The Chattanooga FC Women enters the 2024 Women's Premier Soccer League season looking to improve on its 3-2-3 record in the 2023 season.
With a number of strong returners and newcomers arriving on the Tennessee border, the Sky Blues will look to be a threat in the Southeast Conference.
There's a new leader at the helm, with Tom Halsall announced as the new head coach during the off-season. The Southport, England native is an alumnae of Lee University and was a CFC men’s goalkeeper for four seasons. Halsall has been the head coach of Bryan College for two seasons, and is looking to bring a winning culture to Chattanooga FC Women.
“Bringing everyone together creates a cool culture and the technical ability and mindset of the girls we have is very, very exciting and I think it’s going to set us apart,” said Halsall. “If they come out here, work hard, fight for each other, sprint, chase and do everything they should do for the team, then the results will come our way.”
"We want our identity as a team to be ruthless and relentless," he added. "We will be difficult to break down, play with a passion and style that excites fans. We've been training extremely hard and putting all the principles into place, so we're looking to come out of the blocks strong on Friday and put in a really positive performance."
New faces
On the pitch, CFCW has signed French native Angela Gatto for the 2024 season. Gatto just finished her junior season at the University of Charleston, and was awarded Defensive Player of the Year on top of a championship-winning season. The All-American started 20 games in 21 appearances, and only conceded 13 goals.
Joining Gatto from the University of Charleston is New Zealand native, Juliette Lucas. Lucas is the reigning Freshman of the Year for the Mountain East Conference after netting a team-high 11 goals with seven assists in 21 games, including a goal in the conference championship.
Annalisa Vincent is a new signing that has history on her side. Vincent is the first Indigenous Guyanese woman to earn an athletic scholarship at an American university. In the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Qualifiers, Vincent scored a goal for Guyana in a 4-0 victory against Dominica.
Returners
One notable returner for the Sky Blues is goalkeeper Brooke Alvarez, who has spent the last three seasons in goal with Chattanooga FC. Alvarez is a former SSAC Golden Glove winner with Dalton State, and boasts a career 75% save percentage with the Road Runners.
Chattanooga native and returning player Anna Land said: “We emphasize how important it is that what you do on and off the field really matters. We are role models for a lot of people in Chattanooga, especially young girls who want to play soccer. We try to get that across very early on. Yes, soccer’s important but also so is our community."
New Kits
Ahead of the season, the club released three kits along with two goalkeeper kits in front of a packed crowd at the Moxy Chattanooga Downtown. The club is delighted to announce two new sponsors with Grypho5, a Conversant Group company, joining as the front-of-kit sponsor and Clean Cult joining as a sleeve sponsor
"This is a community club; plain and simple. It always has been and it always will be," said Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly. during the unveiling. "Grassroots movements are more difficult than top-down movements. They take longer to develop, but they last longer and the product's better, and they're real. This club belongs to this city."
“If you look at how this club is evolving, hopefully we're making all fans of CFC proud," said Chattanooga Football Club CEO Alton Byrd. "We know that the effort to build a football club is forever changing and evolving. Our young women are super important to this club. For the young women playing for us, we want to give you a platform for many, many years."
Chattanooga FC Women opens its season against Nashville Rhythm at Finley Stadium on Friday, May 24th with a 7:00 p.m. ET kick-off.