WHAT A FIRST YEAR
PORTLAND, Ore. — A year ago, there were no Cherry Bombs.
No players. No matches. No Mary T. Cherry. No pink smoke rolling across Lents Park.
Then Portland showed up.
The inaugural Portland Cherry Bombs season became bigger than we could have imagined, on the field, in the stands and across the city.
BEFORE WE EVEN PLAYED A GAME
The Cherry Bombs were created to build something bold around women's soccer in Portland.
The identity pulled from the city's music, art and DIY culture, with a little 1970s glam-punk attitude thrown in for good measure.
Then came the jersey.
In April, the Cherry Bombs unveiled their inaugural kit with Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette at The Sports Bra alongside USWNT legend Shannon Boxx.
The response was immediate.
The first run sold out within two weeks. Then we restocked it. And restocked it again.
By the end of the season, jersey sales generated more than $9,500 for Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette.
Before the Cherry Bombs had ever kicked a ball, Portland had already told us this club meant something.
THEN CAME OPENING NIGHT
More than 2,000 people packed Lents Park for the first Cherry Bombs match in club history.
The Portland Opera was in the crowd.
Pink smoke filled the air.
And nine minutes into the game, Carolyn Ruoff scored the first goal in Cherry Bombs history.
Portland went nuts.
The Cherry Bombs went on to win their debut by four goals, and suddenly something we'd spent months imagining was real.
Players saw it too.
Kids arrived with homemade signs. Families filled the sidelines. Supporters came dressed in pink. Players who had grown up around Portland were suddenly playing in front of a hometown crowd that treated a summer pre-professional women's match like an event.
Exactly what we hoped could happen.
A CLUB PLAYERS WANTED TO JOIN
More than 150 players applied for the opportunity to become Cherry Bombs.
Head coach Janine Szpara ultimately built a group of 32 players across the club and reserve side, with athletes ranging from college standouts to emerging local players.
That mattered.
One of the goals from the beginning was to create another meaningful step in the player pathway, particularly for athletes with ties to Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.
A place to play.
A place to develop.
And a place where women's soccer felt like the main event.
WE BUILT A HOME
Like the Bangers, the Cherry Bombs didn't move into a finished soccer stadium.
Lents Park is public turf.
So we built the matchday experience ourselves.
Bleachers came in. Grills fired up. Concessions appeared. Signs went up. Picnic tables came out. Then after the match, much of it disappeared again.
And somewhere along the way, Mary T. Cherry showed up too.
Our punk-rock cherry mascot made her debut just before the home opener and immediately became part of the chaos.
It wasn't polished.
It wasn't supposed to be.
It was ours.
PORTLAND WAS READY
The Cherry Bombs arrived during an extraordinary moment for women's sports in Portland.
But what happened at Lents felt uniquely ours.
Matches sold out. Merchandise traveled far beyond Portland. Players found a new summer home. Young fans found new athletes to cheer for. And a club that had existed only as an idea months earlier developed its own supporters, traditions and personality.
The inaugural season lasted only a few weeks.
The thing it created feels much bigger.
WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED
Year one gave us a glimpse of what the Cherry Bombs can become.
Now we get to build it.
More players. More pink smoke. More Mary. More Portland.
See you in 2027.
