Should a women’s team operated by the Portland Hearts of Pine have its own distinct identity, completely separate from the successful men’s professional team that was launched in 2025?

That was the core question that drove discussion Saturday at a town hall style meeting at Allagash Brewery. It was the first of three in-person town hall meetings the club is hosting to discuss its plans to put a pre-professional women’s team on the field in 2027, hopefully at Fitzpatrick Stadium, pending city support and approval.

“Building community. That’s what we’re doing here,” club founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson told a crowd of over 200 attendees. He said Saturday’s gathering was four times larger than when he hosted a similar first meeting to talk about a potential men’s team.

The men’s team will open its second season in USL League One on March 14 at the New York Cosmos. It had extraordinary success in its first season in terms of ticket and merchandise sales while establishing a brand that has drawn national and international attention.

The women’s team is expected to play in USLW, a league designed for college-age players, with a 10- to 12-game schedule from May to July. There are currently 96 teams set for 2026, including a first-year squad from Vermont Green.

“We want to attract the girls playing at Florida State, (North Carolina), the best college teams,” Hoffman-Johnson said.

While Vermont Green is sticking with one name and logo for its women’s and USL2 men’s team, the Hearts of Pine are still deliberating on all of the identifying markers for its women’s team, including whether to keep the Hearts of Pine name.

During an active open forum, attendee Paula Mahony of Portland said she played soccer from youth through the college level. Too often, teams for women are just the female version of the men’s team.

“We deserve our own identity,” Mahony said.

Bryn Wynne, 12, of Hallowell shared a similar sentiment. Wynne said she would want the women’s team to be its “own thing,” and hoped it would empower “girl power” and youth.

Others suggested that the Hearts of Pine identity is too strong to scrap entirely.

The audience was encouraged to take an online survey that asks for opinions about brand identity, names, symbols and themes that represent Maine.

The Hearts of Pine will host two more women’s soccer town halls, March 12 at Apres for business, nonprofit and community leaders; and March 22 at Portland Soccer Complex, with an emphasis on input from youth soccer communities.

Hoffman-Johnson told the crowd that regardless of how the club decides to brand its women’s team, it will be done with the same intention of being “best in class” that the club has used with its men’s team.