Coach of expansion Black Widows likes soccer team’s chances

First-year franchise + first-year frustrations = first-year flop.

Jason Quintero understands the logic, because that’s how the equation often works out in any sport.

But the head coach of the Spokane Black Widows, one of several teams added to the Women’s Premier Soccer League during the winter, is urging local soccer fans to expect more from his team, which will play its home games at Joe Albi Stadium this spring and summer.

Quintero, a former assistant coach at Eastern Washington University, concedes that the California Storm, a perennial WPSL power that has lost 14 players to the Women’s Professional Soccer organization the past two years, might be more than his Black Widows can handle.

But the rest of the teams that will compete against Spokane in the WSPL’s Pacific-North Division – including long-standing members like the San Francisco Nighthawks and F.C. Sacramento – are fair game, according to Quintero.

“This is an expansion franchise, so I can see where that would be the thinking – they’re going to take a couple of years to kind of get things going,” he said of the Black Widows, whose roster will be comprised primarily of young women with local ties at either the high school or college level. “But that’s not going to be the case, simply because of the caliber of kids we’re bringing in.

“With the team we’re putting together, we definitely have a chance to be very, very competitive. The top two teams in our division make the playoffs, and we’re shooting for one of those berths. And I think that’s a legitimate goal, on paper, at least.”

Among some of Quintero’s top players are Mead High School graduate Marissa Mykines, a midfielder, who was the second-leading scorer at the University of Illinois as a sophomore last year; defender and former Shadle Park standout Ali Fenter, who started all 22 matches at Washington State last season as the Cougars advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament; defender Jackie Hakes, another Mead graduate who was an academic All-Big Ten Conference performer at Penn State last fall; and Cheney’s Alyshia Madison, who was a junior defender at Jacksonville State last fall.

“Those players are from big-name conferences around the country,” Quintero said. “They’re legitimate players, who we expect to contribute right away.”

Quintero plans to keep between 25 and 30 players on his roster, including a couple of current high school standouts in Cheney’s Kellie Zakrzewski, who will play for Seattle Pacific next fall, and Gonzaga Prep’s Mary Condon, who will play for the University of Idaho next year.

The roster, Quintero explained, will remain in a state of flux until mid-June, which is when the last of the college players will get their releases, and “all our big guns will be available.”

The Black Widows had planned to open their season at home Saturday night, against the Central Valley Heat SC, from Stockton, Calif., but the Heat have since been dropped from the league. Spokane will now play its inaugural game at Albi Stadium on May 30 against the California Storm, at 3 p.m.

The Black Widows are one of more than 50 teams, nationwide, that make up the five conferences in the WPSL, the largest women’s soccer league in the world. They are a sister team of the men’s Premier Development League Spokane Spiders, which also play their home games at Albi.