Windsor women’s soccer team finds new league after ouster

WINDSOR — Having been pulled from its league in November, Windsor’s women’s soccer team — the Northern Colorado Rain — has found a new league in which to compete.

The Northern Colorado Rain has been admitted into Women’s Premier Soccer League for the 2025 season, according to news releases.

“We continue to keep our promise of bringing the highest level of women’s soccer to the Northern Colorado region,” Rain head coach Kelly Brown said in a news release issued Friday. “Joining the WPSL provides us another great platform to do that.”

The 2-year-old club played its inaugural season in 2024 in the USL W League.

“The WPSL is excited to welcome the NoCo Rain to our 2025 competition,” WPSL deputy commissioner Matt Homonoff said in the release. “We look forward to seeing them build upon a successful inaugural campaign and continue to serve their community.”

So far, there have been no reports of the men’s soccer team — Northern Colorado Hailstorm — finding a new league in which to play, but those involved have promised a new league is forthcoming. The Hailstorm advanced to championship rounds in the United Soccer League One this past fall, and were removed from the league in November. In a short statement, the league stated:

“The United Soccer League (USL) has terminated Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC’s franchise agreement. This decision reflects our commitment to uphold the standards of our organization and protect the interests of our clubs’ ownership,” the USL League One reported in the statement.

Team owner Jeff Katofsky filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles claiming fraud against the USL League One for withholding prize money from a tournament the team won. That has sparked a series of filings in Los Angeles, specifically to point out that all legal matters involving the soccer league should be held in Florida, where the league is based. A hearing to determine in which state the matter will be adjudicated will be in February.

According to a declaration filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by the USL League One’s chief legal officer, the Hailstorm saw quick success in the 2022 season, but it experienced financial setbacks in 2024.

“Beginning in March 2024, USL lent monies to NORCO and issued a series of approximately 15 negotiable promissory notes to NORCO for the franchise’s operating expenses arising in connection with NORCO’s obligations under the Franchise Agreement,” the declaration states. “Despite demand, NORCO failed to timely repay the Promissory Notes which matured on various dates between April 2024 and November 2024. On November 4, 2024, after providing NORCO and Katofsky with opportunities to cure NORCO’s defaults, USL terminated the Franchise Agreement due to NORCO’s material breaches of the Franchise Agreement.

“On November 14, 2024, USL filed a demand for arbitration in Hillsborough County, Florida. Through its Demand for Arbitration, USL seeks to enforce NORCO’s obligations under the Franchise Agreement and to recover amounts owed under the Promissory Notes that USL issued to NORCO for the franchise.”

The declaration has redacted all information in relation to the agreement the Hailstorm had with the league, and it has redacted the actual amounts owed to the league.

The WPSL was established in 1998 and plans to have more than 125 clubs participating in 2025, including several in Colorado and the greater Rocky Mountain region, the release stated.

In 2024, Northern Colorado Rain FC had a second-place conference finish.

“We have established an incredibly professional and high-level training and playing environment for our women for the summer months,” Brown said in the release. “Inclusion into the WPSL will provide us the opportunity to compete on both a regional and national stage.” 

The WPSL will unveil its official alignment for the 2025 season at its annual general meeting in Oklahoma City in January. 

 This article was first published by BizWest, an independent news organization, and is published under a license agreement. © 2024 BizWest Media LLC.

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