Liberian international Angeline Kieh talks about the state of football in Liberia and her quest for a professional club career
This week TribalFootball.com talked exclusively to Liberian international forward Angeline Kieh, who has been playing for the past few years in the States at Campbellsville University in Kentucky and in the summer WPSL with Mighty Oak in Ann Arbor, Michigan last season and this past summer with the Nashville Rhythm FC.
The Nashville Rhythm finished fourth in the Southeast Conference in 2024 with a 5-1-2 (W-D-L) record with 16 points, as 865 Alliance of Knoxville won the lone playoff spot among the 10 teams with a 6-2-0 record for 20 points (see more about the WPSL playoffs below). Kieh scored a hat-trick in an early season 4-0 win over Atlanta Fire United.
Angeline Kieh has been a potent goal scorer wherever she has played, scoring 42 goals in Liberia for Angels FC in 2019 to lead the league at the age of 17, as Earth Angels FC won the league title. She was the Liberian Women’s First Division’s Most Valuable Player in 2019 and 2021.
After moving to the U.S., Kieh was an All-American during her last two seasons at Campbellsville University. In 2023, she scored 22 goals with 3 assists in 17 games and was a Third Team NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for small colleges) All-American and NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association) First Team All-American. She had four hat tricks in 2023 with a career-high of five goals in a game against Freed-Hardeman University. In 2022 as a junior, she scored 23 goals with 8 assists in 19 games and was an NAIA All-American. In 2021, as a sophomore, she scored 11 goals with 10 assists in 17 games and was a NCCAA All-American Second Team selection. Kieh will finish her degree in Sports Business this fall but has used up all her collegiate soccer eligibility.
As a Liberian international, unfortunately the team does not play very often and is currently rated 165th in the world out of 193 ranked women’s national teams by FIFA (with 11 more unranked) and 34th in Africa out of 46 ranked nations (with six more unranked). She has been successful with the Lone Stars national side, helping them to third place in the regional WAFU Zone A Women’s Cup in 2020, scoring the winner against Cape Verde (1-0) in the Bronze Medal match.
She explained that in Liberia: “We don’t train regularly; we are lacking fields, training materials, (with) players training (primarily) at home. They have too far to go for training and do not get food to eat (from their clubs).”
Since there is no money for transportation or meals to pay players, she added that: “Players have to do self-training (at home).”
She said that, if a team does train, they do so only three times a week. She said that there are two divisions and the top tier added two teams this year so it is now up to 14. There are usually between 15-20 teams in the lower division, which includes teams from different regions of the country. With three teams promoted every year, that places a premium on what limited spending there is for women’s football in the country, as teams reaching the top flight are faced with more costs for additional travel, to attract new players and other expenses.
Kieh said that very few players have left Liberia to play abroad. Paulino went to Kazakhstan in 2022 to first join Okzetptes and then moved to Kazakh powerhouse BIIK in 2023, where she played in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
You would expect that, for a player of Kieh’s goalscoring pedigree in college, in the WPSL and her national team background, that she would have many offers from clubs abroad and in the States, particularly with the emergence this year in the NWSL of world class talent from Africa such as Barbra Banda of Zambia in Orlando and Temwa Chawinga of Malawi in Kansas City. Kieh was very aware of the stellar play of Banda this year (see our column earlier this month: The Week in Women's Football: NWSL club review; Orlando showing genuine star power - TribalFootball.com).
However, she has not had interest from clubs or agents, explaining that: “I want to play. I don’t have the ability (talking not about her skills on the field but opportunity off of it). I tried to get myself a team (in the U.S.); I can’t get it. In the U.S., I want to be with a team that will develop from the grass roots.”
This seems like a perfect match for her with the new USL Super League which is launching this month for a Fall-Spring season, particularly with so many teams in the South (two in Florida and one each in Carolina, Texas and in Kentucky, where she has played at Campbellsville).
Angeline Kieh has been a consistent top scorer in college and in the summer WPSL in the States and has been called the best player out of Liberia by local press in the West African nation. To further her career, she unfortunately needs to market herself to clubs and agents on her own. With U.S. visa requirements, she cannot leave the country tor tryouts in Europe or Central America as she would not be able to complete her degree. The Liberian Football Association needs to support top class talent like her to play professionally abroad if she decides to leave the U.S. after she has her degree, whether in Saudi Arabia, South Africa or Europe. Hopefully she finds a spot with a USL Super League team at some point in 2024-25.
USL W League—North Carolina Courage U-23 Win a National Title
The North Carolina Courage U-23 side overcame an early deficit, pouring rain and a lightning delay at halftime on July 20 for a 3-2 victory against the Colorado Storm in the 2024 USL W League Final at home. In their second consecutive trip to the Final, the hosts won their first title in the W League’s third season since the league relaunched in 2022. The visiting Storm’s defeat was only their second in an impressive league debut season.
The Storm scored to take the lead in the fourth minute when defender Sydney Cheesman, who will be a junior this season with the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Tar Heels, volleyed home from a Reagan Kotschau (Washington State University sophomore and a U.S. U-17 international) cross. The Courage U-23 fought back and tied the game up three minutes later as Hannah Jibril (a sophomore at North Carolina State University this fall) scored after nice combination play with Phoebe Goldthwaite (a sophomore this fall at Duke University).
North Carolina added second-half goals from substitutes Macey Bader (a senior at UNC-Charlotte) and Mackenzie Geigle (a junior at the University of Louisville) which put them up 3-1. The Storm cut the deficit to 3-2 as Cheesman sent a long ball over the top of the defense to Addison Whitehouse (a sophomore at Santa Clara University in Northern California) whose flicked header skipped past the Courage keeper. The Storm continued to pepper balls into the box but North Carolina held on to win the game and the national championship.
Just like last year, the Courage headed into the Final with a record of 14-1-0 (W-T-L) record following an impressive postseason run. The Courage outscored its opponents 9-1 in the first three playoff matches. The Courage’s coaching staff included former USWNT legend Heather O'Reilly, who is an assistant at the University of Carolina-Chapel Hill. Giegle, Bader and Liberty University junior Ivy Garner all had seven goals in a well-balanced attack.
In the semifinals the week before, the Courage scored first against Tennessee SC from Penn State defender Kayleigh Herr’s goal off of a rebound after a double stop from goalkeeper Bailie Fiore (who is a junior this fall at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville). In a thrilling game, Tennessee’s leading goal scorer Anna Haddock (University of Auburn) scored from the penalty spot in the 93rd minute to deadlock the match (see more about Haddock below). In the second period of extra time, 17-year-old Syrianna Davis blasted a shot into the top right corner, sending the Courage back to the Final.
Tennessee SC Sporting Director Dalton Kaufman said that his team has developed nicely since missing the playoffs in their first season in the W League in 2022. They had two members on U.S. women national youth teams in Maddie Padelski with the U-17’s and Katie Shea Collins with the U-20’s. Padelski first started playing with TSC as a 15-year-old in 2022 and will play this fall at the University of Alabama as a freshman. Collins was Gatorade’s Girls Player of the Year in Tennessee in 2023-24 and will attend the University of South Carolina this fall.
Kaufman said that this year: “The team’s culture came together and the players really bought in. Of course, now (in making the final four) the standard has been set and we need to keep building on that.”
As he did last year Kaufman—despite many years coaching women’s sides in the WPSL and even starting a team from scratch in Southern California (FC Pacific in Orange County)—again delegated the women’s team coaching, this year to Logan Fisher, who has been the goalkeeper coach at The Citadel University and Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville but is now a full-time Academy Director at Tennessee SC.
Kaufman said that the club is helping to boost their summer amateur sides by increasing home stays for players from outside of the Nashville area to 14 for both men and women, and they have been working with the new Super League in scouting, and are in discussions to utilize a number of Lexington’s reserve players next summer in the W League. One of Tennessee’s players—goalkeeper Taina Tolleson, who has also played at Vanderbilt University—has signed with the Super League side in Kentucky for the 2024-25 season after a strong summer in the W League.
Colorado Storm was the only expansion team to make it to the Conference Finals, and a previous incarnation of the team with the same name advanced to the last USL W League Finals in 2015 before the league folded at that time, after 21 years. The Storm (13-1-1) won the Mountain Division title and then won three playoff games on the road, winning the Western Conference title after two wins against veteran sides California Storm (3-0) and FC Olympia of Washington State (1-0); they then advanced to the Final after edging Detroit City FC 2-1.
All three opponents were undefeated prior to losing to Colorado. The Storm’s leading scorer was Colorado School of Mines All-American Reese McDermott, who had a team-high 10 goals this season, and scored both goals in the semifinal against Detroit City FC, with the winning goal coming two minutes into second half stoppage time.
Note: The California Storm also enters a team in the WPSL (see more below), which they were one of the founding members of 26 years ago.
In the Central Conference, Detroit City FC defeated River Light FC of suburban Chicago (3-0) in the first round of the playoffs and then shocked defending W League Champions Indy Eleven in the Conference Finals (3-1). Indy Eleven had themselves dispatched 2022 national runner-up Minnesota Aurora in the first round (2-1). This was Detroit City’s first playoff berth in the W League.
Tennessee SC advanced to their first National Semifinal from the Southern Conference after besting AHFC Royals (Albion Hurricanes of Houston) of the Lone Star Division (1-0) in the semifinal and then defeating Asheville City SC (North Carolina) by the same score in the regional final. Just to make the playoffs, Asheville City SC upset previously undefeated Tennessee SC (4-1) to capture the Southern Conference wild card bid—both clubs are in the same South Central Division. Tennessee SC finished first on 29 points from 12 games while Asheville was second on 26 points—one more than Tampa Bay United in second in the Southeast Division on 25, who were behind Florida Elite SC on 36 points—and thus Asheville made it to their first W League playoff appearance.
In the Eastern Conference playoffs, North Carolina Courage U-23 defeated the Lancaster Inferno (4-0) and then the Long Island Rough Riders (3-0) for their thirteenth straight win of the season to make the national Final Four. The Rough Riders had made the playoffs all three seasons while the Courage finished second in their division in 2022 and narrowly missed the playoffs before their double run to the Championship Final the past two seasons.
2024 USL W League Award Winners:
Player of the Year: Anna Haddock—Tennessee SC. Haddock plays at the University of Auburn and returns for her fifth season this fall and helped TSC to the national semifinals, scoring 11 goals and adding 11 assists.
Defender of the Year: Georgia Brown—Florida Elite Soccer Academy. Brown helped Florida Elite to a 12-0-0 record as they won the Southeast Division. She will be a senior at the University of South Florida this fall; in the W League she scored nine goals with one assist and the defense only allowed six goals all season.
Young Player of the Year: Abby Droner—Paisley Athletic FC. Droner (17) scored 12 goals—second most in the league—and scored a hat trick and two braces during the season.
Coach of the Year: Stephanie Cleaves—Lancaster Inferno. This was her second season as head coach and in her rookie season, led the team to their third UWS national championship tournament semifinal appearance in the last five seasons and was named 2023 East Conference Coach of the Year. Cleaves played for the team in the past and was appointed Associate Head Coach from 2017-2019; the team won two consecutive East Conference Championship titles and two UWS National tournament semifinal appearances, finishing national runner-up in 2019. She represented Honduras as a member of its Women’s National Team from 2010-13.
Note: The Inferno has been playing in summer amateur leagues since 2008, playing in the WPSL through 2015 and then joining the UWS from 2016 to 2023, before joining the W League for this summer, where they fell to the ultimate champions North Carolina 4-0 in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Golden Boot: Luciana Setteducate—Long Island Rough Riders. Setteducate scored 18 goals to lead the league and had two matches with four goals each; she will be a junior this fall at Stony Brook University.
Golden Glove: Gabrielle Shriver, Detroit City FC. Shriver posted a miniscule 0.294 Goals Against Average in allowing only 3 goals in 917 minutes of play; she recorded eight shutouts.
Eighty teams played in the league this season from coast to coast, divided into four conferences and 12 divisions. Past W League Title Winners are:
2022 - South Georgia Tormenta FC 2-1 (aet) Minnesota Aurora
2023 - Indy Eleven 2-1 (aet) North Carolina Courage U-23
2024 – North Carolina Courage U-23 3-2 Colorado Storm
A great success story for the W League was the first year Richmond (Virginia) Ivy in the Mid-Atlantic Division, building off of the decades-old Richmond Kickers men’s team in the USL, which was founded in 1993 and who played continuously in a number of minor leagues, primarily in the USL—both indoor and outdoor. The Kickers won the U.S. Open Cup in 1995 and currently play in USL League One (third tier of U.S. men’s professional soccer). Richmond had a Richmond Kickers Destiny women’s team from 2004-2009 for six seasons in the previous incarnation of the USL W League, making the playoffs twice, but folded after the 2009 season.
The Ivy finished fourth in the Mid-Atlantic Division on 19 points from 12 games and thus missed the playoff, behind Eagle FC (Mechanicsburg in central Pennsylvania) (31 points) and the Lancaster Inferno (31 points), who both made the playoffs. The team made the right decision in naming Kimmy Cummings as the head coach.
She grew up playing soccer locally and after college, coached with youth programs in the area; she understood the importance of linking with the local community which drove incredible success off the field, as the Ivy averaged 4,800 per season, just below the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL who averaged 4,848 fans a game last season to finish last in the league in attendance, while Racing Louisville, Houston Dash and the North Carolina Courage were under 6,000 a game for average attendance in 2023. The Ivy drew 6,000 for their opener and 5,800 for their last game of the season.
With attendances like these, they could put themselves in the mix for a future USL Super League franchise in the market, as the Kickers organization has always been loyal to the USL, and there is a lower price of entry than with the NWSL.
WPSL Finals—A Battle of the Last Two Champions sees California Storm defeat Charlotte Eagles 1-0 to win the 2024 title
The WPSL saw their last two league champions face off in the 2024 final in Stillwater Oklahoma, on the campus of Oklahoma State University, which was the host of its fourth league championship tournament. An early (sixth minute) goal by Camryn Lancaster (Texas Christian University, where she will be a senior) gave the Sacramento-based California Storm a 1-0 win over the Charlotte Eagles to win their fifth WPSL title. Charlotte Eagles, the defending champions, lost its bid to be the league’s first repeat champion in 26 years. The Eagles won last year’s semifinal over the Rhode Island Rogues 1-0, followed by a 1-0 win over Salvo SC in the championship match.
In the semifinals, California Storm defeated East Region Champions Clarkstown Soccer Club 5-0.
California Storm Head Coach Jamie Levoy (who is also an investor in the NWSL’s expansion side Bay FC) called her club’s win: “A full team effort,” in which five different players score: Erica Grilione (who will be a sophomore at Stanford University in the fall and is a U.S. youth international), Lancaster, Alex Klos (she played the past two seasons at Santa Clara University but will be a junior this fall at California-Berkeley and added two assists in the game), Emily Ormson (ex-University of Evansville in Indiana), and Susie Long (a sophomore at Harvard University).
Goalkeepers Abbie Fangold (ex-Portland State University who also played at Olympique Marseille in France, Charme FC in Japan and won a league title in 2023-24 in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol) and Madeline Smith (who will play her fifth college season at Florida State University, after time at the Universities of Maryland and Omaha) shared the shutout for the Storm.
Coach Levoy added: “Everyone played so well tonight. I’m just so pleased with everyone’s effort.”
The Storm outshot Clarkstown 26 vs. 4 (14 vs. 1 on target). The Storm tied the record for the highest margin of victory in a WPSL Championships semifinal match, tying the Ajax America Women’s 5-0 semifinal wins from 2008 and 2009. Clarkstown had entered the game undefeated and untied this season, their third in the WPSL.
In the other semifinal, Charlotte Eagles overcame Central Region Winners FC Pride out of Indianapolis 2-0, behind goals by Meredith King (Ole Miss) and Lauren Walter (John Brown University). Goalkeeper Emma Wakeman (University of North Carolina- Charlotte) earned the shutout for the Eagles in the semifinal win. Shots were even (9 vs. 9) and near even for shots on target (7 vs. 5), while the Pride had the advantage on corner kicks (7 vs. 2).
Since joining the WPSL in 2019, the Charlotte Eagles has reached the South Region playoffs semifinals four times, the South Region playoffs finals three times, the WPSL Championships semifinal and final twice each. The Eagles previously played 16 years in the original USL W-League and were one of the most professionally-run sides for years. They won the 2001 W-2 league championship after finishing runner up in 2000. They then made the W League (becoming just one tiered league) national semifinals on two occasions and only missed the playoffs in three seasons.
Next season the Storm will attempt to become the first repeat WPSL Champions, after failing on two previous attempts. After winning the 2002 league title 1-0 over fellow Californian team Ajax America Women, the Storm fell in the championship match the following year, 3-1, to the Utah Spiders in the 2003 Championship in San Francisco, Cali.
The Storm had a second chance to repeat as WPSL Champions following its 3-2 win over New England Mutiny in Folsom, Cali. in 2004 when it lost to FC Indiana on penalty kicks the following year in Agawam, Mass. Ajax America Women is the only other club to return to the WPSL Championships Final the year after winning. After topping the Arizona Rush 1-0 for the 2008 WPSL title in Sacramento Cali., the Southern California side returned to the Final in Garden City, N.Y. and fell to the Long Island Fury, 1-0.
As one of the WPSL founding clubs, the California Storm has competed for more league championships than any other team in league history—eight in all dating back to 1999 when the club won its first WPSL crown in the league’s second season. The Storm has won two of the last three WPSL titles after defeating the Colorado Rapids Women 3-1 in the 2022 final in Stillwater. After 26 years of WPSL, the Storm are 223-44-36 (W-D-L) in WPSL play.
FC Pride’s Kayla Budish (Purdue University, where she is a junior and was an All-American last season) led the WPSL postseason in scoring with four goals, followed by Clarkstown’s Kelly Brady (Ole Miss), and Marissa Garcia (Gonzaga University) of the Spokane SC Shadow, who both had three postseason goals.
The WPSL comprised 139 teams this year in four regions across 16 conferences, with six further dividing into two division each.
WPSL Championships Final Results
1998: *Silicon Valley Red Devils (San Diego Auto Trader)
1999: *California Storm (San Diego Auto Trader)
2000: *Can Diego SeaLions (California Storm)
2001: *Ajax America Women (San Diego SeaLions)
2002: California Storm 1 – 0 Ajax America Women
2003: Utah Spiders 2 – 1 California Storm
2004: California Storm 3 – 2 New England Mutiny
2005: FC Indiana 5 – 4 California Storm (PKs)
2006: Long Island Fury 1 – 0 River Cities FC
2007: FC Indiana 3 – 0 New England Mutiny
2008: Ajax America Women 1 – 0 Arizona Rush
2009: Long Island Fury 1 – 0 Ajax America Women
2010: Boston Aztec 2 – 1 Ajax America Women
2011: Orange County Waves 2 – 1 (AET) Chicago Red Stars Reserves
2012 Pensacola FC 4 – 0 Boston Aztec
2013: San Diego SeaLions 2 – 1 Houston Aces
2014: Beach Futbol Club 1 – 0 Houston Aces
2015: Chicago Red Stars Reserves 2 – 1 So Cal FC
2016: Boston Breakers Reserves 3 – 0 San Diego SeaLions
2017: Fire & Ice FC 2 – 1 Pensacola FC
2018: Seattle Sounders Women 3 – 1 Pensacola FC
2019: Pensacola FC 4 – 3 Utah Royals FC Reserves
2020: Did not play due to Covid-19 Pandemic
2021: Did not play due to Covid-19 Pandemic
2022: California Storm 3 – 1 Colorado Rapids Women
2023: Charlotte Eagles 1 – 0 Salvo SC
2024: California Storm 1 – 0 Charlotte Eagles
*Champion determined by regular season standings.
UWS Finals—Santa Clarita Blue Heat wins their third league title
Santa Clarita Blue Heat won the 2024 UWS Championship match against the New England Mutiny, which was held at All High Stadium in Buffalo, New York on July 21. English native forward Emilie Castagna (who will be a junior this fall at University of California-Irvine) opened the scoring for Santa Clarita in the 12th minute, scoring from a rebound of a Liz Worden (who will be a sophomore at the University of Texas) free kick that struck the crossbar and bounced back into play.
The Mutiny tied up the game in the 44th minute when Mila Dillard (15-years-of-age) took a shot that deflected off of a Blue Heat defender. The California side lost their captain and defender Chloe Castaneda (who played at UCLA and was drafted by the Houston Dash in 2020), who had to leave the game in the first half after a collision. New England took the lead on the hour mark from Malawi forward Chioma Okafor’s (who led the University of Connecticut with six goals and three assists last season as a sophomore) shot. Santa Clarita tied it in the 76th minute as Cameron Valladares (will be a junior this fall at the University of Arizona and had four goals and one assist last season to finish second on the college team) headed in a cross from Liz Worden. After 90 minutes, the game went straight to penalties for the second consecutive year.
Both teams missed one shot in the first five rounds of penalties and in sudden death, after two successful attempts, Ariana Salvador (who went to high school in Santa Clarita and will start college at Pepperdine University this year) stepped up next for the Blue Heat and scored, putting the pressure on the Mutiny’s captain, Rachel Marchini (ex-University of Connecticut), who missed her penalty, giving the California powerhouse a 6-5 penalty kick victory. The win gave the Blue Heat their third UWS title in five championship matches.
Santa Clarita Blue Heat made the final tournament with a perfect season record of eight wins, zero losses, and zero draws. Since 2021, they have amassed a record of 25 wins, two draws, and four losses. As original partners of the UWS since the league’s inception in 2016, the Blue Heat have a record of 49 wins, eight losses, and 10 draws. They were UWS champions in 2016 and 2021 and narrowly missed the title last season in a dramatic shootout to the Michigan Jaguars.
In the semifinals Santa Clarita defeated host side FC Buffalo, who won the Iron Conference. Buffalo was led by seasoned players forward Carissima Cutrona and defender Tess Ford, who both played at the University of Buffalo and have been with the club since it joined the league in 2021, FC Buffalo entered the game with an impressive all-time winning percentage of .777, with 28 wins in 36 regular season matches.
The Mutiny defeated the reigning UWS champions from 2023 Michigan Jaguars 5-0 in the semifinals, who were vying for a second consecutive title for the first time in league history. Hope Santaniello (a senior at University of Massachusetts-Lowell scored twice (with eight goals on the season) and Chioma Okafor added a goal—with her goal in the final she finished the season with five goals and seven assists. The Mutiny is one of the founding members of the UWS and made their first trip to the national championship; their all-time record in the league is 48-8-16. Under the guidance of coach Federico Molinari, a native of Argentina who played and coached for the USL men’s Western Massachusetts Pioneers, the Mutiny scored the most goals (38) and conceding the least (4) this season.
The league had 40 teams this season in the top tier in the U.S. and Canada (with one in Calgary), and 17 in the developmental UWS2—all based in the States.
U.S. Amateur Cup Finals
The 2024 Men’s and Women’s U.S. Amateur Cup Finals were held from July 25-July 28 in Dekalb, Illinois, Southwest of Chicago. In the Women’s division semifinals on July 26, Winger SC defeated the Rochester Lazers 3-1 while Pan World Women dispatched Edgewater Castle FC of Chicago 4-0. In the National Cup Final on July 28, Pan World Elite, who are affiliated with the Utah Red Devils of the WPSL, won the national title with a 3-0 win over Winger FC, who are affiliated with the Charlotte Lady Eagles of the WPSL (see above).