 | |||
| Full name | Western New York Flash Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname | Flash | ||
| Founded | 2008; 17 years ago (2008) | ||
| Dissolved | 2018; 7 years ago (2018) | ||
| Stadium | All-High Stadium Buffalo, New York | ||
| Capacity | 5,000 | ||
| Owner | Joe Sahlen | ||
| President | Alexandra Sahlen | ||
| League | United Women's Soccer | ||
| Website | www | ||
 Current season | |||
TheWestern New York Flash (WNY Flash) was an Americanwomen's soccer club based inElma, New York, that most recently competed in theUnited Women's Soccer league in 2018. They won league championships in four different leagues: theUSL W-League in 2010,Women's Professional Soccer in 2011,Women's Premier Soccer League Elite in 2012, and theNational Women's Soccer League in 2016.
The team was founded in 2008 as theBuffalo Flash and played in the USL W-League from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, the team became the Western New York Flash and joined Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), its only season in the league. In 2012, following the folding of the WPS, the team was a member of Women's Premier Soccer League Elite (WPSL-E). The Flash won three consecutive league championships from 2010 to 2012 under head coachAaran Lines—W-League in 2010, WPS in 2011, and WPSL-E in 2012. The Flash reached the inaugural NWSL Championship during the 2013 season, but fell to thePortland Thorns FC while searching for their fourth straight title. In 2016, the team won the NWSL Championship for the first and only time.[1]
The team was owned by the Sahlen family, who run theSahlen'smeat packing company inBuffalo.[2] Joe Sahlen was the team's owner. His daughter,Alex Sahlen, was the team President and a former defender on the team.[3] While the professional team was replaced in the NWSL by theNorth Carolina Courage and folded following two seasons in the United Women's Soccer League, the franchise remains through ayouth academy player development program.[4][5]
In 2009, the Buffalo Flash made its debut in the Great Lakes (formerly Northern) Division of the USL W-League's Central Conference, lining up against teams from Hamilton, Laval, London, Ottawa, Quebec City, Rochester and Toronto. It finished second, with a regular season record of 9–2–3 from their 14 matches, undefeated in their seven games on the road, and with 40 goals scored, and 10 conceded. In the post-season playoffs, the Flash reached the Central Conference semi-final, to end their inaugural season with a 10–3–3 record. They were beaten 3–0 byFC Indiana, the only other full-time professional outfit in the league.[6]
The 2009 team roster included players from six countries across four continents. There were four local players from Western NY, various U.S. players from numerous states (including two with U.S. U-20 National Team experience), players from the fullItalian national team,Portuguese national team,South African national team, and also from Spain and Japan. To aid team bonding, the squad were housed in the same apartment complex.[6]
Before the 2010 season Buffalo Flash signed English trioGemma Davison,Eartha Pond andAnn-Marie Heatherson.[7]Mele French andKelly Parker arrived from German clubSC Freiburg.[8]Kimberly Brandão returned despite attending a training camp withSky Blue FC, butErika Sutton left for theBoston Breakers[9] andSarah Wagenfuhr joinedSt. Louis Athletica.[10]
In 2010 Buffalo Flash competed in the Midwest Division of theUSL W-League, finishing the regular season 14–0–2 againstChicago Red Eleven,Cleveland Internationals,Kalamazoo Outrage andLondon Gryphons.[11]Buffalo Flash won the W-League Championship by defeating theVancouver Whitecaps 3–1 at Harry Welch Stadium in Santa Clarita, California.[12] They finished the season undefeated, while Kelly Parker was named W-LeagueMVP.[12]
The team made plans to move toWomen's Professional Soccer for the 2011 season. In September 2010, team president Alex Sahlen and coach Aaran Lines—both of whom have played forRochester-based soccer teams—indicated that the team was looking at playing up to half of its WPS home games at Rochester's Marina Auto Stadium (nowRhinos Stadium).[3] On September 24, WPS officially confirmed that the new team would indeed join the league.[13] The name of the WPS team was announced as the Western New York Flash on December 1, 2010.[14] The September announcement confirmed that the team would play half its home games at Marina Auto Stadium. The remaining games were originally intended to be played atNiagara Field, a smaller facility on the campus ofNiagara University inLewiston that was set to be expanded to 4,000 for the 2011 WPS season.[15] The league also attempted to negotiate a deal withAll-High Stadium in Buffalo, although the owners of the field,Buffalo Public Schools, never responded – likely due to existing conflict with four city high schools (which take precedence) and an agreement with Medaille College. However, the December announcement indicated that the entire 2011 home schedule would be in Rochester.[14]
The Flash selectedAlex Morgan with the first pick in the2011 WPS Draft.[16]
On January 25, 2011, the Flash signed 2009 and 2010WPS MVP andWPS Golden BootMarta.[17]
With a 13–2–3 regular season record, the Flash earned the regular season title and the right to host the WPS Championship presented by Citi. On August 27, 2011, Western New York Flash capped their inaugural season in WPS by capturing the 2011 WPS Championship title 1–1 (5–4) in a penalty kick shootout in front of the largest championship crowd in league history.[18]
When it was announced that WPS had suspended its 2012 season, the Flash announced their plans to continue playing[19] and shortly thereafter joined the newWomen's Premier Soccer League Elite. During the 2012 playoffs, the Flash won the championship in penalty kicks.[20]
The Flash joined the newly formedNational Women's Soccer League for its inaugural 2013 season. The team won the first-everNWSL Shield after finishing in first during the regular season though they ended the season tied for first place with bothFC Kansas City andPortland Thorns FC, but won the tiebreak over both teams to claim the shield. With the number one seed, the Flash earned home field advantage through the playoffs, and drew No. 4Sky Blue FC for its semifinal match.[21]
The team shutout Sky Blue 2–0 in the opening game, earning the right to host the Thorns in the 2013NWSL Championship at Sahlen's Stadium in Rochester.[22] The Flash ultimately finished second, losing to Portland in the championship game to the score of 2–0, denying the Flash a bid for a record-breaking fourth-straight title in a fourth different league.[23]
The Flash had one of their first down years during the 2014 season, unable to reach the heights of the previous season. They missed the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, placing seventh out of nine teams in NWSL.[24]
The Flash once again had a disappointing season, once again missing the playoffs with a seventh-place finish out of nine teams. The low finishes for the team in the past two seasons caused for quite a few cases of transition, most notably with long time head coachAaran Lines who was eventually replaced byPaul Riley.[24]
The Flash had quite a bit of roster turnover as well as a new coach so expectations were low for the season, but the Flash ended up making the playoffs for the first time since the inaugural NWSL season.[25] The semi-finals saw the Flash upset the top seedPortland Thorns FC away from home after scoring two goals during extra-time, thus partially avenging their NWSL Cup loss to the Thorns in 2013.[26] The NWSL Championship saw the Flash face theWashington Spirit in Houston. The Flash eventually came out on top, winning their first ever NWSL Championship.[27] This ended up being the final season for the WNY Flash in NWSL, with the franchise rights being sold to the owners ofNorth Carolina FC, moved to Cary, North Carolina, and rebranded as theNorth Carolina Courage.[28]
On March 7, 2017, the Flash announced that they would join theUnited Women's Soccer for their upcoming season, with the team playing matches in Buffalo for the first time since 2010.[29] This was the fifth league overall that the Flash played in during their ten seasons of existence.Gary Bruce, an assistant under Paul Riley, was named the new head coach.[30] The team folded after the 2018 season, with a youth academy continuing on.[31][32]
In 2009 the team played their home games atOrchard Park High School Field, inOrchard Park, New York, 15 miles south-east of downtownBuffalo, New York, and trained daily at the nearby Sahlen's Sports Park inElma, New York. In 2010 the team played home games at theDemske Sports Complex atCanisius College inBuffalo, New York.[33]
In February 2011, the Sahlen family obtained the naming rights toMarina Auto Stadium inRochester, which was called Sahlen's Stadium from 2011 through 2015.[34][35] After that time, the team played their home games in Rochester.
The stadium has a seating capacity of 13,768. The stadium's highest attendance record was set on July 20, 2011, at 15,404 during a match between the Flash andmagicJack (led by player-coach and Rochester native,Abby Wambach) after the2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The game was also the largest single-game crowd inWPS history.[36]
The UWS Flash (2017–18) played most of their home matches atNiagara University, with one match in 2017 played atAll-High Stadium.[37]
The Flash's home colors were white and away colors red.[33] The Flash logo was designed to reflect that ofSahlen's, the team's parent company.
| Year | League | RecordW-L-T | Regular season | Playoffs | Avg. attendance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | USL W-League | 9–2–3 | 2nd, Great Lakes Division | Central Conference Semifinal | 210 |
| 2010 | USL W-League | 10–0–2 | 1st, Midwest Division | USL W-League Champions | 236 |
| 2011 | WPS | 13–2–3 | 1st | WPS Champions | 4,881 |
| 2012 | WPSL Elite | 9–2–3 | 2nd | WPSL Elite Champions | — |
| 2013 | NWSL | 10–4–8 | 1st | Runner-Up | 4,485 |
| 2014 | NWSL | 8–12–4 | 7th | Did not qualify | 3,177 |
| 2015 | NWSL | 6–9–5 | 7th | Did not qualify | 2,860 |
| 2016 | NWSL | 9–6–5 | 4th | NWSL Champions | 3,868 |
| 2017 | UWS | 4–4–2 | 5th, East Conference | Did not qualify | — |
| 2018 | UWS | 5–5–0 | 5th, East Conference | Did not qualify | — |
Former members of the team who have represented their respective senior national teams are:
Teigen AllenMichelle HeymanAlanna KennedySamantha KerrLydia Williams
Marta
Ajara Nchout Njoya
Adriana LeonChristine SinclairCandace Chapman
Lady Andrade
Gemma Davison
Pamela Conti
Abby ErcegAli Riley
Sonia BermudezVerónica BoqueteVicky LosadaAdriana Martín
Verónica PérezPamela Tajonar
Jeon Ga-eul
Caroline Seger
Abby DahlkemperWhitney EngenAdrianna FranchAshlyn HarrisJaelene HinkleSydney LerouxGina LewandowskiCarli LloydJessica McDonaldSamantha MewisTaylor SmithAlex MorganAbby WambachLynn WilliamsFrom 2009 to 2015,Aaran Lines led the team as head coach winning three consecutive league championships and the inauguralNWSL Shield.[38] After he resigned in 2015,Paul Riley led the team to its firstNWSL Championship in 2016, withScott Vallow as an assistant and interim head coach during Riley's suspensions.[39]Charlie Naimo served as Technical Director from 2014 to 2016.[40]
| Name | Nationality | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aaran Lines | New Zealand | February 4, 2009 | December 22, 2015 |
| Paul Riley | England | February 19, 2016 | January 9, 2017 |
| Gary Bruce | United States | March 30, 2017 | July 9, 2017 |
| Matt Waddington | United States | February 16, 2018 | July 14, 2018 |
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