{"id":733090,"date":"2026-06-13T02:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/733090\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T02:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T02:22:18","slug":"amid-canberra-footballs-doom-and-gloom-two-local-stars-shine-bright-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/733090\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Canberra football&#8217;s \u2018doom and gloom\u2019, two local stars shine bright in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-972549\" class=\"wp-image-972549 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/atttwr7lazbqydlfkm-fd3iy-sfcqjfwoywdmjyrseefwe-e1781051683124-1200x954.jpg\" alt=\"Sophia Doumos and Jade Brown team mates at the Sioux Falls City FC in 2026\" width=\"1200\" height=\"954\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-972549\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sophia Doumos and Jade Brown are teammates at the Sioux Falls City FC in 2026. Photo: Supplied.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the seemingly endless stories of doom and gloom and recurring chaos in Canberra football, there are positives that, sadly, struggle to get oxygen.<\/p>\n<p>It is why there were so many people longing for Canberra United to succeed this season, given the possibility of extinction without a financial backer.<\/p>\n<p>Under the circumstances, W-League coach of the year Antoni Jagarinec did a remarkable job in guiding the team into the finals.<\/p>\n<p>Now, another positive story highlighting the ACT football system has emerged, not in Canberra, but in the unlikely setting of Sioux Falls in South Dakota.<\/p>\n<p>Former Canberra NPL 1 rivals Jade Brown and Sophia Doumos have joined forces in the Sioux Falls City FC\u2019s unbeaten start through the first four rounds in the Northern Conference in the USL W-League.<\/p>\n<p>The summer semi-professional league is the second-tier competition in women\u2019s football in the United States, serving as a pathway for college players into the pro league.<\/p>\n<p>Jade, a former Gungahlin United NPL 1 player, is on a sports scholarship with Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee where she studies business.<\/p>\n<p>Sophia played for Belconnen United in the NPL 1 and is also on a sports scholarship. She is studying elementary education and is transferring from Seminole College to the University of Dayton next season.<\/p>\n<p>Playing in the summer competition is outside their university league, but because it is effectively in the off-season, it allows them to retain their NCAA eligibility.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s USL-W is Jade\u2019s second year after playing with Erie Football in 2025 before linking with the Sioux Falls City FC in 2026, while Sophia is playing in her debut season.<\/p>\n<p>Named the Club of the Year in 2025, they are in good hands with Sioux Falls City, which is committed to development.<\/p>\n<p>The sports scholarship system has been used by many Canberra sportspeople over the years, providing an elite pathway to move outside their comfort zone, a move that requires dedication and resilience, being away from home studying and playing at a competitive level.<\/p>\n<p>For Jade and Sophia, it has extended their pathways beyond the ACT system while demonstrating the benefits of the effort put into their development in Canberra.<\/p>\n<p class=\"google-preferred-source\"><a data-action=\"click\" data-category=\"google-preferred-source\" data-label=\"a\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=region.com.au\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Make us preferred on Google<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sophia Doumos and Jade Brown are teammates at the Sioux Falls City FC in 2026. Photo: Supplied. Amid&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-733090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}