How have things gone for Lexington Sporting Club’s women’s soccer team in USL Super League?
Lexington Sporting Club’s professional women’s soccer team has reached the halfway point of its debut season.
LSC — which is one of eight teams competing in the first-year USL Super League — has played 14 of its 28 regular-season matches. The results have been a mixed bag so far.
Lexington takes a 3-8-3 (W-L-D) record into the league’s winter break, which begins this week and stretches until February. With 12 points on the season, LSC ranks seventh out of the eight teams in the league. Following the regular season, which concludes in late May, the top four teams in the Super League standings will qualify for the single-elimination playoffs.
With the league now on winter break, what have been the major storylines of the first half of the season for LSC?
LSC records first home victory in USL Super League
A monumental moment in the history of the Lexington Sporting Club franchise occurred on Sept. 8, when LSC’s women’s team played the first match at the new Lexington SC Stadium. The 7,500-seat, soccer-specific stadium located near Athens Boonesboro Road and Interstate 75 in Lexington is the home location for LSC’s professional men’s and women’s soccer teams.
But LSC lost that stadium-opening match, 3-2, to Tampa Bay Sun FC and continued to struggle at home for the majority of the fall season. LSC lost four of its first six home matches at the Lexington SC Stadium before turning around its home form in a big way Saturday.
Lexington recorded its first home win, 3-0, over DC Power FC thanks to a breakthrough performance from former UK women’s soccer star Hannah Richardson. The ex-Cat scored her first two goals in the USL Super League to send LSC into the winter break on a high.
“It’s huge. We’ve been through a lot this season, a lot of adversity, a lot of games that maybe we were dominating and didn’t go our way, but I think it just shows how we don’t give up and it just builds our confidence going into a new year,” Richardson said after the win. “I’m super proud of the girls, I think it took a full team effort, not just the girls that scored the goals, but everyone that was defending to get a clean sheet and the girls on the bench. Just super proud of the team.”
LSC has a 1-4-2 record at home this season, and a 2-4-1 mark in road matches. Lexington’s first wins in the Super League came on the road in October in consecutive matches at Spokane Zephyr FC (3-2 on Oct. 13) and at Fort Lauderdale United FC (2-1 on Oct. 19).
LSC leads Super League in both goals allowed and goals scored
One thing has been clear through 14 matches in the Super League season: Lexington head coach Michael Dickey’s team plays high-scoring matches.
LSC is tied for the Super League lead in goals scored (20) while also leading the league in goals allowed (30).
Both Lexington and Dallas Trinity FC have scored 20 goals in the opening 14 matches of the season. At the other end, LSC has allowed 12 more goals than any other team.
This amounts to Lexington Sporting Club also having the second-worst goal differential (minus-10) of the eight teams in the league.
Forward Madison Parsons — who signed with Lexington after taking part in open tryouts for the Super League team — leads LSC with five goals scored this season. Defender Sydney Shepherd and forward Marykate McGuire both have four.
How has attendance been at Lexington SC Stadium?
Lexington Sporting Club’s home matches have all been played at the aforementioned Lexington SC Stadium.
Attendance has dropped since that Sept. 8 home opener, which had nearly 4,000 fans on hand, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and USL Super League president Amanda Vandervort.
Here is the reported attendance for each LSC home match so far this season.
▪ 3,946 fans for a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay Sun FC on Sept. 8.
▪ 1,539 fans for a 3-1 loss to Fort Lauderdale United FC on Sept. 22.
▪ 1,496 fans for a 1-1 draw with Carolina Ascent FC on Oct. 6.
▪ 1,868 fans for a 3-2 loss to Dallas Trinity FC on Nov. 9.
▪ 1,342 fans for a 1-1 draw with Spokane Zephyr FC on Nov. 13.
▪ 1,148 fans for a 3-0 loss to Brooklyn FC on Dec. 7.
▪ 1,340 fans for a 3-0 win over DC Power FC on Dec. 14.
Through seven home matches this season, LSC is averaging a reported attendance of more than 1,800 fans per match.
Lexington will have seven more home matches in the USL Super League during the spring portion of its season.
Those matches will be on the following dates against the listed opponents.
▪ 7 p.m. March 1 against Brooklyn FC.
▪ 7 p.m. March 15 against Dallas Trinity FC.
▪ 4 p.m. March 23 against Carolina Ascent FC.
▪ 7 p.m. April 16 against Spokane Zephyr FC.
▪ 7 p.m. May 10 against Tampa Bay Sun FC.
▪ 7 p.m. May 16 against Fort Lauderdale United FC.
▪ 7 p.m. May 31 against DC Power FC.
LSC will play the final three matches of the regular season at home.
When season resumes, LSC will begin push for playoffs
The top four teams in the Super League regular-season standings will qualify for the league’s single-elimination playoff tournament.
LSC has some work to do if it is to make the playoffs. Lexington enters the winter break eight points out of the playoffs. The team occupying the fourth and final playoff spot, Fort Lauderdale United, has played one less game than LSC.
If the LSC women’s team is to qualify for the Super League postseason, it would mark the first time that any of Lexington’s pro soccer teams participate in a playoffs.
The LSC professional men’s team missed the playoffs while playing in USL League One, the third tier of American men’s professional soccer, in both 2023 and 2024. The men’s team will play in the USL Championship — the second tier of American men’s pro soccer and the highest level offered in the USL system — in 2025.
This story was originally published December 17, 2024 at 7:00 AM.
