A Rochester native, soccer legend, and former Olympian is helping to make history.
Abby Wambach is a founding investor of Angel City, a women’s soccer team planned for Los Angeles. It’s the first majority women founded and led National Women’s Soccer League team.
“It’s very positive, it’s a positive platform, it shows growth and empowerment for women, it shows empowerment for ladies who can band together as she would call it, is their wolf pack,” said Gina Andrecolich-Montesano, a former teammate of Abby Wambach.
The former teammate says she’s not surprised about Wambach being a part of something great — like the founding of the new Angel City team.
“She’s a woman of her word and she has so much to offer in development for youth, but also now as a strong female business owner, this is remarkable, absolutely remarkable,” Andrecolich-Montesano said of Wambach.
“There are champions in women’s sports, typically it’s going to be they’re not female, and so to have investors who are women is just a huge step and I think the women’s soccer community is hugely excited about it,” said Liz Masterson, head women’s soccer coach at Rochester Institute of Technology.
The coaches Spectrum News spoke with are hopeful the majority-owned women’s soccer team will lead to equity and equal pay for athletes — something that has been a focal point in women’s soccer for years.
“Now that we have a voice at the table, maybe that can happen obviously with having the likes of Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach, Julie Foudy who are very powerful voices in the soccer community,” said Gail Mann, head women’s soccer coach at Nazareth College.
Wambach released a video message on her Instagram page about the creation of a new team — here’s some of what she said:
“You know I always dreamed, if you are into sports, who doesn’t dream of being a part of investing in a team and being a part of championships, and being a part of forever, right,” said Wambach.
Wambach continued by saying this is a way for her to stay involved in her sport for the rest of her life.