Sikora said.
