Up 2-1 near the end of regulation, Summit FC allowed an equalizer by Aïssata Traoré in the 90th minute.

Four minutes later in the extra time, Boston’s Bianca St-Georges beat Denver keeper Abbie Smith to find the back of the net and steal the win for Legacy FC.

This was the first win in Boston’s history.

Denver scored twice. The first by Yazmeen Ryan in the 18th minute and another by Natasha Flint in the 77th minute. Summit FC falls to 1-3-3 on the season. They will next host Houston Dash at 6 p.m. Saturday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park.

Polis announced the proclamation from the state Capitol rotunda, after the four players and other members of the Summit organization were celebrated in the state Senate. Summit is six games into its initial season in the National Women’s Soccer League, and its home debut last month was greeted by an NWSL-record 63,004 fans.

The team gave special jerseys to Polis, Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera and Sen. Marc Catlin, who officially welcomed the team in the Senate.

“I feel so honored and humbled to be standing in front of you, representing our player group,” team captain Janine Sonis, who grew up in Highlands Ranch, said during the news conference unveiling the proclamation. “All of us are so incredibly proud to wear this crest and represent this state. … I can’t wait to bring that first championship to this city and see all of you parade down 16th Street mall with us.”

The team is home to several Colorado natives. Sonis was joined at the Capitol by midfielder Meg Boade, forward Ally Brazier and goalkeeper Jordan Nytes, all fellow Coloradans.

Another Coloradan, U.S. national team captain Lindsey Heaps, will join the club in June.

“Colorado is the best place to train and compete, and we’re inspired by Summit FC,” Polis said. “It’s especially meaningful to see Colorado’s youngest soccer players look up to and cheer on some of the best athletes in the world, right here at home, for Colorado’s newest professional sports team.”

After a 3-2 loss to league-leading San Diego on Saturday, Summit’s record stands at 1-3-2 and the team sits in the middle of the NWSL table. After the news conference ended Monday, Sonis told Polis that the team was finding its footing.

“There’s a lot of time left,” she said. “We’re going to add a win this weekend.”

Hayes, the coach of the , stayed in Denver all week following her team’s visit to Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for a 3-0 win over Japan last Friday night. Somewhere between trips to Vail, Breckenridge and Red Rocks, she found time to catch up with Cushing, coach of Denver Summit FC and a longtime competitor, rival and friend.

”He is probably the coach I’ve enjoyed coaching against the most, more than anybody else. I loved our battles,” Hayes told media members before Summit FC’s 3-2 loss Saturday night against San Diego Wave. “…We always knew when you play Nick Cushing’s teams, you are in for a game. He’s relentless; he will not let his team come off the pedal. I think he’s an unbelievable coach and I think Denver is incredibly lucky to have him. With the right time and squad building, I think he’ll produce a fantastic team.”

In front of Hayes and a sellout crowd of 16,932 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park on Saturday night, Cushing’s Summit FC fell victim to a rampant comeback against the NWSL leader. But for the first 45 minutes, Denver proved Hayes’s sentiment correct.

Melissa Kössler scored Summit FC’s first-ever home goal in the 16th minute with as easy a tap-in as she’ll ever get. Natasha Flint, who recently made her loan from USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun permanent, slotted a through ball to Yazmeen Ryan down the left channel. She dribbled almost to the byline before picking out Kössler at the back post. It was the German international’s fourth goal of the season.

Flint joined the scoring party in the 32nd minute with a header off her own miss from a tight angle on the left of the goal mouth. Receiving a wonderful through ball, she made a nice cutback before a right-footed shot was blocked off the line. It popped back to her and she finished the chance.

The Wave’s trio of goals came in just a 15-minute span between the 49th and 65th minutes. Midfielder Lia Godfrey struck first as the recipient of a good give-and-go and executor of a straightforward finish. Eight minutes later, Kennedy Wesley tied it up with a header on a corner kick — in last week’s USWNT match, she tallied her first international goal and assist, both on corners. Summit defender Carson Pickett steered in an own goal in the 65th minute while trying to clear a pass destined for a back-post tap-in.

Ryan had two good chances at a late equalizer, but put both over the bar.

Like the ones that got away from him back in Manchester, results like these are the ones Cushing said his team should look back on down the road.

“I’ve been through this before in building teams, and I said to the players, ‘Tough times make top teams, and it����ap how you digest this and how you react to it, individually and collectively,’” he said. “The direction you take out of a moment like this dictates the progression that you make.”

Rivals and friends

Before his tenure in Denver, Cushing’s six full seasons in England coaching Manchester City’s women’s team were spent jockeying with Hayes’s Chelsea teams for all but one of the Women’s Super League titles during that time. Hayes claimed four of them and Cushing nabbed one.

All five of those seasons featured their teams at Nos. 1 and 2, with no more than 6 points separating them at the end of the season. In the shortened 2020 season, Manchester City earned one more point than Chelsea, but Hayes’ team was awarded the title because it had played one less game and thus had more points per game. Cushing’s Manchester City teams were 4-1-8 against Hayes’s Chelsea teams.

In the women’s soccer world, it����ap not far off to conclude that one does not exist in their current capacity without the other. When the two were in opposite technical areas, they found an extra gear.

Cushing has no interest in using the nature of an expansion team as an excuse for now taking just six points from Summit FC’s first six games. Nor will he use the excuse that five of those opponents are currently in playoff positions.

Hayes, though, gave him the slack she seldom did back in England.

“I said to Nick yesterday, having built a franchise back in the day in (now-defunct league Women’s Professional Soccer), I know how hard it is to get off the ground running. For him to start as well as he has, he has to lean into that and know how difficult it is,” Hayes said. “I think his team has been consistent for the most part and I think the next steps for them are, they just have to gel. They’re so new. They had a preseason and four or five games, so it����ap going to take time.”

In January, she signed a pre-contract to join Denver Summit FC at the conclusion of her deal with OL Lyonnes of the French Division 1 Féminine. A few days later, Summit FC staged a heartwarming reveal to her parents, Linda and Mark Horan, that she’d be joining her hometown club in its inaugural year.

On Friday night at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, she got a preview of how her new life back home will treat her come June.

The U.S. Women’s National Team closed out a three-game friendly series against Japan, a top-five team in the world, with a 3-0 win. The USWNT went 2-1 in the series, with Heaps playing all three games. Last week, she scored in the first game of the series for her 40th international goal.

She’s played a handful of games wearing the stars and stripes in Denver now, but none of them have come with the same anticipation and excitement as this one did. She received by far the loudest ovation when the lineups were announced before the game. When she exited as a substitute in the 63rd minute, the crowd roared again. Walking off slowly to take the moment in, she thanked the nearly 18,000 in attendance — and almost 50 friends and family members, she said — with a round of applause and a heart signal with her hands.

“I’m a very sensitive person, so I get a little emotional with those things, but to see my home-state fans, my family in the crowd, friends, Denver Summit fans — seeing those jerseys, it feels actually real,” Heaps said after the match. “You don’t get that feeling until you’re here, but also walking out and getting a win the way we did as well, I’m really, really proud.”

On the field, for the last time in Colorado before she’s a full-time Summit FC member, Heaps showed why she’ll be an excellent addition to an already-solid team, beyond the name and status.

Since joining Lyonnes on loan and eventually permanently from the NWSL’s Portland Thorns in 2022, the Golden native has scored 27 goals in all competitions, helping lead the French powerhouse to four league titles, a UEFA Women’s Champions League title and a Coupe de France Féminine.

This June, she’ll leave that success for a new project and an old sense of home. But for now, essentially existing with two clubs in two countries has been a challenge. Summit FC games start anywhere between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. in France, making it nearly impossible to follow along live. She said she speaks with Denver coach Nick Cushing and defender Janine Sonis often, but that can’t replicate live, in-person reps with the team.

Heaps relished what she missed last month, when Summit FC drew an NWSL-record 63,004 fans for its inaugural home match against the Washington Spirit. Through it, she can’t lose focus on what����ap at hand in France.

“It����ap been a little bit difficult to balance because you’re kind of two places in one. But my main focus is Lyon and finishing out the season well, which Denver has been very respectful of and I really appreciate that,” Heaps said. “But it����ap also me always following along and wanting the team to do well, and it����ap been cool to see what they’ve been able to accomplish as an expansion team and coming into the league. The hometown crowd here at Empower was absolutely incredible, and I was a little bit jealous of that.”

Listed as a midfielder, Heaps stretches the pitch like no other. She was all over the field Friday night, serving as a connective tissue in a ball-dominant setup. On a night where Japan defended open-play crosses expertly, Heaps operated in the channels and bridged the gaps between wingers and center forwards.

Before she subbed off, Heaps found the pass before the pass to set up the USWNT’s second goal of the night. Right at midfield, she could have dinked a risky ball over the top to set up a ready-to-run Rose Lavelle, but instead found winger Trinity Rodman for an easier look at the same pass. Rodman slotted it perfectly — a more controlled throughball on the ground — for Lavelle, and she did the rest.

Sonis and Natasha Flint — who ended her loan by signing a permanent contract with Summit FC on Friday — have come closest to playing that part for Denver, but there’s still much to be desired. Come June, Heaps should instantly aid the midfield in finding Melissa Kössler — whose total of three goals in five games could easily be higher — for more opportunities on goal.

But, USWNT coach Emma Hayes said, perhaps most important to Summit FC is the personality Heaps adds to any team.

“Lindsey is no passenger, ever. She’s so ultra-competitive. She will want to drive that team as a leader in the way that she does every day. She lives and breathes those behaviors,” Hayes told media members on Thursday. “We’ve sat down this week in her own 360 meetings to discuss how to get ready for (the move) and what support she needs for that. I think it will bring another level out of her and that����ap what I think we’re all excited about, is that this is another challenge in her career.”

Currently, Lyonnes is more than comfortably in first place in the French league and on the way to Heaps’ fifth title in as many tries. In European competition, Lyonnes most recently beat Wolfsburg Women, 4-1 on aggregate, in the Champions League quarterfinals.

It����ap not certain when exactly she’ll arrive in Denver, but the last confirmed match on Lyonnes’s schedule is May 10, when it plays Paris Saint-Germain in the Women’s French Cup final. If the team makes it to the Champions League final, that match is scheduled for May 23.

In all likelihood, Heaps’ first match with Summit FC in her home state will be a July 3 matchup with KC Current, which happens to be the inaugural match at Centennial Stadium, the Summit FC-specific home venue still under construction.

When that time comes, one place will be enough.

U.S. Women’s National Team star striker returns to her home state on Friday at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park for the USWNT’s final friendly of a three-match series against Japan. Wilson, a Windsor native, made her comeback to the USWNT lineup in the opening two friendlies for the first time since October 2024.

In the 18 months between appearances, Wilson (nee Smith) got The couple then had their first child, a daughter named Gigi, last September. The ensuing maternity leave kept Wilson off the pitch for the USWNT for all of 2025 and she didn’t play for the NWSL’s Portland Thorns, either.

Wilson called her return to Colorado for the stars and stripes “a full-circle moment” as she plays in front of her family with Gigi in the stands.

“Anytime I get to go back and play in Denver, I have all the feels because that’s a place where I really grew into who I am as a soccer player and as a person, too,” Wilson said. “So getting to go back and play with the national team at this point in my career now with my little girl, it’s like a dream come true.”

The 25-year-old is the 18th mom to play for the USWNT, and when she finds the net again, she’ll be the ninth mom to score for the team.

She started in the Americans’ last Saturday in San Jose and came off the bench in the team’s 1-0 defeat in Seattle on Tuesday in a match where head coach Emma Hayes experimented with It marked the first time the USWNT has been shut out in a defeat in 42 games.

Wilson says that becoming a mom has shifted her perspective on life and has her relishing moments out on the pitch more than before.

“We (as a professional athletes) put too much pressure on things that we can’t control,” Wilson said. “I feel like (with Gigi) I’ve learned to just focus on what I can control and enjoy every moment as it comes, because life goes fast.

“I’ve realized that my career is going by and while I’m still in my prime years, I want to enjoy it all. You can’t play soccer forever, unfortunately. So more than anything, being present in every moment is what I’m trying to do and take from being a mom now.”

Setting an example for the next generation

Wilson, a former Real Colorado star, has won at every level she’s played at.

While starring at Stanford, she led the Cardinal to the 2019 Division I national title. The Thorns drafted her No. 1 overall in 2020, and she became the in ’22, when she led Portland to the title and was named MVP of that game as well. Wilson also won the NWSL Golden Boot in ’23 as the league’s top scorer.

She was also part of the along with Trinity Rodman and Mallory Swanson that propelled the U.S. to a gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Swanson, a fellow Colorado native who in the gold-medal match, missed the 2025 NWSL season on maternity leave but is expected back to the league and the USWNT

While soccer fans wait on the return of Swanson, Wilson has been patient with herself in her ramp-up to get her game back to best-in-the-world level in the lead-up to the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Brazil.

“Obviously, I know that getting back to playing at a high level is not just a straight path, and it’s not going to happen with the snap of my fingers,” Wilson said. “… I hope that I carry myself in the same way that (former USWNT star) Alex (Morgan) did (after her maternity leave), where it showed young girls and athletes that it is very possible to do both — have a family and play the game at a high level.

“It’s so important that women feel supported and feel confident in whatever it is that they choose to do. But knowing you can do both (is paramount).”

Friday’s match will also give Colorado soccer fans their first glimpse at USWNT captain Lindsay Heaps since the midfielder signed with Denver Summit FC in January. Heaps, who scored the game-winning goal in the first friendly against Japan — her 40th goal for the USWNT — is finishing her season with OL Lyonnes before joining Summit FC sometime this summer, likely in June.

When 63,000 fans turned out for the home debut of Denver Summit FC at Empower Field a couple of weekends ago, Colorado soccer fans got to celebrate the arrival of the National Women’s Soccer League with an epic experience far beyond what we could have imagined a generation ago.

Like so many, I got to savor a historic day for women’s sports with a daughter who inherited my deep love for the game. But for me, it was also a day to reminisce on 50 years of observing the slow but irrepressible U.S. growth of the world’s most popular sport.

My introduction to soccer came while covering the Tampa Bay Rowdies of the old North American Soccer League as a young sportswriter in the 1970s when the Brazilian star Pelé — still the only player to win three World Cups — played for the New York Cosmos.

He and boxer Muhammad Ali were the world’s most popular athletes at the time, and his signing in 1975 at the end of his career made many Americans pay attention to soccer for the first time. Other international soccer stars would soon sign with NASL teams as the league fought to elbow its way into the American sports consciousness.

I covered multiple Cosmos games in Giants Stadium that attracted more than 75,000 when, for an all-too-brief heyday, soccer was big in New York, Tampa Bay and a handful of other NASL cities. I ran into Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones in the Cosmos locker room after a game. I covered Pelé’s last game, a retirement celebration, when the sellout crowd included Muhammad Ali, Henry Kissinger and many other Big Apple A-list celebrities.

Pelé scored an unforgettable goal that day on a free kick from 35 yards out, struck with so much power that the follow-through lifted him up into the air. I watched a video of that goal last week, and it’s exactly as I remember it.

I actually had brunch the day after Pelé’s retirement game with him and his immediate family. How that came about is a long story, too long to explain here, but I swear it’s true.

We who fell in love with what Pelé famously called “the beautiful game” thought it was just a matter of time before soccer would be acknowledged as a major sport in the U.S. Instead, it took decades.

The NASL folded in 1985, and the U.S. would go eight years without another national soccer league. My love for soccer only grew over the ensuing decades, though. It even became a family affair.

Soccer at the youth level boomed, especially among girls, and I watched one of my daughters fall in love with the game and the stars of the women’s national team. She was jubilant when she got Brandi Chastain to autograph her USA jersey at a national team game in Denver. Chastain had scored the penalty kick shootout goal to clinch the 1999 World Cup title. My daughter still has the jersey.

I had tears in my eyes covering the championship game of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, which was the final national team appearance for Chastain, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, because of the inspiration those women gave my daughter and millions like her. The U.S. beat Brazil that night for the second of its five Olympic gold medals in soccer.

The girls Chastain, Hamm and Foudy inspired now are in their 30s, raising more girls who love soccer, and in Denver, they finally have a women’s home team to call their own.

My daughter has season tickets, and she’s spent a small fortune on Summit FC merch.

If you’re a soccer fan, you know the game requires strength, speed, technique, endurance, toughness, agility, creativity and sound tactical decisions made on the fly. All were on display at Empower Field. If you’re not already a soccer fan, maybe this team will make you one.

You probably heard we were part of the largest crowd ever to see a women’s professional sports event in the U.S. I’m excited to watch Denver Summit evolve through its inaugural season in the NWSL. I’m eager to see Lindsey Heaps, the Golden High School product who is captain of the current women’s national team, when she arrives in June after finishing her contract with a team in France.

My daughter already has her jersey, of course.

Unlike in its home opener against the Washington Spirit last week, Summit FC was able to create plenty of chances. Like last week’s match, though, the scoreline reflected an underwhelming 0-all draw.

Summit FC’s next game is in three weeks: a home match at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park against the San Diego Wave. At the end of Saturday’s slate, Denver is sitting in ninth place in the NWSL, sandwiched in a three-way tie between Bay FC and 2025 NWSL Shield winner Kansas City Current.

“I’m content with six points in five games. I think we possibly could have had more, but the reality is that six is what it is,” Summit FC coach Nick Cushing said after Saturday’s match. “I’m really happy with the fact we’ve got three clean sheets. Really happy that we’re undefeated since the first game of the season. I think we probably should win the Washington Spirit game, … We definitely should win tonight. I’d rather be sitting here saying we’re doing well, but we can do better.”

Summit FC did most of its damage in the final 30 minutes of Saturday’s match at One Spokane Stadium after a clumsy start to the second half. Giveaways plagued Denver to start the period and gave Seattle momentum, but Summit responded encouragingly, particularly after right back Ayo Oke subbed on in the 60th minute.

Straight away, she gave Summit FC life. With speed on the right wing as essentially a pure winger rather than her usual right-back role, Oke gave Reign’s defense fits, especially when another midfielder joined and created overloads. That would draw another defender out and leave a gap at the penalty spot.

Carson Pickett received the ball in that area in the 67th minute and rifled a shot wide. Janine Sonis had a similar chance later on but had her shot blocked — one of eight on the night.

Each team had two big chances to illuminate the scoreboard in the first half. For Summit FC, Sonis overhit a cross in the fifth minute, and it nearly found its way into the net, but instead pinged the crossbar for a goal kick. Later, Melissa Kössler turned neatly after receiving a long ball inside the box, then fired a tight-angled shot, which also hit the crossbar.

On the other end, Reign used a direct, long-ball method to get its chances. On a couple of occasions, in the 10th and 15th minutes, Reign attackers were through on goal and only had NWSL goalkeeper of the month Abby Smith to beat. But Smith came up huge. First, a reaction kick save on Maddie Mercado, then another solid stop to deny Emeri Adames on the counterattack.

“It����ap expected from her. She’s unreal. I think she’s an unbelievable keeper,” Pickett said. “I know that for me and the rest of our back line, we know that when it comes down to a couple chances, she’s going to have our back.”

Seven Summit FC players were called up to their national teams, including Oke and midfielder Yuna McCormack for the U.S. Women’s U-23 team. Lindsey Heaps, who will join Summit FC this summer, made the senior USWNT for its match at DSGP against Japan on April 17.

The 14-acre redevelopment project, on the former Gates Rubber Co. site at Broadway and Interstate 25, will be developed in partnership with the City of Denver and global design firm , with an expected opening in spring 2028.

“This is a defining moment for Denver Summit FC and for the future of women’s professional sports in our city,” said Denver Summit FC Controlling Owner Rob Cohen.

“We are incredibly grateful to Mayor Mike Johnston, Denver City Council, and the broader Denver community for helping turn this vision into a reality. We look forward to this project providing a positive impact on our community for generations to come.”

Denver Summit FC has been making significant moves both on and off the field. Earlier this year, the team leased 10,467 square feet of office space at Mercantile Square for its corporate headquarters. Building on that momentum, the team took the field on Saturday for its inaugural 2026 National Women’s Soccer League home game, finishing with a 0-0 tie against Washington Spirit at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium.

The team drew over 63,000 fans, breaking the U.S. attendance record for a women’s professional sporting event.

With a planned 14,500-seat stadium, the team’s ownership estimates the stadium will host 40 to 50 ticketed events and up to 250 less-formal events per year. The area will feature mixed-use development with housing, restaurants and hospitality, plus pedestrian and bike connections near public transportation.

The stadium will also be constructed with the ability to expand in the future to host larger crowds and marquee events.

“This has been a long time coming for South Broadway,” said Mayor Mike Johnston.

“This moment belongs to the Denver Summit fans and leadership team and could not have happened without every neighbor and business owner who believed in this dream from day one.”

In late December, the Denver City Council approved $50 million to purchase the stadium land, allowing the team to push forward in developing the site. Under the city-team agreement, Denver will invest up to $70 million in the project, including the initial $50 million, for the land acquisition and site preparations, including pedestrian access improvements.

The team has agreed to spend about $200 million on building the stadium itself. City officials also hope to secure $25 million in federal grant dollars to build a pedestrian bridge from the nearby I-25 and Broadway light rail station to the stadium site, which sits across freight rail tracks.

As the Summit drew near, Denver drew a line in the sand. And dared the rest of the U.S.A. to cross it.

“I think it’s intoxicating, that environment you just feel,” Summit FC goalkeeper Abby Smith said after Denver’s home opener ended in a 0-0 stalemate with the Washington Spirit. “And I think just our supporters were behind us, cheering the whole time. We heard them constantly.”

With 63,004 packed into Empower Field, they were hard to miss. No U.S. market has ever drawn that many people for a professional women’s sports event in this country — let alone a soccer event.

Leonardo da Vinci himself couldn’t have drawn up a sweeter draw. The 14ers banged drums and danced like no one was watching. A “Trans People Belong In Sports” banner hung in front of the south stands. A poodle in cool shades watched from a warm lap at midfield.

Denver didn’t just set a new record for the largest attendance at a professional women’s sports event. The Front Range shattered it by 22,913 patrons.

Take that, Bay FC.

on the way out, Chicago Stars.

“It was a shocking revelation to imagine that a city like Denver didn’t have a women’s team,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said before the match. “I’ve spent time in Denver through my days at the NHL and my days at the National Lacrosse League, (and) anytime I’m here, I feel like the culture is one that screams, ‘inclusion.’ And it is not surprising when you think about that, as well as the success of US Women’s National Team when they come here. And so (Summit controlling owner) Rob (Cohen’s) vision to bring a women’s professional team here had to happen. And we were just proud to be the ones to make that decision.”

You listening, WNBA?

How about you, PWHL?

Just because the NWSL was first doesn’t mean they should be the last.

“It’s incredible to see Denver supporting women’s sports in this way,” Summit fan Karen Hohnecker, who turned up wearing an “Everyone Watches Women’s Sports” t-shirt, told me just after a record crowd was announced. “And it’s just part of this bigger wave of everyone getting involved in women’s sports — much beyond women, but also men, boys, little kids. Everybody’s going to be raised watching women’s sports and not thinking of it as anything different than men’s sports. It’s a really exciting time.”

A few rows over, Genni Williams didn’t have a dog in the fight. But she did have a dog in her lap.

Williams and her wife, Julie, both of Lakewood, sat in Section 123 inside a sweltering Empower Field with their senior poodle Janelle, a 13-year-old service dog with poor hearing and no teeth. They even brought tiny sunglasses for Janelle, the coolest pup in the place, to watch the Summit and Spirit duke it out from the midfield concourse.

Julie’s the soccer fan in the house. Genni is … learning the game. The couple bought season tickets to Summit FC recently, although, they admitted, the origin story of that one is a little hazy.

“I didn’t even remember that I had bought them because they called, (and) we were in the lottery, right?” Genni Williams said. “(They had) called right after I just had a back surgery and was not super clear-headed. I thought I had made it up until I saw (a note), I found an email, and I was like, ‘Oh (expletive), I did buy season tickets.”

“So now you’re into this franchise, win, lose or draw,” I said.

“Oh,” Genni replied, raising an eyebrow, “you can end on a tie?”

Yep. 0-0. Everybody drive home safe.

“It’s like ballet with aggression,” Cheri Brichacek leaned over and explained to Genni. “The footwork is so phenomenal. The precision of the footwork — just watch that and you’ll enjoy the game. You don’t even have to know their roles. Just watch for (the feet).”

Brichacek sat to the Williams’ left with her mother, Noreen, who turned 89 last month. Cheri grew up playing soccer in Maine, moved to the Front Range about 30 years ago try it for a few months, and never left.

“(Mom) hasn’t been to a big soccer game since Pele,” Cheri explained.

That would be the Brazilian legends’ last game with the old New York Cosmos — all the way back in October 1977 at what was then Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

“She scalped tickets under a bridge,” Cheri recalled. “She took me and a soccer ball. It was hysterical.”

“We went across to get the tickets because it was pouring rain,” Noreen added. “I mean, it was pouring rain.”

Noreen’s a hoot. She got three letters in high school athletics, including one for 6-on-6 basketball, a long-defunct iteration of the sport in which three players from each team play only on the offensive or defensive side of the court. Ask your great aunt from Iowa about that one.

“I said, ‘When I croak, I want my letters to go with me,'” she chuckled.

Cheri, meanwhile, watched the Summit make history with her mom to her right and a USA soccer hat dangling from the seat in front of her. It belonged to Michelle, her late wife, who passed away last year after a battle with ovarian cancer.

“Phenomenal soccer player,” Brichacek said. “Speedy.”

Mother and daughter rose with the crowd in the 81st minute as a cross from the Summit’s Caron Pickett was headed just wide over the left post by Melissa Kossler.

In front of them were younger generations of mothers and daughters, who’ll tell their own Summit tales three or four decades from now. The green smoke. The flames. The flyover. The noise.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Noreen said of the crowd. “Biggest match we’ve been to for women’s soccer. It’s phenomenal … the effects that they used (in the pregame) were beyond stunning. Just beyond stunning. And the women deserve it.”

Darn straight.

“I’m not going to say (they’re) ‘The 12th (Man)’ yet, because I went to (the University of Texas),” Smith cracked. “So I’m going to say it felt like we had 15 people in the field. Because everybody was there and everybody was in it with us.”

To the end, 63,004 strong. Marching to the Summit as one.