Little Rock Rangers women's soccer team takes pitch for 1st time

One of the first questions Jonathan Wardlaw was asked when he founded Arkansas' only professional men's soccer team in October 2015 was when there would be a women's team.

Wardlaw had just made the jump from soccer dad to sports executive with the Little Rock Rangers because Arkansas youth leagues didn't have a local professional team to inspire them.

"I hadn't thought of it," said Wardlaw, 42. "But during the season last year, that was one of the questions I was asked quite often."

Arkansas had a short-lived women's professional team, the Arkansas Comets, which played two seasons in Fayetteville in the Women's Premier Soccer League before folding in 2012.

"We've been trying for a few years to try and get a team in Little Rock," said Jerry Zanelli, league commissioner of the WPSL's 110 teams. "We wanted to return to Arkansas and have a team."

Wardlaw, who shopped around several men's leagues before raising $22,500 to enroll the Rangers in the National Premier Soccer League, found the WPSL was the only realistic option for a women's team. He wasn't able to finance a fully professional National Women's Soccer League team, and the WPSL was the only amateur league at the time.

"That question was answered real quick," said Wardlaw, who bought a WPSL franchise July 7, 2016, for $4,000 and an annual $1,500 fee.

The women's Little Rock Rangers open their season tonight at 7 p.m. against the Memphis Lobos at War Memorial Stadium, which will expand the soccer market in a state where there once was a void.

"This helps with how to get [young] players to stay in the game," said Jen Pfeiffer, the women's Rangers head coach and technical director for the Arkansas State Soccer Association. "Having the guys team, they had a role model and players to see and go forward. And we have a lot of females in this state that are playing soccer, so why not have a team and have that perspective?"

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The ASSA sponsors 1,600 youth and adult teams in the state, and 6,400 out of the 16,300 players ages 3 to 19 are girls. The association expects the number to increase to 8,000 by the summer's end.

"[The Rangers] offer a great opportunity for our older kids, young adults to aspire to," said Jim Walker, the ASSA executive director. "I think it's one thing for the girls to see the men play, but I think the young girls we have in Arkansas will be thrilled to see women athletes of this stature competing in Little Rock."

The team will field 20 players who play at Arkansas colleges. Previously, these collegiate athletes would have to travel out of state to compete in the amateur league, where they are not paid.

"It definitely provides me with a competitive opportunity," said Rangers center-midfielder Asia Hollingsworth, who plays at Harding University in Searcy. "And I think it's a blessing to be a role model to the younger kids, especially in Arkansas. And enforce the women's program and women's leadership in everything we do, and that we will support opportunities for younger women to step up and be a part of society."

A WPSL team can field only five players who are from the same college, but the Rangers have six from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock because forward Mikayla Uyokpeyi just graduated.

"It's great to have a team at this level be in town," said Adrian Blewitt, who coaches UALR's women's soccer team. "For our players it's a chance to stay local, to keep sharp, to help prepare for the college season and maintain their fitness level. This is a common thing for Division I players across the country to be doing ... and it helps our college players feel like they belong to the communities a little more. They stay in the summer, take some classes, too, if they want. There are a lot of benefits to it."

The Rangers will play in the WPSL's Southeast Conference in the South Division, with eight games -- four at home -- before the conference playoffs begin July 15.

"I think the women are going to be very competitive," said Wardlaw, whose men's team went 5-6-1 in its first season. "The level of competition in Arkansas women's college is pretty high."

Pfeiffer, an assistant on the Rangers staff last season, was the interim coach for the last four games of 2016 when Coach Will Montgomery had to step away because of his commitment with a youth league. The Rangers won every game under Pfeiffer.

"I think it was natural for me to move over into the women's role," Pfeiffer said. "It's exciting. Just to be a role model. I think we have a good product, and it just bring players back in for next year, and just have some inspiration for the young ones to continue playing and stay here."

Today’s game

LR RANGERS VS. MEMPHIS LOBOS

WHEN 7 p.m. WHERE War Memorial Stadium, Little Rock TICKETS Adults $10 (ages 13 and over); Children $5 (ages 12 and under)

Sports on 05/25/2017