Penn women’s soccer team ready to step inside PPL Park

Penn women’s soccer coach Darren Ambrose has fond memories of his team’s 2007 game against Loyola University of Chicago at Toyota Park, home of the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.

Ambrose believes the program’s next game inside a professional stadium will be even better.

On Friday evening, Penn takes on Big 5 rival Villanova in a local women’s soccer darby at the Philadelphia Union’s home stadium, PPL Park.

“To do it in our hometown against a good team that is a big rival of ours adds a little more to the game,” Ambrose told the Gazette. “We’re excited. The kids are ready, and I’m sure the game will live up to the expectations.”

The game at PPL is part of a concerted effort to form a bridge between the city’s second-year Major League Soccer franchise and the local college programs.

The Penn men’s team was not able to schedule a game at the Union’s stadium this year but head coach Rudy Fuller believes there will be some to come in the future.

“I think it’s something both Darren and I hope to see more of,” Fuller said. “We want to strengthen our ties with the Union. It’s a huge asset for the program to have an MLS team of that caliber in our backyard. So I think there are going to be a lot of opportunities to help each other. Playing games at PPL is certainly one of them.”

Ambrose

Ambrose isn’t quite as sure how much of an impact the Union – as well as the second-year Philadelphia Independence of the Women’s Professional Soccer League – have made on college soccer, particularly his program.

But the Penn head coach, going into his 12^th year at the helm, has noticed all the good things it’s done for the all of the youth teams around the region.

“I have two daughters myself and they’ve been to a couple of Independence games and they know some of the players,” Ambrose said. “I don’t know if it translates into greater support and understanding of the college game but I do think it provides role models and opportunities for kids. They’re more excited about going to practice and copying things they see in games.”

Ambrose was quick to point out the difference between the country’s top-tier professional leagues for men’s and women’s soccer. While he’s been “thoroughly impressed” by the growth of MLS, he’s seen firsthand how difficult it is to sustain the same kind of growth for women’s leagues.

Ambrose, after all, served as an assistant coach with the Philadelphia Charge of the Women’s United Soccer Association before the league suspended operations in 2003. He hopes the new league – Women’s Professional Soccer – doesn’t follow suit.

“It’s sad but I think it speaks of the culture,” Ambrose said. “I hope it makes it. I hope they find investors and continue to stabilize it for the future.”

For now, though, Ambrose is simply focused on the women’s soccer program at Penn, especially the Quakers’ upcoming game against a strong Villanova team, inside a 18,500-seat soccer-specific stadium.

The atmosphere, he’s sure, will be unparalleled.

“For everybody, I think it will be eye-opening in many ways,” Ambrose said. “I’m sure the adrenaline will be pumping and they’ll perform accordingly.”