After a long period of anticipation, the Little Rock Rangers Women are finally back in action at home for the 2025 UPSL season. This past weekend, they played two games, both at home. On Saturday, they defeated Side FC 2-0 and then dominated Ozark Storm FC 7-0 on Sunday.

On Saturday, the Rangers Women weren’t able to start their season at their usual turf at War Memorial Stadium, so they moved their first game to Scott Field. That didn’t stop the fans from showing up to support the team. The game itself didn’t go as smoothly as the Rangers had hoped, as circumstances outside the field—such as the change of venue, the heat, and the humidity—made the team look a bit sloppy at first. But as the game progressed, they settled into their rhythm and began playing more consistently. They found the first goal of the game through goalscorer Maria Schuller, which gave the Rangers a crucial boost heading into the second half.

The second half was complete domination from the Rangers, even though they couldn’t find the net right away. Despite a few scares from Side FC, the Rangers’ defense held firm. Eventually, they sealed the win with a late goal from Ella Dietz. Given the challenging circumstances, the Rangers managed to secure an important victory to kick off the season.

Left-back Piper Nichols completely dominated the game from her side of the field, winning every tackle, every duel, and delivering a performance that made her the best player on the pitch. As it was the first game of the season, Piper was thrilled to get the win but also acknowledged that there is still work to do.

“Very excited to be able to pull out that win. We started a little bit slow… we got a little unfocused, uncalm, we were on our nerves a bit, but we were able to finish it in the end.”

With less than 24 hours of rest before their next game on Sunday against Ozark Storm FC, Piper shared her thoughts on how the team would approach the game both physically and mentally:

“Legs are a little bit heavy, but we need to go out with more energy—this is what we love to do.”

Sunday’s game saw the Rangers Women finally back at home in War Memorial Stadium, where they brought the energy that Piper had talked about. From the first minute, the team came out not only determined to win but also committed to playing beautiful, attacking soccer, leaving no room for a response from their opponent.

Despite their dominance, the ball just didn’t want to go in—until Candice Kilderry delivered a stunning free kick in the 43rd minute to give the Rangers Women the breakthrough they needed. Just two minutes later, Megan Rogan added a second, and the Rangers went into halftime with a two-goal lead, feeling that they could have scored even more.

The second half delivered just that, as Maria Schuller scored with an incredible volley in the 60th minute to put the Rangers up 3-0. From there, the goals kept flowing—not only for the Rangers but also for the team’s top scorer, Maria Schuller, who took home the match ball after netting a hat trick, bringing her total to four goals in two games.

To cap off the night, KK Pavatt added two more goals to give the Rangers Women a dominant 7-0 victory over Ozark Storm FC.

After the game, Woman of the Match Maria Schuller spoke about how much she loved the energy that was brought into the stadium:

“I’m excited—excited for the summer to come. We had a good crowd, so I’m excited.” She also mentioned how playing on their home turf gave them the ability to perform better than they did in the game against Side FC: “I think it had to do with where we were. We were excited to play here (War Memorial Stadium), so yesterday we were a little thrown off. But today, we realized we had to step up for everyone here.”

Maria also shared her thoughts on the hat trick that made her the team’s top scorer with four goals:

“I think that after the first one, they just kept coming. We all started to get more connected mentally. I knew where to be, my teammates knew where to be, they knew where to put the ball—it’s a mental connection.”

Head Coach Alex Burgess was very pleased with his team’s performance.

“I’m feeling very good. Yesterday was tough, we didn’t play as well as we wanted to, so today was about getting a reaction, and I think we did just that.” He added his thoughts on how the team changed from one game to the other: “There was more energy. Last game, we were flat, but today we played a lot faster. We also took our chances—once we got the first goal, the confidence built and we just started to enjoy ourselves.”

He also discussed how the team overcame the challenge of playing two games on back-to-back days:

“It’s always tough to play games back to back, but we have such an amazing squad that allows me to rotate players and keep the energy fresh,” he said. “All 25 players were involved and did a very good job, and that way we were able to give a good performance two days in a row.”

The season couldn’t have started better for the Rangers Women, with two wins in two games, both at home. They showed just how good and lethal they are when playing at their best. As Maria said, when they all start to get that mental connection with each other, this team becomes unstoppable and a beautiful, attacking machine—impossible to stop when they’re fully dialed in.

This is a team excited to show up to every game and give their fans a win and a style of soccer that keeps them coming back. War Memorial Stadium is their fortress, and they’re determined to protect it while putting on a show every time.

The Rangers Women would be traveling to Tulsa, Ok, where they would visit Side FC on Saturday, June 14th.