There was only one way for the Chattanooga Lady Red Wolves to finish their final season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League – as champions.
A year from now, the club will be a part of the new USL W League, as it was recently announced as one of the eight founding members. But there was also a conference title in the current environment to take care of, and the club faced a daunting road to make that happen, with three matches against the same opponent in a five-day span – including one in which The Lady Red Wolves were missing a combined 26 players (from the main squad and the U21 team). That left just 16 available players for their semifinal match.
But every so often the market has a way of correcting itself, and the final tally wound up with the Lady Red Wolves finishing in the same place they were in 2019, with the Southeast Conference title on its way out of the league.
“Whatever was put in front of this team, they did it and did it professionally,” head coach Luke Winter said recently. “The team has always done so well, but there’s a core group of girls and then there’s always talented girls that want to join and be around that.”
Winter drew some similarities between his current team and the team that brought him to the Scenic City, the Chattanooga Football Club.