Saint Louis Athletica
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Saint Louis Athletica was an American professional
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club that was based in the
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
suburb of
Fenton, Missouri Fenton is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, and a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,022 at the 2010 census. History Due to its proximity to fertile land and the Meramec River, the Fenton area has been inhabited for o ...
that participated in
Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...
. Athletica started the 2009 season playing its home games at
Ralph Korte Stadium Ralph Korte Stadium, also known as "The Ralph", is a 4,000 seat stadium located on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. It is home to the SIUE Cougars men's and women's soccer and outdoor track & ...
, on the campus of
SIUE Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...
in
Edwardsville, Illinois Edwardsville is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Illinois, and is a suburb of St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri ...
, then moved to Soccer Park in
Fenton, Missouri Fenton is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, and a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,022 at the 2010 census. History Due to its proximity to fertile land and the Meramec River, the Fenton area has been inhabited for o ...
in June. On May 27, 2010, the WPS announced that the Club would fold effective immediately, forcing the league to compete with only 7 teams for the rest of the season. Athletica was one of three parts of the Athletic Club of St. Louis, chaired by team owner Jeff Cooper, with the others being a large St. Louis youth soccer league network and the men's soccer team
AC St. Louis AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...
.


History

When the creation of WPS, a new top-flight women's league that would replace/revive the
Women's United Soccer Association The Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) was the world's first Women's association football, women's soccer league in which all the players were paid as professionals. Founded in February 2000 in sports, 2000, the league began its first se ...
(WUSA), was announced in 2006, St. Louis was one of the then-six cities that would have a team. On August 26, 2008, it was announced that the Saint Louis' head coach would be
Jorge Barcellos Jorge Luiz Barcellos Martins (born 17 April 1967) is a Brazilian football manager. Career Barcellos was the head coach of the Brazil women's national team at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, 2008 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. He ...
, the then-head coach of the Brazilian women's team. Team Chairman Jeff Cooper's organization SLSU had plans for a
soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
ready, but the construction would not start until St. Louis had been also awarded an MLS franchise. On September 11, 2008, "St. Louis" was revealed as the official team name through an online video, along with a new team crest. The name and crest were further updated on November 25 unveiling "Saint Louis Athletica" as the new name.


Inaugural season

Athletica only played two preseason games, less than any other WPS team, and didn't play any other WPS team in those games. Athletica convincingly won both games, though: 7-2 versus the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...
and 3-1 versus Notre Dame. Athletica got off to a very slow start, being the only team with no points after the first two games and winless after the first four, despite usually outplaying their opponents; Athletica out-shot their opponents by more than twice, and frequently was in complete control during the first half of games. Despite this, Athletica was in last place or tied for last place in the league for the first two months of the season, even after they started winning. In the fourth game, Athletica lost what was assumed to be their star player, Brazilian Daniela, to a season-ending injury, and this combined with the slow start made many people write Athletica off. However, Athletica went 10-4-2 the rest of the season, even better than the eventual season champions
Los Angeles Sol The Los Angeles Sol was an American professional soccer club that was based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The team was co-owned and operated by Blue Star, LLC and AEG, a subsidia ...
during that same time period. Included in that impressive run was four consecutive away wins, which were largely responsible for propelling Athletica into second place in the league. Athletica only lost to two teams (Los Angeles and the
Washington Freedom Washington Freedom was an American professional soccer club based in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Germantown, Maryland, that participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The Freedom was founded in 2001 as a member of the defunct Women's Uni ...
) for the rest of the season. The solid play came from USWNT players
Lori Chalupny Lori Christine Chalupny (born January 29, 1984) is a former American soccer defender who last played for the Chicago Red Stars and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a gold medalist from 2008 Beijing Olympics, and a bronze med ...
,
Hope Solo Hope Amelia Stevens (; born July 30, 1981) is an American former soccer goalkeeper. She was a goalkeeper for the United States women's national soccer team from 2000 to 2016, and is a World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist. Aft ...
, and
Tina Ellertson Christina Jo Ellertson (; born May 20, 1982) is an American former professional soccer defender and former member of the United States women's national soccer team. Early life Ellertson was born and grew up in Vancouver, Washington. The daugh ...
, and breakout scoring force English international
Eniola Aluko Eniola Aluko (born 21 February 1987) is a football executive, commentator, and former professional player. She is the first Sporting Director for Angel City FC of the American National women's soccer league and formerly held the position of Spor ...
. Athletica ultimately clinched second two games before the regular season was over. Athletica only got to play one playoff game, though, as they lost to #4 seed
Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...
, a team they had beaten in all three of their meetings during the regular season. Athletica did not play well during the first half, which allowed Sky Blue to score, and while Athletica stepped up their game very well in the second half, they could not find the equalizer. Athletica has thus never come from behind to win or tie.


Second and final season

On May 27, 2010, team founder Jeff Cooper announced that the team was folding due to financial problems. The entire Athletica roster was entered into free agency on June 1, 2010.


Name and colors


Name

While it was initially announced that the team name would be just "St. Louis" – with no moniker – the official name of the team was changed to "Saint Louis Athletica" two months later, still well before the inaugural season began. According t
the official release
on SLSU's website,
The word "Athletica," while not found in the English dictionary, is derived from the adjective "athletic," with the "a" denoting the newly created noun as feminine, a common practice in many foreign languages ... The word 'Athletica' denotes strength and power – characteristics of this organization that are epitomized by the crest, which also pays homage to St. Louis' roots," said Cooper. "Naming a professional sports franchise is no easy task, to say the least. With Athletica, we feel we have perfectly captured the essence of our team's identity in a name and crest that transcends cultures.


Crest

Originally, the crest used to represent the St. Louis Athletica was simply the same crest used by Cooper's organization St. Louis Soccer United, which is also presumed to be the crest that will be used if SLSU is awarded an MLS franchise as well. The crest resembled a medieval
coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...
, and featured a rendition of the statue ''Apotheosis of Saint Louis'' from outside the St. Louis art museum (as viewed from the left), a symbol frequently used to represent the city of St. Louis before the
Gateway Arch The Gateway Arch is a monument in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Clad in stainless steel and built in the form of a weighted catenary arch, it is the world's tallest arch and Missouri's tallest accessible building. Some sources conside ...
was constructed. The crest also featured a
fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
, representing both the city's French heritage and the convergence of the three rivers in the area. The colors used were dark blue, two shades of green, and grey. In the video citing "St. Louis" as the official team name, an entirely new crest was revealed. While the general shape and design were retained, the color scheme changed to just green and two shades of grey, the fleur-de-lis's position was replaced by 2009 and two fleur-de-lises were placed on either side of the crest, and Saint Louis was replaced by a
Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...
figure on horseback as viewed from the right, holding a flag up instead of a sword, the sword instead being at her hip. It also has what appear to be branches on each side of the coat-of-arms. The final version of the Joan of Arc crest was not very different from the second version. Everything was retained except for the color scheme (replacing one shade of grey with the dark blue) and the 2009. Newly included was an "StL" on the flag with a bar under the 't', and the banner was extended to say "Saint Louis Athletica" with 'Athletica' centered. Due to competitiveness in St. Louis youth soccer and the similarity between Athletica's logo and the logo used by SLSU's youth clubs, the Joan of Arc logo was phased out during the 2009-10 offseason, with the crown-and-sword crest that had been used as a secondary logo taking its place as Athletica's primary logo.


Uniforms

Athletica's uniforms for the 2009 season were revealed, along with those of all the current WPS team, were revealed on Tuesday, February 24 in New York City. Th
official WPS press release
lists Athletica's colors as "USA Forest Green" and "Pace Grey". The kits for all teams were supplied by PUMA. In both the home and away kits, the socks are grey and the shorts are green with grey stripes down the side. The tops for home and away are green and grey, respectively, with the WPS logo on the right shoulder sleeve. The Athletica crest appears on the left corner of the top and on the right leg of the shorts. The goalkeeper's jersey is expected to be hot pink. Athletica players will not have the option to wear the 'skorts' included in PUMA's kit design for games, along with the Red Stars and the
Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...
.


Special occasions

On June 7, in honor of the
Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States. Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...
that was to happen in St. Louis the next week, Athletica wore kits with white tops and socks and pink shorts instead of their normal green tops and shorts and grey socks. The game ball was also two shades of pink instead of the regular white with green stripes.


Players


Most recent roster


Other notable former players

The following former players have played at the international level: * #2 FW
Kerri Hanks Kerri Michel Hanks Petersen (; born September 2, 1985) is an American soccer forward who last played for Sky Blue FC of Women's Professional Soccer. She is currently the head coach for the Clay County United Soccer Alliance U18 girls' soccer t ...
(2009) * #3 DF
Stephanie Logterman Stephanie Lynn Logterman (born February 25, 1986) is an American former soccer defender who played for Saint Louis Athletica of Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer leag ...
(2009) * #4 DF
Sara Larsson Sara Margareta Mattsson (; born 13 May 1979) is a Swedish former football defender who played for KIF Örebro DFF of the Damallsvenskan league. She won 112 caps as a member of the Sweden women's national football team. Career She formerly pl ...
(2009) * #13 GK
Jillian Loyden Jillian Ann Loyden (born June 25, 1985) is an American retired soccer goalkeeper who most recently played for Sky Blue FC in the National Women's Soccer League and the United States women's soccer team. She previously played for the Saint Louis ...
(2009) * #14 DF
Melissa Tancredi Melissa Palma Julie Tancredi (born December 27, 1981) is a Canadian retired soccer forward who played for the Canada women's national soccer team. 3 time Olympian, 2 time Bronze Medalist. She won an Olympic bronze medal as a participating mem ...
(2009) * #16 DF Kia McNeal (2009) * #21 MF
Francielle Francielle Manoel Alberto (born 18 October 1989), commonly known as Francielle or Fran, is a Brazilian footballer who plays as a midfielder for the Brazil women's national football team. At club level she most recently played for Norwegian Topp ...
(2009) * #21 FW
Sarah Walsh Sarah Ann Walsh (born 11 January 1983) is a retired Australian soccer player who most recently captained Western Sydney Wanderers FC in Australia's W-League. She is a former member of the Australia women's national soccer team, the Matildas. ...
(2009)


Home stadiums

* Korte Stadium at SIU Edwardsville (2009) *
Hermann Stadium Hermann Stadium, or fully, Robert R. Hermann Stadium is located in Midtown St. Louis, Missouri, on the campus of Saint Louis University. The first game played was August 21, 1999. This is where both the Billiken men's and women's soccer teams p ...
at SLU (2009-) ''select games only'' * Soccer Park in Fenton, MO (2009–2010) *''
Collinsville Soccer Complex Collinsville Soccer Complex, also known as The Fields was a planned soccer-centered development to be located in Collinsville, Illinois, United States. The centerpiece of the complex was an 18,500-seat soccer-specific stadium that would have been ...
(Proposed)'' The St. Louis Athletica began play in at
Ralph Korte Stadium Ralph Korte Stadium, also known as "The Ralph", is a 4,000 seat stadium located on the campus of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois. It is home to the SIUE Cougars men's and women's soccer and outdoor track & ...
on the campus of
SIUE Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) is a public university in Edwardsville, Illinois. SIUE was established in 1957 as an extension of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.Butler 1976, p. 18 It is the younger of the two major inst ...
. The hope was that the Athletica would eventually have been co-tenants of the 18,500-seat main stadium of the
Collinsville Soccer Complex Collinsville Soccer Complex, also known as The Fields was a planned soccer-centered development to be located in Collinsville, Illinois, United States. The centerpiece of the complex was an 18,500-seat soccer-specific stadium that would have been ...
, but construction on that facility was dependent upon
Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
awarding a franchise to Cooper's group, which has yet to occur. The complex would be ten minutes from downtown St. Louis, at the I-255/
I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the co ...
interchange. The stadium at SIUE is roughly 20 minutes northeast of downtown. The stadium officially holds 3,000 spectators, though SLSU added bleachers so that there could be 5,000 at a game, which was met for the inaugural game against Chicago. There were five different types of seating sections by tickets available. After
AB InBev Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, commonly known as AB InBev, is an American-Belgian multinational drink and brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev has a global functional management office in New York City, and regional headquarters ...
gave the Fenton, MO stadium
Anheuser-Busch Center World Wide Technology Soccer Park is a soccer complex which includes four soccer-specific stadiums, with the main field, West Community Stadium, holding 5,500 seats. Located in Fenton, Missouri, a suburb southwest of downtown St. Louis, it is oper ...
, also known as "Soccer Park," to Cooper's organization in early 2009, rumors of Athletica moving there began to surface. These were vindicated on May 21, when the Athletica front office sent out an e-mail to all season ticket holders notifying them of the move, to start with the June 7th game against
Sky Blue FC NJ/NY Gotham FC is a professional women's soccer team based in Harrison, New Jersey. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020. A founding member of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) in 2013 ...
. Soccer Park is located just west of the
I-270 I-270 may refer to: * Interstate 270 (disambiguation), one of several highways * Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 The Mikoyan-Gurevich I-270 (Design Ж ("Zh") under Mikoyan-Gurevich's in-house designation sequence, USAF/DoD designation: Type 12) was a ...
/
I-44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered, it follows a more southwest–northeast alignment. Its western terminus is in Wichita Fa ...
interchange, ten to fifteen minutes from downtown St. Louis.


Supporter's groups

In November 2008, well before the season started, a student at SIUE began organizing a supporter's group through websites like BigSoccer,
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, and MySpace. After a member poll, the group named itself Laclede's Army after
Laclede's Landing Laclede's Landing (), colloquially "the Landing", is a small urban historic district in St. Louis, Missouri. It marks the northern part of the original settlement founded by the Frenchman Pierre Laclède, whose landing on the riverside the placenam ...
and its namesake
Pierre Laclede Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...
. They pride themselves on chanting, drumming, and singing for their team. It welcomes anyone who wants to join to sit with them. At SIUE, Laclede's Army sat behind the north-end goal; at Soccer Park, Laclede's Army sits in section 20 at the northeast corner of the stadium. Laclede's Army was present at the very first WPS draft in St. Louis and at all WPS functions in the St. Louis area. Laclede's Army site
/small> Also present at the Athletica games is Verde Azul, a group of supporters from the Latin drum group Sambaborn. They also sat goal-line at SIUE by Laclede's Army. At Soccer Park, Verde Azul performs from section 8 on the southeast corner of the stadium. River City Saints (RCS) was established in the summer of 2007 as a small collection of supporters for the St. Louis Lions organization. In 2008, during the building of the
Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...
league, the RCS moved its efforts to a united supporter's front for all area soccer in and around
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
. In March 2009 The RCS attended St. Louis Athletica's Missouri Kick-Off Meet and Greet at the Scott Gallagher Soccer Training Complex in Maryland Heights, MO. The RCS continued their penchant for "D.I.Y." marketing and promoted the
St. Louis Soccer United AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...
brand wherever and whenever possible, with both fliers, word of mouth and online advertising. The RCS co-exist as an all-area supporters group with the Eads Brigade (
AC St. Louis AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...
supporters) and Laclede's Army ( St. Louis Athletica supporters).


Season results


Year-by-year


Performance record

''Includes playoff games''


Team records

Games *1. Tina Ellertson - 21 *2. Kia McNeill - 20 *3. Eniola Aluko - 19 *3. Lori Chalupny - 19 *3. Elise Weber - 19 *3. Angie Woznuk - 19 Starts *1. Tina Ellertson - 21 *2. Lori Chalupny - 19 *2. Angie Woznuk - 19 *4. Kia McNeill - 18 *4. Hope Solo - 18 Minutes *1. Tina Ellertson - 1838 *2. Lori Chalupny - 1665 *3. Angie Woznuk - 1637 *4. Hope Solo - 1620 *5. Eniola Aluko - 1503 Goals *1. Eniola Aluko - 6 *2. Christie Welsh - 3 *3. Lori Chalupny - 2 *3. Amanda Cinalli - 2 *3. Daniela - 2 Game-winning goals *1. Eniola Aluko - 3 *2. Lori Chalupny - 2 *2. Amanda Cinalli - 2 *4. Elise Weber - 1 *4. Christie Welsh - 1 Shots *1. Eniola Aluko - 50 *2. Lori Chalupny - 35 *3. *4. *5. Shots on goal *1. Eniola Aluko - 26 *2. Lori Chalupny - 19 *3. *4. *5. Assists *1. Eniola Aluko - 4 *2. Kendall Fletcher - 3 *3. Melissa Tancredi - 2 *3. Sarah Walsh - 2 GAA (270+ min) *1. Jillian Lyoden - 0.33 *2. Hope Solo - 0.82 Shutouts *1. Hope Solo - 7 *2. Jillian Loyden - 2 Saves *1. Hope Solo - 84 *2. Jillian Loyden - 16 Wins *1. Hope Solo *2. Jillian Loyden


See also

*
Women's Professional Soccer Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) was the top-level professional women's soccer league in the United States. It began play on March 29, 2009. The league was composed of seven teams for its first two seasons and fielded six teams for the 2011 sea ...
*
AC St. Louis AC St. Louis was an American professional association football, soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in December 2009, the team played its first and only season the next year in the NASL Conference of the temporary USSF ...
* Soccer in St. Louis *
National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...


References


External links


St. Louis Athletica
(archived)
Saint Louis Soccer UnitedSaint Louis Soccer on STLToday
{{Saint Louis Athletica Women's Professional Soccer teams A Women's soccer clubs in the United States Association football clubs established in 2008 Association football clubs disestablished in 2010 AC St. Louis Soccer clubs in Missouri Defunct soccer clubs in Missouri 2008 establishments in Missouri 2010 disestablishments in Missouri