This article was updated on August 22nd to correct information about the Brooklyn roster and head coach.
In ten days we'll see the competitive debut of Brooklyn FC, with the women's team set to kick off in the USL Super League on August 31.
The new Division One-sanctioned women's league began play with three matches this past weekend, notable among them the league's first-ever game, which saw Carolina Ascent FC beat DC Power FC 1-0 in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,553.
Carolina Ascent will be the opponent when Brooklyn makes their USL Super League debut at Maimonides Park in Coney Island, and it's now clearer what the inaugural Brooklyn team will look like.
There's still no head coach officially announced, something of a surprise given how close it now is to Matchday 1.
A post published by The Equalizer listing the opening day rosters for all eight USL Super League teams initially claimed Brooklyn would be led by Kim Wyant, head coach of the men's soccer team at New York University, but that will not be the case, according to a Brooklyn FC spokesperson—The Equalizer has since updated its post to remove reference to Wyant.
While the head coach announcement remains pending, there has been a steady stream of confirmed roster signings, with 17 players announced as joining Brooklyn's inaugural Super League squad. Two additional players – Allie Long, 2019 World Cup winner with the USWNT and nine-year NWSL veteran who won the title with Gotham FC in 2023, plus 22-year-old midfielder Emily Yaple – were initially listed by The Equalizer as members of Brooklyn's roster, though they have since been removed from that list, with additional signings still to be announced by the team.
(UPDATE 8/22: Allie Long will not be joining Brooklyn, according to a Brooklyn spokesperson. The roster list and article have been updated to remove reference to Long.)
2024 Brooklyn FC USL Super League Roster*
| Name | Pos | Age | From | Former team(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney Martinez | GK | 24 | Rincon, GA | IK Grand Bodø (NOR)/South Georgia Tormenta FC (USL W) |
| Neeku Purcell | GK | 21 | Seattle, WA | UCLA |
| Leah Scarpelli | D | 22 | Brick Township, NJ | Brisbane Roar (AUS)/Sporting Lisbon (POR) |
| Sasha Pickard | D | 23 | Saratoga, CA | University of Alabama |
| Nikia Smith | D | 26 | Bolingbrook, IL | FC Ramat HaSharon (ISR) |
| Samantha Rosette | D | 26 | Bronx, NY | RCSA (FRA)/FC Gintra (LITH)/BIIK (KAZ) |
| Tori Hansen | D | 23 | Raleigh, NC | Orlando Pride/Melbourne Victory (AUS) |
| Kelsey Hill | D | 26 | Elk Grove, CA | Angel City FC |
| Jessica Garziano | MF | 23 | Melville, NY | Angel City FC/St. John's University |
| Sam Kroeger | MF | 22 | West Milford, NJ | Morris Elite (USL W)/Rutgers University |
| Hope Breslin | MF | 24 | Massapequa, NY | Wellington Phoenix (AUS)/Houston Dash |
| Allison Pantuso | MF | 27 | Thousand Oaks, CA | IFK Kalmar (SUI)/Oregon State |
| Emily Yaple | MF | 22 | Erie, PA | University of Florida |
| Kess Elmore | FW | 25 | Liverpool, England | Saint-Etienne (FRA) |
| Isabel Cox | FW | 23 | Greensboro, NC | Wellington Phoenix (AUS) |
| Dana Scheriff | FW | 25 | Babylon, NY | FC Aarau (SUI)/Athlone Town (IRL) |
| Taylor Smith | FW | 30 | Fort Worth, TX | Brighton FC (ENG)/Gotham FC |
| Mackenzie George | FW | 25 | Lincoln, CA | Hafnarfjordur (ISL)/University of Tennessee |
| Luana Grabias | FW | 24 | São José dos Pinhais, Brazil | Fort Lauderdale United FC (USL SL)/Internacional (BRA) |
| Mackenzie Pluck | FW | 24 | North Wales, PA | Angel City FC/Duke University |
* As of August 29, 2024
New league, new roster regulations
Super League commissioner Amanda Vandervort recently detailed some of the ins and outs of USL SL rosters in an interview with Jeff Rueter of The Athletic. Vandervort told The Athletic that Super League teams “must field at least 20 players, but there’s no cap on roster size or combined player wages.”
The lack of a salary cap is a change from the other first-division domestic soccer leagues, which limit how much teams can spend on combined player salary. NWSL’s current salary cap is $2.75 million, and the minimum salary a rostered player can earn is $37,856. Vandervort told The Athletic that minimum player compensation in the USL Super League would be “comparable to the NWSL.”
USL Super League teams can have seven international roster slots, and can also have up to five players on USL Academy contracts, so additional spots on this inaugural Brooklyn roster could be filled in a variety of ways.
The player profile
Numerous Brooklyn players have had brushes with NWSL but haven't broken through to grab roster spots in the top domestic women's league, with a notable exception in seasoned NWSL vet Taylor Smith.
Players like midfielder Jessica Garziano, defender Tori Hansen, midfielder Hope Breslin, and defender Kelsey Hill have all spent time – limited it may be in some cases – with NWSL teams.
There are also players like defender Samantha Rosette, goalkeeper and first-ever signing Sydney Martinez, midfielder Allison Pantuso, defender Nikia Smith, and forward Dana Scheriff who have experience in some of Europe's less-heralded women's league, in places like the French and Norwegian second divisions, or in Switzerland and Israel.
Andrew Leigh
These professional-quality players are now afforded opportunities to play in the United States that might not have existed when it was just the NWSL and its collection of teams with roster spots to offer.
Eight new women's teams in the USL Super League's first season means new chances for players previously left out of pro soccer in America. That includes ones who excelled in the college soccer ranks – like Jessica Garziano of St. John's, forward Mackenzie George of Tennessee, defender Sasha Pickard of Alabama, or goalkeeper Neeku Purcell of UCLA (and the OL Reign Academy) – but who are yet to break through as professionals.
This Brooklyn squad, and the seven other Super League squads, are banking on finding the right mix of players who couldn't quite break through in one of the elite women's leagues here or abroad, but who could excel at Super League level.
Local links
Several players on the Brooklyn roster have connections locally. Seven of the 19 inaugural squad members are originally from the Tri-State Area.
Samantha Rosette is a New York City native from the Bronx who was once a member of Gotham's reserve squad, but has also spent stints overseas playing for BIIK in Kazakhstan, FC Gintra in Lithuania, and most recently with Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace in France.
Rosette isn't alone in defense as a local product with European experience. Leah Scarpelli is from Brick Township, New Jersey but spent time playing with Sporting Clube de Portugal and Australia's Brisbane Roar before signing with Brooklyn.
Jessica Garziano was a decorated player during her college at St. John’s University in Queens, and was selected by Angel City FC in the fourth round (44th overall pick) of the 2024 NWSL Draft, though didn’t sign or play with them. Midfielder Samantha Kroeger is out of Rutgers University and club team Morris Elite, of the USL W League, a dual local product and "homegrown" graduate from the USL's developmental league.
How good will they be?
There are local Tri-State Area products, players with valuable experience overseas, and players who have won championships with their clubs.
The mix for the first Brooklyn team feels right for an upstart league that is trying to establish itself as a destination on par with NWSL, even if the league and its commissioner don't want you to say they are trying to compete with the NWSL.
The average age of this Brooklyn squad is 24.2, with the oldest player – Smith, 30 – also the one with the most top-level professional experience. Smith, who most recently played on loan with Brighton & Hove Albion FC, seems likely to be leaned on to help guide the team through the ups and downs of its expansion season, one that's unique in the American soccer landscape given it mimics the "European calendar" by kicking off in August and concluding in the spring, with a winter break separating the season's two halves.
Who will score the goals for Brooklyn? That seems like an open question, as there aren't prolific, proven goalscorers in this Brooklyn team. Dana Scheriff, another local product originally from Babylon, NY, might have the best striker's pedigree: Scheriff scored four goals in 10 appearances earlier this spring with Swiss club FC Aarau, building on the 12 goals she scored in 18 appearances in 2023 with Athlone Town in Ireland's Women's Premier Division.
Kess Elmore, an international forward/attacking midfielder originally from Liverpool, scored three goals in 14 appearances for Saint-Étienne in France's ultra-competitive Division 1 Féminine, ranking third in the league after putting 64.7% of her shots on target (17, in 14 appearances). Elmore might be another player Brooklyn will rely on to break down Super League defenses.
Brooklyn will be playing in an attacking-friendly home setting, given Maimonides Park will feature a narrow pitch laid out inside a baseball stadium. The mound was removed for past soccer tenants like the New York Cosmos, but remained in place during a Brooklyn men's friendly against Ecuadorian club CD Cuenca in July.
If this first-ever Brooklyn Super League side can learn how to capitalize on its unique home field and can find enough goals from its collection of slightly under-the-radar forwards and attackers, it might be a memorable inaugural season.
