The mood was jovial at Southeast Portland’s Lents Field on Sunday, where a sold out crowd of 2,007 people assembled to watch the Portland Cherry Bombs—the USL W team that also represents the city’s latest foray into women’s sports—win their inaugural soccer match against the Drip FC, 4-0.
Despite the more casual nature of Lents Field (as opposed to Providence Park, home of the Thorns and Timbers), fans and athletes alike took the game just as seriously. The Cherry Bombs were well-represented by Mary the Cherry, their fishnet-adorned, spiked leather jacket-wearing mascot, as well as by fans who were already decked out in merch.
The first goal was scored by Carolyn Ruoff, who graduated from Portland’s Oregon Episcopal High School and finished her degree in engineering at Cornell in 2018. Ruoff is also the assistant coach for Oregon Episocopal’s girls’ team.
That goal was followed by more from Audrey Dizon (who just wrapped up her second season for Gonzaga), Lillie French (a graduate and former player for Boise State), and the fourth and final point from Olivia Bariao-Arge (who attended Oregon City High School and is a sophomore at Colorado Mesa University).
“I’m just really excited to be part of such a cool atmosphere and team,” Ruoff said after the game. “The fans were amazing tonight, and I hope we can keep this energy for the rest of the season.”
Hopefully, the nature of the league will make that possible. The USL W is a little different from other soccer leagues. For starters, it’s pre-professional, a pipeline of sorts from amateur to professional play. Its athletes are made up of youth and collegiate players, as well as those who want to play pro soccer and those who used to.
Conversations about bringing the league to Portland began in 2023 and carried over into 2024, Cherry Bombs GM Courtney Schmidt told the Mercury. The group added the Portland Bangers men’s team first, but “it was always the intent to do a women’s team the following year.”
“We want everyone to feel welcome and so happy to be here,” Schmidt added. “It’s a tight-knit group. It’s more intimate than professional sports events. So the goal is for people to be able to get a unique experience and something they’ve never seen before, and a new way to look at sports, entertainment, and culture.”
That culture was on full display. The Cherry Bombs are sponsored by Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette, along with the Portland Opera who will send four singers to perform at each home game, says Christina Post, the Opera’s director of marketing.
The Portland Opera crossed paths with the Cherry Bombs by chance; the two organizations have bases in the World Trade Center building downtown. Alexis Hamilton, who heads education and outreach for the Opera, found out the Cherry Bombs needed a hype squad and an alliance was formed.
“We’ve written half a dozen chants [for the team],” Post explained. “We’re going to be working on more as the season goes, and we’ll be out for every home game.”
The chants are based on opera hooks, so if you’re at a Cherry Bombs game and suddenly struck by the urge to traverse the sea with a ne’er-do-well band of pirates à la The Pirates of Penzance, that might be why. “We’ve rewritten the words to the most popular opera riffs,” she said—an attempt to open up more people to the opera and to blend communities.
“Sports and art belong together,” Post said. “There’s a need for that kind of community engagement and live performance at live sport events. If we all work together, we’ll get folks to come out and support all kinds of stuff.”
In addition to live performances from the Portland Opera, the team also has the support of local bands and Anatomy Tattoo, who offered to ink people at the game. The shop already works with the Portland Pickles, who share an ownership group with the Cherry Bombs, and is female-owned. That made their newest collaboration pretty perfect.
“This is our third season with the Pickles, and we’re really excited to support the Cherry Bombs as well,” said Anatomy Tattoo owner and director Tomma Mueller. The team tattoos hundreds of people at these events, with prices ranging from $80 to $200.
“We try to stick to speciality flash,” she added. “And we draw custom flash tattoos each week for their themed games .”
In addition to tattoos, fans were able to grab concessions and even cuddle with their dogs (the park has a very dog-friendly policy). The match was family-friendly and kids could play their own soccer matches in a corner near the stands, something that emphasized the larger purpose of the night: sports bring people together, across race and gender and age, and there’s something for everyone.
That feeling thrummed through the spectators. Dads hoisted excited sons on their shoulders, little girls were overheard scheming about starting their own soccer teams just like the Cherry Bombs. Couples cozied up together over cherry-themed drinks and eats; neighbors and friends alternately cheered and groaned. It sounds cheesy because it was, but in a good way: in only a short time, the Cherry Bombs managed to showcase the heart of Portland on full display.
For Mike and Holly, women’s sports are for the people
Community was top of mind for Holly and Mike, who showed up together bearing big smiles and a sign that read, “World Champs Cherry Bombs.” Mike, who was also donning a propeller hat he decorated with dozens of googly eyes, emphasized the need to create more opportunities for strangers to spend time together.
“I think Portland has the opportunity to create a space for anyone, whether you know sports or love sports, or just love community,” he said. “Coming to see the inaugural game and seeing the first goal ever is something that will always tie me to this moment, and how great Portland is.”
“The narrative that Portland isn’t great is always from people who don’t live in Portland,” he added. “Portland is community—Portland is coming together to support women’s sports, to support real causes, to be something bigger than just you by yourself.”
Portland is for lovers, says Jami
The game also provided an opportunity to meet someone new, an attendee named Jami told the Mercury. Jami brandished a sign that indicated she wants to meet her wife—and what better way than at a game?
“I feel like [a soccer game] is pretty gay,” Jami explained when asked why she chose the Cherry Bombs’ first match as the springboard of her quest for love. “I love sports, and my friends are here,” she continued as she motioned toward the group surrounding her.
Her friends had plenty of ideas about what a potential wife for Jami should be like: She’ll need “a love of sports,” one called out, as a second added, “high energy and funny.”
The Cherry Bombs got their big win Sunday—and maybe that energy will help Jami get hers.
The Cherry Bombs play their next two games this Thursday, May 21 against the West Seattle Rhodies (Lents Park, 7 pm), and Sunday, May 25 against the Tacoma Stars. Full schedule here.