Written By:  Thomas Costello | WPSL Correspondent

​​The growth and excitement around the future of women’s soccer in the United States is represented well in the WPSL. For the 2023 season, expansion teams are popping up in all corners of the country, giving talented athletes more chances to compete at a high level between collegiate and professional seasons.

Representing that spirit of growth and competition perfectly is the 2023 Lake Erie Conference, in the WPSL’s East Region.

Within the conference stretching around the Great Lakes through Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York is a combination of teams dominating the sport and new names. Here’s what each team is bringing into 2023 and the Lake Erie Conference.

Ambassadors Cleveland & Cleveland Ambassadors

When top clubs of the WPSL come to mind, Ambassadors Cleveland is part of the conversation. The worldwide Ambassadors soccer club calls Cleveland its United States homebase, featuring two separate sides.

Last season, it was the Ambassadors Cleveland squad grabbing attention in the WPSL.

Then, as part of the Ohio Valley Conference, Ambassadors Cleveland went undefeated in all competitions, winning six and drawing two matches. Included in that impressive season was a 6-0 victory in the conference title game.

In the offseason, the club featured even more headlines from its talented pool of athletes. Ambassadors started the 2023 calendar facing professional teams in England, going head-to-head with Everton Football Club and Leicester City Football Club. Both teams are from the top tier of women’s football in England: The Barclays Women’s Super League.

Soon after that trip, NWSL teams chose not one but two Ambassador players in the annual NWSL Draft. Then, to cap off January of 2023, Notre Dame Fighting Irish and United States youth international midfielder Korbin Albert took her Ambassadors’ experience overseas.

Albert decided to forego final NCAA eligibility to join Paris Saint-Germain and fellow former Ambassador Catarina Macario. Just three months later, Albert is starting for PSG as it closes out the regular season.

Ambassadors Cleveland is two-time conference champions in its two seasons in the WPSL, led by back-to-back WPSL Central Region Coach of the Year Caleb Fortune. A team looking to stop that run is the only side to keep Ambassadors off the win column.

Beadling Soccer Club

Starting its WPSL journey last season, Beadling Soccer Club entered the longest-running women’s soccer league in the country with history of its own. Beadling is heralded as the oldest youth soccer club in the United States.

Even so, there were growing pains in the first season of WPSL play. Beadling played to a 3-2-3 record, starting its schedule with a 2-0 shutout defeat. From there though, Beadling adjusted and didn’t get shutout for its remaining seven matches.

In its growth were two matches where Beadling kept up with the eventual champions. In one, a 5-5 offensive showdown on Beadling’s home turf, followed by a 1-1 draw over Ambassadors on the road.

Beadling ended its inaugural WPSL campaign in second place in the Ohio Valley Conference but joined the two Ambassadors club in the newly formed Lake Erie Conference. Can Beadling take a season of growth and improve upon it?

Erie FC

Although new in title, Erie FC is not your normal expansion team. Erie FC brings 25 years of player development and former WPSL pedigree to the largest women’s soccer league in the world.

Erie FC joins the Lake Erie conference through the combined efforts of the Erie Admirals and MSA Soccer. While both sides continue to operate individually at the youth level, the best players from each side will field Erie FC throughout the WPSL season.

Leading the new side is manager and technical director Andy Bennett. The former league champion with Mercyhurst University, Bennett is both a player and coach, playing for the Erie men’s side.

RNY FC

The final side in the conference stretches the competition up to Rochester, in Western New York. Branded as RNY FC, the club has a storied history of developing talent since 1966.

Over the decades, the team went through different name changes and ownership changes, but the focus on developing athletes hasn’t gone away. Now, RNY FC joins the WPSL and at the helm is a former international soccer player with a wealth of experience.

Leading RNY FC team this season is head coach Katrin Kaarna. After playing in the professional ranks, including four appearances with the Estonia women’s national team, Kaarna continued a love for the sport through coaching.

Kaarna was assistant coach on the national team too before eventually finding a home in New York.

The two new teams won’t have to wait long to make their presence known in the WPSL. On May 21, RNY FC faces Erie FC in Erie, Pennsylvania to start the Lake Erie Conference action. The conference regular season ends July 8, with the top team in the standings taking the season title.