Women's team name competition creates 'identity' as voting opens for Riverhounds fans

There is set to be a new team in town come 2025, and whilst a ball has yet to be kicked, things could not be going better in the eyes of President Jeff Garner. 

Back in May, it was announced that the Riverhounds would be adding a new branch to the organization with the introduction of a women’s team, set to compete in the USLW, the second tier of the USL women’s structure underneath the USL Super League.  

With the Penguins also making the push to bring more women’s hockey to the city and reports a few months ago suggesting that a WNBA team could be on the way as well, it’s fair to say that women and girls are going to be playing a big part in how the Steel City’s sporting landscape is going to be shaped moving forward. 

Speaking at the launch of the team, Garner stated “By establishing a pathway for girls in our region to pursue the highest levels of soccer, particularly those emerging from our esteemed Riverhounds Development Academy, we are not just creating opportunities, we are fulfilling dreams.”

And now speaking in an exclusive interview with DK Pittsburgh Sports, Garner couldn’t contain his excitement that the response to the team both inside and outside of Highmark Stadium has exceeded their expectations:

“The response has been overwhelmingly positive and fantastic. Internally our staff is very excited, the players within our academy and the players that we've heard from outside of the academy just in the Pittsburgh region are very excited. Former players that are from Pittsburgh, that are playing in the NWSL and other areas are very excited about women's soccer coming to Pittsburgh at the USLW level.” 

With the launch of a new team comes the opportunity to select a team name, and for this venture, the club decided to give the fans their chance to come up with their own. Entries were open for fans to submit their own ideas, and with submissions having closed on June 21st, the team has now opened voting for what the final decision will be, with fans able to choose from the Confluence, Renegades, Riveters, or Strikers.

Garner pointed out there was some consideration of having the team follow the European model of simply being called ‘Riverhounds’, but after some internal discussion, the club felt that giving fans a voice would provide an opportunity to establish themselves on their own merit whilst still being under the Riverhounds umbrella:  

“I think there is certainly a European model that says to just call it the Riverhounds, like Chelsea and Chelsea Women are one club and have that run all the way around, much in the way our academy is set up that way right now. I think in conversations with that group, conversations with players, conversations internally, we thought it was very important for the USLW team to be a part of the Riverhounds brand, but have its own identity, and that's the bottom line. And that's really why we thought it made sense to give it its own name, so it could have its own identity."

The expectation from sources within the organization is that the name will be revealed at some point in July, once they have had a chance to put the new name alongside various concepts for logos, kits, and branding.