When Samantha Rosette leads a Brooklyn FC team out onto the pitch when the expansion franchise’s USL Super League squad finally debuts against Spokane Zephyr FC later tonight, it will be a moment of great personal significance.
The 26-year-old defender and Bronx native will be the first-ever captain of a first-ever professional women’s soccer team to play in New York City, and in an interview with Hudson River Blue conducted days before the team’s ultimately-postponed debut home match in Coney Island, Rosette spoke of the local significance of Brooklyn FC’s arrival in the USL Super League.
“I think that this is absolutely game-changing for little girls growing up in New York City and seeing, ‘Oh, you can live here and play professional football,’” said Rosette. “That's something you can see at Coney Island now, which is really, really exciting and something that I never had growing up here.”
That upbringing included starring in high school for the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy, which led to a collegiate soccer career at the University of Virginia and Villanova University. After college, Rosette began a European playing career that’s taken her to Kazakhstan, Lithuania, France, and back to the United States, and has included appearances in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
In an interview with Goal.com from 2022 while playing with FC Gintra in Lithuania, Rosette spoke at length about her unique experience playing professionally, and also about the limited opportunities available here in the United States for women to play soccer professionally.
That has changed as NWSL has expanded—14 teams with a 15th on the way in 2026—and with the introduction of eight new women’s teams in the Divison One-sanctioned USL Super League.
When discussing what the arrival of the USL Super League means for the domestic women’s game, Rosette said “I'm so honored and excited to be a part of that change and evolution in the women's game. Providing so many more opportunities for players like myself that maybe hadn't had a chance in the US before and went abroad and had maybe great experiences, maybe not-so-great experiences. The chance to come home and build the game and grow the game on your home soil is an extra special feeling and it makes you feel like you're really rooted in doing something to grow the game in a way that's positive for the generations that come after you.”
The Bronx native has a consistent track record of trying to help that next generation of players. She’s worked with Downtown United Soccer Club and boasts of years of coaching experience accrued during her playing career. Giving back seems like a clear priority, as Rosette and Brooklyn FC have also launched a fundraising initiative tied to home-match ticket sales, with $5 from every ticket sold donated to different community organizations of her choosing.
Her leadership off the field stands out, but now Rosette is tasked with leading an entirely new team. She is one of numerous American players on the first Brooklyn FC USL Super League roster who went abroad, to places like Australia, Switzerland, or Iceland to name a few, but who are now back and trying to stand out here in the United States while coming together as an expansion team playing together for the first time.
Andrew Leigh
The varied backgrounds and playing resumes of the members of this Brooklyn roster are a positive, according to Rosette. “I think it's really important to have a diversity of backgrounds and differences, different places that we've played, different styles that we've played, different experience levels—all those things are important when you're creating a team for the first time.”
"That's the beautiful thing about what we're doing is we're starting from scratch, so we get to pick and choose what we take and what we don't,” continued Rosette. “People are starting to gel and are finding their chemistry on and off the pitch, and I think it'll be a fun thing to watch come together for the first time."
A potential hurdle in the process of gelling as a team for Brooklyn: The continued absence of the team’s permanent head coach. As HRB first reported, “bureaucratic issues” are delaying the arrival of the team’s first hire for USL Super League manager, with Kristen Sample announced as serving as interim head coach on September 7, the day before the Brooklyn team begins its season.
Rosette said of the head-coach limbo’s impact on preseason preparations, “We're doing everything that we can with what we have and I think the most important thing is finding our chemistry on the pitch, and I think it's coming together really well.”
Eight USL Super League matches will have taken place before Brooklyn will have played for the first time. They’re an unknown in terms of preferred formation, lineup, or general style of play, with no preseason friendlies announced or covered in any public way.
We know how they’ll look sartorially in their opening match, with home and away kits now unveiled. How will Brooklyn look while playing this first match in Washington state under an interim head coach? Rosette described this inaugural Brooklyn FC team as one that loves to keep the ball and play a possession style, but said “Most importantly, you're going to see a bunch of players that are really excited to be there and playing a first game ever for Brooklyn FC.”
Hudson River Blue Staff
