NoCo Rain FC women's soccer team begins debut season: What to know about new Windsor club

The Rain is here just in time for summer.

Colorado's new women's soccer team, the Northern Colorado Rain, begins play this week, with the first home match Sunday (1 p.m.) at Future Legends Sports Complex.

The "pre-professional" club joins the Hailstorm (men's club) on the pitch in Windsor and will feature plenty of familiar names for local soccer fans.

Here's a look at the NoCo Rain as they kick off their inaugural season:

What league do the Rain play in?

The Rain play in the USL W, a women's league that is "the nation’s premier pre-professional league developing the next generation of women’s talent both on and off the field, enhancing the women’s soccer pipeline between college and professional soccer."

The USL W League was founded in 2021 and is up to 81 teams across 10 divisions.

NoCo is in the five-team Mountain Division with other Colorado teams located in Denver, Arvada, Parker and Lafayette.

NoCo Rain 2024 home schedule

The Rain will play each league opponent three times in the 12-game slate that runs through June, including six home matches.

The team kicks off its slate on Thursday, May 23 (4:30 p.m.) at Colorado International Soccer Academy in Parker.

Here is NoCo's home schedule:

• Sunday, May 26 (1 p.m.): vs. Colorado International Soccer Academy

• Monday, June 3 (7 p.m.): vs. Colorado Storm

• Thursday, June 6 (7 p.m.): vs. Flatirons FC

• Monday, June 10 (7 p.m.): vs. Albion SC Colorado

• Wednesday, June 26 (7 p.m.): vs. Albion SC Colorado

• Sunday, June 30 (1 p.m.): vs. Flatirons FC

Tickets for Rain home matches at Future Legends Complex are $10.

Visit the NoCo Rain team site for full ticket and schedule information.

Meet the Rain's head coach

The Rain are coached by Kelly Brown, a longtime soccer fixture in the state.

A Colorado native, Brown comes to NoCo from Steamboat Soccer Club.

Before that, she was the head coach at Regis University for two seasons and an assistant coach at Colorado (2017-19) and Colorado State (2013-16) for the previous seven years.

Brown has also coached club soccer in Colorado and is a former player at Regis and Mountain West squad UNLV.

NoCo natives dominate Rain roster

There are nearly 30 players on the Rain's roster, with a mix of current professional players, college athletes and new high school graduates.

The majority of them have a Colorado background, including 12 Fort Collins-area natives and four current or former CSU Rams.

Here are some of the local names to know:

The Ballek sisters: Abby and Kiley

The Fossil Ridge duo is reunited again for the summer.

Rising senior Abby just led the SaberCats to a No. 2 seed and a 5A quarterfinal appearance as one of the best players in Colorado, while older sister Kiley is fresh off her first college season at Wyoming.

CSU Rams in action

Two current CSU players and two more former players will hit the pitch this summer for the Rain:

• Liv Stutzman (Rocky Mountain alum and rising CSU senior)

• Katy Coffin (Grand Junction native and rising CSU senior)

• Caeley Lordemann (Greeley native and CSU alum, playing from 2017-19)

• Ally Murphy-Pauletto (Boulder native and CSU alum, playing from 2017-21)

Former Lobos

There are four former Rocky Mountain players on the Rain:

• Jace Holley (2024 graduate, CU signee)

• Fiona Jenkins (2023 graduate, plays for New Mexico)

• Skylar Haase (2023 graduate, plays for Texas Tech)

• Liv Stutzman (2021 graduate, plays for CSU)

Other local players include Poudre's Maddie Burr (2024 graduate), Windsor's Jolie Jiricek (2022 alum) and current University of Northern Colorado player Taryn Rea.

How to watch, stream NoCo Rain matches

NoCo Rain home and away games are available for streaming on SportsEnginePlay.

This article originally appeared on Fort Collins Coloradoan: NoCo Rain FC begins inaugural season: What to know about new Windsor club