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THE WPSL UNVEILS THE MOUNTAIN CONFERENCE SCHEDULE FOR THE 2021 SEASON

The First Match of the Conference Will Kick Off on May 21
Published Apr 6, 2021

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Women’s Premier Soccer League has announced the schedule for the Mountain Conference today for the upcoming 2021 season. It was revealed at the beginning of last month with the alignment release that the Mountain Conference will compete in the West Region for the 2021 season. The conference was previously part of the Central Region in prior seasons.

The Mountain Conference is represented by teams out of Colorado – Broomfield Burn, Colorado Pride, Colorado Rapids Women, Colorado Rush, and Indios Denver, and Utah – Utah Arrows SC, Utah Red Devils, and Utah Surf.

Along with a move to a new region, the Mountain Conference will now be played as one complete conference - in previous seasons the conference was split into divisions. There will also be a considerable amount of new talent with three teams from the 2020 expansion-team class and Utah Surf joining the league as a 2021 expansion team. With the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Broomfield Burn, Colorado Pride, and Colorado Rush, were unable to play their inaugural season, so essentially 2021 will be their first season taking the WPSL field. 

"We are very excited to get the ball rolling on our "first" season in the WPSL,” Broomfield Burn executive director, Mike Schrad, said. “Last year we had a ton of momentum built up both in building the team and community support.  This has not waned through the pandemic, and we look forward to having a competitive, entertaining team for our current and future fans!"

Another big change with the Mountain Conference, is the absence of the Utah Royals Reserves which desolved as a result of the NWSL's Utah Royals relocating to Kansas City. The Utah Royals Reserves finished first in conference standings with just one loss in the regular season and earned a spot in the WPSL Championship Semi-Finals before falling to Motor City FC on penality kicks. With this absence and the ample new competition, the conference is sure to make waves this season.

"The departure of the Utah Royals Reserves put the Colorado Rapids Women as slight favorites over the field on paper, " WPSL associate comissioner, Matt Homonoff, said. "But what's unique to this conference is that 50 percent of the competition will come from expansion teams, including those who entered the league in 2020 but were denied the opportunity to experience their inaugural season last year because of the pandemic. This is something [number of new teams] you won't see in many other conferences around the league this season."

Indios Denver will suit up for its second season in the WPSL after joining the league in 2019. Veteran members, Utah Arrows and Utah Red Devils entered the league in 2017 and has since achieved great momentum with becoming thriving WPSL teams. The Arrows finished second in conference standings in back-to-back seasons and the Red Devils won the 2018 regular season with an undefeated record, outscoring opponents 27-4.

The conference will kick off towards the end of May and play through mid-July. With the elimination of divisions this season, teams will play an unbalanced 10-match schedule with the expection of both Colorado Rush and Utah Red Devials playing nine matches. 

The first match of the season will feature Indios Denver on the road at Colorado Pride on May 21. 

 

View the full 2021 Mountain Conference Schedule Here