Carolina Ascent FC Gears up for Inaugural Kickoff
New professional women's soccer club begins to build a base
On July 10, more than 200 people packed a sweltering brewhouse at HopFly Brewing on South Mint Street to watch Carolina Ascent FC unveil their home and away kits for the team’s upcoming inaugural season. Fan mascots like the Carolina Reaper rubbed elbows with supporters, young fans, players and media.
Though the brewery played host to a similar cast of characters for Charlotte FC captain Ashley Westwood’s beer release party a couple weeks before, the Ascent event felt twice as big.
Part of the reason may have been timing. The Ascent scheduled the announcement a couple hours before the Copa America semifinal between Colombia and Uruguay would kick off at Bank of America. Parking was tight, Mint Street was full of Colombia fans in yellow while HopFly’s bar was packed with Uruguay supporters, all adding to the heat inside the building.
It’s hard to imagine a bigger day for Charlotte soccer.
When we spoke to Carolina Ascent principal owner Dan DiMicco at HopFly, he promised us even more surprises for the inaugural match; sources tell us there will be a special presentation honoring women’s soccer, and a tribute to how far the sport has come. DiMicco is also the principal owner of the Charlotte Independence.
Even before the Ascent announced their brand at a similarly crowded party at Protagonist Beer in March, excitement surrounded the team and their new league. The inaugural year of the USL Super League will feature eight teams, including the Ascent, with more teams joining the league in the coming years.
When the league kicks off its inaugural season at American Legion Memorial Stadium on Aug. 17, the Ascent will face DC Power FC, with both teams taking the pitch for their first league match.
The game will take place 18 years to the week since a top-tier women’s professional team last played a home match in Charlotte.
The growth of women in sports
In January 2007, the WNBA’s Charlotte Sting folded after owner Bob Johnson ”gave up” on the team. Despite a 2021 Finals run led by Dawn Staley and three homegrown stars, followed by adding hometown hero Muggsy Bouges as head coach, the team regularly struggled with attendance.
In the nearly two decades since the Sting disbanded in January 2007, women’s sports have experienced historic growth in the United States. Megan Rapinoe, Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles and many others are household names. Specifically, the success of the United States Women’s National Team in Olympic and World Cup competitions has grown women’s soccer and the NWSL.
In the WNBA, the number of sellout games has more than doubled since 2023, and the Indiana Fever have been averaging higher attendance numbers than the Charlotte Hornets since signing Caitlin Clark.
Women’s sports have experienced significant growing pains as well. The Brittney Griner saga highlighted the massive pay inequities that still exist between women’s and men’s sports, while the Yates Report highlighted continuing problems with abuse in the NWSL and women’s soccer.
Given the success of and controversy in the NWSL, we asked the Ascent’s leadership why they chose to join the Super League instead.
“Our organization aligns with the mission of the USL Super League, expanding opportunities for more women to work and play in professional soccer,” said Carolina Ascent COO Tim Schuldt in a statement. “We believe we can make a massive impact for young girls in our community as we now have completed the pathway to the pros through the USL ecosystem, all here in the western Carolina region with multiple USL Youth Academies, many USL W League teams and now Carolina Ascent FC.”
The Ascent’s ownership group is no stranger to controversy, either. DiMicco, an advisor to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, was widely condemned in 2020, including by Queen City Nerve, for tweets that promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.
The new club could represent an opportunity to turn the page.
Local heroes
The Ascent organization is creating opportunities for many women with ties to Charlotte and the Carolinas. The team’s first signing, Vicky Bruce, grew up in Cornelius and attended both UNC Chapel Hill and Davidson College. Other local signings include Cannon Clough, Ashlynn Serepca, B Hylton, Josie Studer and Jaida McGrew.
As both a local footballer and an energetic personality, Bruce is the perfect ambassador for the new team — and she brings a wealth of experience to the new league. Bruce’s professional career includes seven UEFA Women’s Champions League appearances as well as a Women’s Championship title with Bristol City W.F.C. When we spoke to her in May, Bruce was excited for the opportunity to come home and effusive in her praise for the new organization.
“I loved it so much when I was here back in Davidson [for college] that I was like, ‘Oh, I definitely want to end up back here,’” said Bruce. “I just [didn’t] know how to make that happen because I want to still play soccer. So I ended up going overseas, and going overseas kind of catapulted a very long career elsewhere in Europe and Australia and just other parts of the world. So when this opportunity came about, it was a no-brainer.”
Bruce started her college career at UNC Chapel Hill as part of the school’s legendary women’s soccer team, winning the College Cup in her freshman year. Two years later, she found herself back home at Davidson, where the small-town vibes fit her better.
“I went from having 300 people in a class, not knowing my teacher, to knowing my teacher’s name and bringing my dog to class,” said Bruce. “Everyone at school knew who I was, and it just felt like such a home and such a community.
“I also got to play soccer at the Division I level in the A-10, because we switched conferences,” she continued. “It was competitive in that way, and I got to excel off the field as well in terms of my life, my social life, my school, my sexuality. Everything came together when I felt like I was in a place where I could just be myself.”
Bruce became a journeyman footballer who traveled the world, playing in Cyprus, Denmark, England, Germany, Iceland, Scotland and Sweden before ending up in Australia on her last squad before the Ascent.
“I’m so honored and thrilled to have had all of this travel and experience in my 20s,” said Bruce. “I don’t know that I would have gotten it otherwise. I have a lot of ups and downs in my career. There are things I wish I could have done differently here or there if I had known differently. Now that it’s come full circle, I’m back home in North Carolina. I get to be where I started this whole thing. It’s just unreal. It’s a dream come true.”
A strong bond
Another Charlotte local who is integral to the new team is head coach Philip Poole, who has lived in the Charlotte area for 25 years. Born and raised in England, Poole grew up in Newcastle and attended Newcastle United F.C.’s academy. After playing for Hull City AFC for three seasons, Poole came to the United States to attend Wingate University.
From there, he got into coaching and his opportunities “snowballed,” working at the college level, then with US Soccer and most recently as an assistant coach on the USWNT. Poole describes himself as a “career coach” who calls Charlotte home.
“My children were born here, so I consider Charlotte home for me now,” said Poole in an April interview. “[Being in international football] is the best job in the world, and I had the opportunity to extend [my position with the USWNT], had the opportunity to take a couple of different NWSL jobs, but being a resident of Charlotte, my kids are in school here, my wife’s very happy here, and, you know, when you look at that, it was a big factor, but it wasn’t the only factor.”
Poole and Bruce also have a bond that they’ll bring to the club in its first season.
“I talk to him quite a lot. He’s a great guy. We text, we call. He fills me in on little things,” said Bruce about Poole, or Pooley, as she calls him. “It’s just been so nice to reconnect with him. He actually coached me when I was 14, 15, 16. He’s kind of seen how this whole thing has come full circle for me. He knows just how hard I was working then and how hard I’ve been working to make this a reality.”
“I’m so happy Pooley reached out to me and I’m so excited to get the season started and really show the rest of the league what Carolina is about,” said Bruce.
Charlotte’s reputation as a soccer city is growing, but a professional women’s soccer team has been the “missing piece,” according to Poole. Mecklenburg County is home to not only Major League Soccer’s Charlotte FC and USL League One’s Charlotte Independence, but also academy teams, MLS NEXT Pro’s Crown Legacy FC, NPSL’s Charlottetowne Hops, USL League Two’s Charlotte Eagles, and many smaller amateur clubs.
“My initial conversation with Dan DiMicco and [Ascent CEO] Jim McPhilliamy was all about what they want to do and what they envision for the club,” said Poole. “When you start to look at where we are as a city, where women’s professional sports, women’s professional soccer is, combined with committed owners, you know, our city needs a women’s professional sports team. The fact that it’s a women’s professional soccer team is even better for us.”
While the Eagles currently field a team in the amateur Women’s Premier Soccer League, and the Independence fielded a pre-professional women’s team in USL W before rebranding it as the Ascent’s second team, the only top-tier professional women’s team in the Carolinas has been the Cary-based NC Courage, two-time NWSL champions.
However, where there has previously been underinvestment and few opportunities for women players, Poole sees immense potential for the Ascent to grow women’s soccer and women’s sports in Charlotte.
“Women’s soccer, women’s sports has always been there. I think that the biggest equalizer has always been investment, has always been corporate investment, has always been television time. So when you resource two things equally, you know, you’ll see growth, right?” said Poole.
“I think that the growth of women’s sports has been on that track and I think the quality has always been there, as we know in this country especially, but now when you start having it visible and you start investment, people are drawn to this game now.”
Stepping onto a national stage
Connecting with the community is a priority for the new club. The Carolina Ascent told Queen City Nerve they expect to sell out the home opener and “put on an incredible show that will help sustain the tremendous momentum we currently have.”
“I can’t wait to hopefully get the hype even higher here and have all of our fans come out and just make this the thing that it should be,” said Bruce. “Women’s sports is going to be huge. It is huge. And now you can come support [the Ascent] and we’re the only female team here. So hopefully that means we get all the ladies coming out and cheering us on.”
“This is a massive opportunity to be with us right from the start, to see an exciting team of women play that are young and vibrant and exciting and that want to add something to the city,” said Poole. “I think the other piece is, you know, sports fans want connection, right? We can all attend a game, we can buy a ticket for anything, but when you want a connection to a team, when you want a connection to an identity, when you want to be part of building a team and a fan base and an identity, then coming in at ground level zero is the best part.”
The young club is beginning to see local investment as well.
Charlotte-based Nucor, a Fortune 500 company and the largest steel producer in the US, is the Ascent’s inaugural kit sponsor — DiMicco was formerly their CEO. Novant Health, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina, Pepsi Co., Food Lion, HopFly, and Summit Coffee have all joined as team sponsors.
Additionally, Empower HER Fund, comprising 11 women business and community leaders, joined principal owner DiMicco and managing partner McPhilliamy as owners this month with a 25% stake in the club.
In a statement, the Empower HER Fund investors said, “While many of us are life-long soccer fans, investing in Carolina Ascent is a unique chance to support women’s sports, develop female leaders, and make a positive difference in the community.”
“We’re going to empower women and support them with the very best of everything to help them be successful,” said Schuldt. “We’re going to be a welcoming, inclusive franchise that makes a tremendous impact on our community, and we hope to inspire thousands of little girls to chase their dreams.”
