New coach of Lexington’s pro women’s soccer team plans to construct ‘a fortress’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Lexington Sporting Club has named Masaki Hemmi the head coach of its women's soccer team.
- Hemmi brings high-level, international coaching experience to his role at LSC.
- Lexington finished last in the 2024-25 USL Super League season.
A new era has dawned for Lexington Sporting Club’s professional women’s soccer team.
LSC introduced Masaki “Mac” Hemmi as its new head coach Monday. Hemmi is the second full-time head coach for the LSC women’s team, which competes in the USL Super League.
During the club’s debut season in the Super League, four different coaches oversaw matches. Michael Dickey was the club’s first coach, but he stepped away from that role in February. A series of interim coaches then helped LSC finish out its 2024-25 season.
“I want this place to become a fortress for professional soccer in the United States and globally,” Hemmi said Monday during his introductory press conference. “... People that are in the organization ... they’re passionate about the club and (I’m) just getting really excited to get started.”
Hemmi takes over a Lexington team that struggled mightily during its first Super League campaign. LSC went 4-6-18 (W-D-L) overall last season and finished last in the eight-team Super League. LSC allowed the most goals (62) and had the worst goal differential (-33) in the league.
Despite these struggles, Hemmi said taking the LSC job was a “no-brainer.”
“This is one (of), if not the best, environment that players and staff can come to work,” he said.
Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Hemmi joins LSC following a short stint as the interim head coach for the Chicago Stars of the National Women’s Soccer League. As an interim head coach for the Stars this season, he oversaw a 0-3-4 record in seven matches.
This made Hemmi the first Japanese head coach in NWSL history.
Hemmi was hired as an assistant coach for the Stars in 2024. Previously, Hemmi was also an interim head coach for New Mexico United, a men’s team in the USL Championship. That’s the same division in which Lexington Sporting Club’s men’s team plays. Hemmi was also the first assistant coach and director of player personnel at New Mexico United.
Hemmi was previously an associate head coach for INAC Kobe — a team in the top league of Japanese women’s soccer — in 2021. He played college soccer at the Colorado School of Mines and at the University of New Mexico and spent five years as an assistant and associate head coach for the men’s soccer program at the University of Denver.
“I’ve been an assistant coach for a long time. I’ve been a first assistant coach for a long time for numerous exceptional head coaches in the past,” the 38-year-old Hemmi said. “I think to combine those experiences and be able to make it my own is very exciting.”
With his coaching experience, Hemmi plans to bring “exciting football” to LSC.
“We want to be tactically flexible in possession. We want to dominate the ball,” Hemmi said. “The attacking football that I’ve learned over the course of different environments coaching, (I’m) just really excited to get it mixed together.”
While making the playoffs should be a goal for LSC in its second season in the Super League, Hemmi said he wants to take everything “one game at a time.”
“We’re going to try and go win everything we can,” he said.
Lexington is also in the process of retooling its roster ahead of the 2025-26 season. A major acquisition on this front arrived Monday morning, when LSC announced the transfer of midfielder Addie McCain from Super League rival Fort Lauderdale United. Last season, McCain scored 10 goals and was an all-league first team selection with the Florida club.
The McCain move reportedly involved the highest transfer fee in the Super League’s young history.
The second season of the Super League will begin for LSC in late August. But before that, the club has a marquee match fast approaching.
LSC will play a friendly at Racing Louisville on July 13 at Lynn Family Stadium. Racing Louisville plays in the NWSL and is projected to make the league playoffs for the first time in club history.
LSC’s first Super League match for the 2025-26 season will be Saturday, Aug. 23, at Fort Lauderdale. The league uses a fall-to-spring scheduling format.