Minnesota Lightning was an American women's
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
team, founded in 2006. The team was a member of the
United Soccer Leagues
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...
W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada. The team played in the Midwest Division of the Central Conference. The team folded after the 2009 season.
The team played its home games at the
National Sports Center
The National Sports Center (NSC) is a multi-sport complex located in Blaine, Minnesota. Its site includes a soccer stadium, over 50 full-sized soccer fields, a golf course, a meeting and convention facility, an eight-sheet ice rink (the Super ...
in the city of
Blaine, Minnesota, 18 miles north of downtown
Minneapolis
Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...
. The team's colors were navy blue and pale blue.
The team was a sister organization of the men's
Minnesota Thunder
Minnesota Thunder was an American professional association football, soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. T ...
team, which played in the
USL First Division
The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...
. The Minnesota Thunder was suspended from the USL First Division after they left the USL for the new
North American Soccer League
The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to
1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...
.
Year-by-year
Honors
* USL W-League Midwest Division Champions 2007
See also
*
Minnesota Lynx
The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...
*
Minnesota Whitecaps
The Minnesota Whitecaps were a professional ice hockey team in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF). They played in Richfield, Minnesota, part of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, at the Richfield Ice Arena. Established in 2004, the ...
*
Minnesota Vixen
References
External links
Minnesota Lightning
Women's soccer clubs in the United States
Soccer clubs in Minneapolis–Saint Paul
Defunct soccer clubs in Minnesota
Minnesota Thunder
USL W-League (1995–2015) teams
2006 establishments in Minnesota
2009 disestablishments in Minnesota
Association football clubs established in 2006
Association football clubs disestablished in 2009
Women's sports in Minnesota
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