2009 Portland Rain

http://portlandrainfc.com/
You'll recall they are the new women's pro team in town, and they have Natalie Budge among others on their roster. Their first match was yesterday. Yes, I forgot, too. The schedule (home game in bold at Hillsboro Stadium):
Sunday, May 3rd vs. Seattle Synergy - 6pm
Monday, May 18th vs. Boise Blitz - 7pm
Saturday, May 23rd vs. NW All-Stars - 7pm
Saturday, May 30th vs. Salem Rain FC - 7pm
Sunday, May 31st vs. California Storm - 6pm
Friday, June 5th @ Seattle Synergy
Saturday, June 13th vs. San Francisco Nighthawks - 7pm*
Sunday, June 14th vs. Monterey Blues - 1pm
Saturday, June 20th @ Sonoma County FC Sol
Sunday, June 21st @ East Bay
Saturday, June 27th vs. FC Sacramento Pride - 7pm
Sunday, June 28th vs. East Bay - 6pm
Sunday, July 5th vs. Seattle Synergy - 6pm
Saturday, July 11th @ FC Sacramento Pride
Sunday, July 12th @ California Storm
Thursday, July 16th vs. Argentina (Friendly) - 7:30pm
Saturday, July 18th @ San Francisco Nighthawks
Sunday, July 19th @ Monterey Blues

*location TBA

Ohhh_Yeah was there; perhaps he will come in and tell us more.

Wait, there are multiple women's pro soccer leagues?

The WPSL has been around since 1998. Until now it has been a collection of amateurs However, it looks like they are making a move towards professional players based on this statement from their website:

The Women’s Premier Soccer League consist of 54 team in the US and Puerto Rico and was established in 1998. The league grows every year with phenomenal worldwide talent from Brazil‚ Argentina‚ Mexico‚ and throughout Europe.
The Portland Rain is looking to form a strong team with players from around the world with the goal of building the organization into a professional team.

Budgie ought to be playing in the WPS. However, after her time overseas maybe she wanted to spend some time back home. My impression is players will get absorbed into the WPS from the WPSL as they have been from the W-League. I hope these two leagues don't fragment the market for women's professional soccer. However, as long as Portland doesn't have a WPS team, a new team like the Rain may find a paying crowd and appreciative fans. I kind of worry that this team may keep a WPS franchise out of Portland. It is also possible that the team might secretly be yearning to be converted into a future Portland franchise. Its hard to tell.