The Portland Hearts of Pine are engaged in early stage discussions about adding a women’s soccer team, something the franchise’s founder has long stated as a goal.

“We have belief and interest in the women’s game and would want to be there to support it and we think it would be successful here,” said Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, the Hearts of Pine founder and chief community officer.

The first-year men’s team is a professional club in USL League One. The women’s team is targeted to be in the pre-professional USL W League, with 2027 the earliest it would likely see the field.

Hearts President Kevin Schohl added, “it’s always been part of our vision, part of Gabe’s vision, to add a women’s team. We’ve begun initial exploration of that, including initial discussion with the city of Portland.”

Earlier this week, Vermont Green, a well-established pre-professional men’s team in Burlington, Vermont, announced plans to field a women’s USL W team in 2026.

“If we were to launch in 2027, what would be our third men’s season, that would be a pretty fast follow,” Schohl said. “Certainly we would want to make sure some (organizational) positions are solely focused on making sure the women’s team is successful. A head coach would be one, obviously. There would be other roles, too, but we don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves.”

The club, which built community support for the men’s team over several years, must first work with the city to be sure Fitzpatrick Stadium, and/or Memorial Field at Deering High, can accommodate six to eight women’s home games and the team’s practice schedule. The Hearts of Pine’s 10-year, rent-free lease of Fitzpatrick Stadium allows the club to reserve 25 game dates, which includes three dates for playoff games. This year the team had 18 home matches. Next year, with USL League One scheduled to expand from 14 to 21 teams, the club is anticipating 20 home matches.

The USL W season runs from mid-May to late-June, followed by the postseason.

Ethan Hipple, director of Portland’s Parks, Recreation and Facilities department, believes the city can find space for a women’s team.

“If we’re really talking 10 dates, it could be a much simpler operation, similar to how we book dates for (other organizations),” Hipple said.

Hipple noted that a lease agreement was needed for the Hearts of Pine men’s team because of the “quantity of dates and they were also making physical improvements to the stadium.”

The franchise invested over $2.5 million in field and facility renovations, including putting in a new artificial surface, improving the lighting, upgrading the press box, and installing home and visiting team locker rooms on site.

The Hearts of Pine men’s team is winding down its inaugural season in USL League One, a third-tier pro league. The club is currently sixth in the USL1 standings and on the verge of clinching a playoff berth.

The Hearts have been even better off the field. Portland has sold out every game at Fitzpatrick Stadium, currently averaging 5,737 fans, well above the league record (4,786, Richmond Kickers in 2023). It has added investors to the ownership group, sells merchandise around the world, and has been featured as a model of growing soccer in national and regional publications.

Those are major reasons why the USL wants Portland in its women’s ranks, said Joel Nash, the organization’s senior vice president for youth and pre-professional opportunities.

“When a club has become a beacon for a passionate community that represents an entire state, you can’t help but have excitement,” Nash said in an email to the Press Herald. “The opportunity for a W League team to inspire and educate young women to pursue their dreams and turn them into reality is completely in line with how the club has grown in a short time.”

In 2025, the USL W had 93 teams across 15 regional divisions that played 10- or 12-game regular-season schedules. Several teams are affiliated with either USL Championship, USL1, or USL2 men’s teams. Many others are the top competitive team for a regional soccer club.

Rosters consist of mostly college-age players who are not paid.

Vermont Green joining USL W is pending the creation of a new Northeast Division. The Vermont Green men’s team won the 2025 USL2 (pre-professional) national championship. It routinely sells out its games at 2,500-seat Virtue Field on the University of Vermont campus.

The past two years, Vermont Green has held three women’s exhibition matches with the expressed purpose of preparing to join a pre-professional league. With former U.S. Women’s National Team standout Sam Mewis as the coach, each of the women’s games has sold out quickly, said Meg Linehan, who covers women’s sports and especially women’s soccer for The Athletic. A Vermont resident and Vermont Green season-ticket holder, Linehan said 10 years ago people would have laughed at the notion that “Burlington and Portland would be two of the hottest soccer markets” in the United States.

“But both Vermont Green and Hearts of Pine are becoming part of the community fabric,” Linehan said. “Adding a women’s team extends that larger mission and provides extra opportunities to engage with the club.”

Linehan said some USL W teams have consistently drawn large crowds, pointing to the Minnesota Aurora. “They have a 5,600-seat capacity and they regularly sell out,” Linehan said.

Portland already has one pre-professional women’s soccer team. The Maine Footy completed their third season this past summer, playing home games at Memorial Field. Maine Footy played a six-game schedule this past summer in the United Women’s Soccer League — which is a different league than USL W.

How a Hearts of Pine women’s team would impact Maine Footy is unclear and another step in the development process. Hoffman-Johnson said the Hearts “have a good relationship with Footy.”

Hipple said it would not be an issue from the city’s perspective to have separate pre-professional women’s soccer teams. Hipple said city fields are frequently rented to different organizations that offer similar opportunities.