Sam Coffey is one of the biggest international stars in women’s soccer.

But when she starts thinking about going to a women’s soccer game on a summer night in Portland, she sounds a bit like the native New Yorker who used to summer in Maine.

“I’m going to be there. I have chills thinking about it. I just think it’s going to be electric,” said Coffey, 27, who plays midfielder for Manchester City in England and is a stalwart on the U.S. Women’s National Team that won Olympic gold in 2024.

That night could come as soon as 2027. The Portland Hearts of Pine are actively pursuing adding a pre-professional women’s team that would play in the USL W League.

Coffey and World Cup winners Michelle Akers and Sara Whalen Hess were helping to build the buzz around women’s soccer on Tuesday by taking part in a USL W to Portland YouTube forum moderated by Meg Linehan, the lead women’s sports writer for The Athletic. Approximately 100 viewers were signed on during the live stream.

Coffey believes that based on everything she’s learned about Mainers during her summer visits in the Damariscotta area, the state will get behind behind a women’s team just as it has the Hearts of Pine, a third-division professional men’s team that competes in USL League One.

“There’s literally nothing stronger than community and supporting your hometown team, and people are going to show out for their home,” Coffey said.

Founded by Falmouth native Gabe Hoffman-Johnson, the Hearts of Pine men’s team had a six-year buildup before its debut season in 2025, when it set a USL1 attendance record, averaging 5,800 fans at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

Akers, a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame who retired in 2000 after winning two World Cup titles, attended a Hearts of Pine game last season. She handled the pregame coin flip, wearing the Hearts’ alternate orange-and-black camo kit (she had it on again for Tuesday’s YouTube chat), and then cheered from the stands with the Dirigo Union supporters group.

“What I saw at (that) game was the culture. They’re invested in it. The family, the community, the businesses are involved, and adding the women’s game will more than double that interest,” Akers said. “There’s so many reasons why it’s going to be a success.”

Hearts of Pine management began emphasizing its long-held desire to field a women’s team last fall. Prior to Tuesday’s virtual session, the club hosted three in-person town halls this month to get feedback and build support.

A women’s team would not feature professional players. Teams in the USL W play a 10- to 12-game schedule in May and June. Players are predominantly college-age and retain their NCAA eligibility. Hoffman-Johnson said he envisions the Maine team drawing top talent from powerhouse college programs, and for games to be played at Fitzpatrick Stadium.

That would mean working in another five or six home dates around the Hearts’ men’s team, Portland High’s spring sports schedule, and other groups’ use of the city-owned facility. This season, the Hearts of Pine have four home games in May and two in June.

In 2026, 96 teams across the country are scheduled to play in USL W, which launched in 2022. The league is divided into 16 geographically based divisions, including the newly configured Northeast Division, which includes Vermont Green’s first-year women’s team.

Maine already has two pre-professional women’s teams: The Maine Footy, formed in 2023, and newly formed Maine Mystics out of the Lewiston-Auburn area. Both intend to play in the United Women’s Soccer league.

Whalen Hess, another native New Yorker, also frequently visited Maine in the summer while growing up. She further connected with the Hearts of Pine organization as the team psychologist/head of player development for Westchester SC, which joined USL1 in 2025.

“I feel like the launch of these smaller areas and teams embedded in the community is the way to go to grow the game,” Whalen Hess said.

Coffey is a current USWNT member and a 2024 Olympic gold medalist. In January, she moved from the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League, where she was the team captain, to Manchester City in England’s Women’s Super League. ESPN reported the Thorns franchise received an $875,000 transfer fee.

Dollar figures like that were unheard of when Akers was on the first hastily assembled national team in 1985. Akers and Whalen Hess were part of the 1999 team that beat China to win the World Cup in front of a sellout crowd at the Rose Bowl (remember Brandi Chastain?). The next year, they were founding members of the first fully professional women’s league.

Coffey said that since she’s become a pro, she’s “blown away by how much talent we continue to produce,” but the avenues for women to further their career are limited. USL W teams, particularly if they are in supportive markets, can help.

“Creating more pathways is only going to help the women’s game,” Coffey said.

She also said her career can be traced to women’s soccer pioneers like Akers and Whalen Hess, and that she went to Sky Blue FC (now Gotham FC) pro women’s games in New York as a kid.

“If I didn’t see it, I wouldn’t have been doing it. It’s just that simple,” Coffey said. “When a little girl can go to Portland and see her favorite player play for the Hearts of Pine, she’s going to realize she can do that.”