Portland\u2019s new pre-professional women\u2019s soccer team, Cherry Bombs FC, announced its first head coach today. Former U.S. Women\u2019s National Team goalkeeper Janine Szpara will lead the Cherry Bombs for the team\u2019s debut season, which will run from May through July. <\/p>\n
The Cherry Bombs<\/a> are the latest local expansion of COLLiDE, the company behind the Portland Pickles collegiate wood-bat baseball team and the Portland Bangers<\/a>, the pre-professional men\u2019s soccer team that debuted in 2025. <\/p>\n \u201cJanine is the perfect fit for this role in so many ways,\u201d said Courtney Schmidt, general manager of Portland Cherry Bombs FC, in a press release. \u201cHer resume speaks for itself, but getting to know her made it clear that her relentless DIY spirit and deep commitment to her community are exactly what this team needs. I can\u2019t wait to see her at the helm of our debut season!\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to Szpara\u2019s U.S. Women\u2019s National Team experience, she played professionally in Japan in the 1990s. She is already deeply rooted in Portland\u2019s soccer community, coaching or assistant coaching for the Portland Rain (Women\u2019s Premier Soccer League), Portland State University, Portland Thorns Academy, St. Mary\u2019s Academy and FC Mulhouse Portland. <\/p>\n The Portland Cherry Bombs will compete in the USL W League. The marketing takes inspiration from Portland\u2019s riot grrrl movement and music culture, and is \u201cbuilt on the values of radical inclusion, community connection, creative rebellion and player empowerment,\u201d according to COLLiDE. The home venue and inaugural schedule have not been announced yet.<\/p>\n \u201cI want fans to know that I truly care,\u201d Szpara said, in a statement. \u201cI care about the team, the players, the community, and the organization\u2014and about making sure everyone gets the best out of this experience for themselves and for each other. That\u2019s what matters most to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Willamette Week\u2019s reporting has concrete impacts that change laws, force action from civic leaders, and drive compromised politicians from public office.<\/p>\n Support WW<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Portland\u2019s new pre-professional women\u2019s soccer team, Cherry Bombs FC, announced its first head coach today. Former U.S. Women\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420482,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-420481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420481\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}