Spokane Zephyr hope to start new season strong with interim coach and plenty of new players

The Spokane Zephyr begins its second season with three road games, starting with a match against Dallas Trinity at the Cotton Bowl at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

In its first year, Spokane claimed the edge in head-to-head matchups against Dallas with two wins, one loss and one tie.

Those wins, however, only came when Spokane found its footing after it stumbled to a 2-6-6 start in the fall which saw them at the bottom of the standings by its mid-season break in December.

Then, Spokane added forward Ally Cook to the front line with McKenzie Weinert and star striker Emina Ekic, just before the spring.

With Cook, Spokane’s offense scored 24 goals, while its defense conceded just eleven as the Zephyr clawed their way into the playoff race winning nine of their final 14 matches.

In its last game, Spokane was tied with its final regular-season opponent, Fort Lauderdale with 41 points. All the Zephyr needed was a win or a draw, and a Dallas loss to clinch a postseason bid.

Spokane fought to a 1-1 draw, but Dallas defeated Carolina, which eliminated the Zephyr from playoff contention.

The Zephyr might have gone through growing pains in its first year, but they still finished the season ranked fifth at 11-8-9.

“I think one lesson we learned last year, is that every game and every point matters,” said returning defender Sarah McCoy (formerly Sarah Clark), who had a team-leading 145 clearances, 35 interceptions and 17 blocks.

McCoy is right. The Zephyr ended the year tied with Fort Lauderdale with 42 points. But Spokane lost the tiebreaker- head-to-head matchups.

The Super League’s top five finishers earned 40 or more points. Spokane ended the season six points behind first-place Carolina (48).

“Obviously our fall last year, kind of put us in a very deep hole, and we had one of, if not the best record that spring season… and it wasn’t enough,” McCoy added.

A fresh startBeginning the season on the road will be a tough test for a revamped roster, and an interim coach in Josh McCallister, USL Spokane’s Head of Performance, and assistant coach for the Velocity.

Under former head coach Jo Johnson, the Zephyr struggled away from home last year with only four victories, all of them coming in the season’s second half. But they were dominant at home with a 7-4-3 record at ONE Spokane Stadium.

With Ekic, Weinert and other players from last year’s roster gone, McCallister has helped orchestrate a slew of signings to bolster the offense with individuals like 26-year-old veteran Cameron Tucker, rookie Aryssa Mahrt, and Olivia Van Der Jagt.

Tucker began her professional career with New Jersey/New York Gotham FC after she graduated from Brigham Young University in 2021. She made 13 appearances for the NWSL club before joining the Houston Dash and later the Utah Royals in 2023 and 2024.

Tucker appeared in 34 combined games in the NWSL and most recently played for Levante UD of Liga F, Spain’s premier women’s soccer league.

Mahrt graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2024 where she led the Badgers with 10 goals, a career high, and added four assists in her final season.

Another addition to the midfield is Kent, Washington native Van der Jagt. The 33rd pick in the 2022 NWSL draft is currently in the middle of a three-year contract with the Seattle Reign and is on a six-month loan for the Zephyr.

In 2024, Van Der Jagt appeared in 15 matches and logged 13 tackles with 10 interceptions for Seattle.

Spokane also strengthened its defense with players like Madelyn Desiano, who won the 2022 NCAA Championship with UCLA, and Penn State product Ginger Fontenot.

Before joining Spokane, Desiano made 13 starts and recorded 1,141 minutes played for Danish club Odense Q of the A-Liga, Denmark’s top-flight women’s soccer league.

Fontenot was a two-time All-Ivy League defender with the University of Pennsylvania before transferring to Penn State in her final college season. At UPenn, the Ventura, California native started in 44 matches and registered over 3,000 minutes played. She also made her professional debut for Brooklyn FC in April.

As Spokane enters its second season, the new and returning players share the same goal; to make the playoffs.

To do so, they will rely on Cook, who is set for a more prominent offensive role without Ekic.

They will continue to depend on McCoy, the Zephyr’s defensive anchor, and 2024 Super League Goalkeeper of the Year, Hope Hisey.

McCoy, who is the team’s new captain, said her new role “doesn’t add any more pressure or too much responsibility” on her shoulders.

“We’ve got a great group of girls. I think everyone’s capable of leading,” she added.

McCoy feels confident that they can continue the level of success they had last spring with a stronger beginning to the fall.

“The message is, take it game by game… every game matters, every game is working towards a playoff berth.”

McCallister shares the players sentiments and feels that Spokane has “the talent… to be successful.”

“We just got to bring it all together,” he said.

“The staff did a lot of good work that put that put in some foundations in the spring, and now it’s about repeating those things, but also trying to reflect upon what could have been improved.”

It’s a long season. But with a rejuvenated roster, Spokane will need to win more on the road if it wants to begin the fall stronger than it did last year.

“I think that’s always been the goal but having had that hurt in the past… makes us more hungry for it this year,” McCoy said.