Today we’d like to introduce you to Bethany Cyrtmus-Davaul who is a co-founder of Austin Rise FC
Hi Bethany, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
Austin Rise FC is bringing professional women’s soccer to Austin and this summer will also be playing for a $1,000,000 prize at TST in North Carolina! How did we get here? The club was founded in Fall 2022 by five women who had all played together on their prior semi-professional team. Sadly, the experience on that team ended abruptly after a league investigation into the conduct of the owner and team manager. Eventually, this led to the former team’s dissolution and us and others without a team. So, the five of us decided to band together and create a new team, re-brand and build it the right way for women. We were rebuilding a team from nothing, from the ground up, and this is where the symbolism of the phoenix on our team crest comes into the picture.
From there, we built out our team including coaching staff, players, home field, league, other personnel and more. The club joined the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) for its inaugural season in 2023. The WPSL is a national league with 150 teams and sits in the 4th tier of the U.S. women’s soccer pyramid.
The team had a successful first season, notching a winning record while creating a professional and family-friendly gameday experience with a couple hundreds of fans at every game. After the season ended, the WPSL reached out and discussed their plan to create a tier 3 professional women’s soccer league (WPSL Pro). One other key issue with women’s soccer in the U.S. is that there is not a professional player development system like there is on the men’s side or in many European countries for the women. Instead, there are only tier 1 opportunities (NWSL and USL Super League) and then it drops to tier 4 (WPSL, USLW, UWS) or lower. As a result, we jumped at the opportunity to be one of the initial five LOI markets to sign for that league. There are now 15 teams which have signed an LOI as we move closer to WPSL Pro 2026 kickoff.
In our second WPSL season, we lost the first game of the season and rallied from there to a 9-game unbeaten streak to finish the regular season as the Lonestar Conference champions! Since the WPSL has so many teams competing, the playoffs are limited only to conference champions (16 teams). We hosted the South region playoffs, winning our first match in an extra time thriller at House Park stadium and then fell to the prior defending national champions in the national quarterfinals.
To continue growing our club and opportunities for post-college female athletes, we decided to join TST for summer 2025. TST, short for The Soccer Tournament, is a week-long extravaganza of 7v7 soccer with 16 women’s teams and 48 men’s teams each competing for the $1MM winner-take-all prize in each division. The tournament takes place in Cary, North Carolina at the WakeMed Soccer Park complex. Countless celebrities and professional athletes (not only soccer players) come as guest players or guest coaches, games are on ESPN, and there is a tremendous amount of hype and social media excitement building up to and throughout the tournament. The defending champions in the women’s division of TST are retired players from the US Women’s National Soccer Team. Although it may seem like a daunting task to compete against them, it is not going to stop us from working hard to put together a team that can play with the best. And of course, everyone loves a good underdog story ; )
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Although our journey has not been the smoothest, it has always been an exciting journey despite all of the challenges that have come along the way.
The biggest challenge initially was grasping everything that needed to happen to bring a new team to life, especially since none of us founders had previous experience operating a soccer club. That’s when we decided to reach out and learn from others with experience in the space. Some of those people have been advisors of the club since the beginning and others are super fans and want to see the growth of women’s sports continue.
The fundraising aspect of the club has also presented challenges which is not atypical in the women’s sports landscape. Raising capital, securing sponsorships, and proving the value of a women’s soccer team in a competitive market is no small feat. We’ve tackled this by being relentless in our vision, leveraging community support, and building strong partnerships with businesses that believe in the power of women’s sports. Some of those initial partners included our founding sponsors: Austin Community Soccer Association (ACSA), Ally Medical Emergency Room, JuiceLand, Los Verdes, Dee Webb Realty as well as additional sponsors Shiner Beer, Amplify Credit Union and more.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
As of Spring 2025, the club is preparing for TST as well as the 3rd season in the WPSL. During the WPSL regular season, Austin Rise home game matches are played as House Park stadium which is downtown Austin, Texas. This is an iconic sports venue in Austin and was the home of the first men’s professional soccer team in the city as well. With the central location and beautiful sky-line view, it brings a great vibe to the home games. Through the first two seasons, Rise is undefeated at home when playing at House Park so we’ll be looking to keep that streak going as we kickoff our 3rd season on Sunday, May 18 at 7pm! We love to create a fun gameday experience so we have brought in the Paprika tacos food truck, Kona Ice, a kids corner with stickers and temporary tattoos, regular giveaways depending on the game, photo shoot station and an opportunity for fans to get player autographs after the match.
In addition to the home venue and gameday experience, we are also very proud of our branding. It was a neat process for us five founders to get together and brainstorm possible team names, colors, culture, values and so much more. We eventually landed on Austin Rise FC and were fortunate to find a wonderful local designer to assist and bring our team and logo to life. One notable design feature in particular is the shape of our crest. It is not a circle or traditional shield design. Instead, it is a unique design portraying us breaking free from the mold and the upward slant to the crest indicates us rising up to our future. We have also been working on some custom design kits for this season and we will have a reveal in April, so be sure to keep an eye out!
What matters most to you? Why?
There are a number of matters which have a huge impact and meaning to the club. These include creating the right environment for our players and our community.
On the player side, we’ve all sadly heard one too many stories about abusive coaches, managers or other personnel. Additionally, for post-college players there are few opportunities for them to continue to play at the highest level they can play. With this in mind, we want to make sure that the environment we have available for our players is safe, supportive and conducive for their growth.
Regarding community, this includes everyone that helps bring Austin Rise to life. It started with the founding sponsors who ensured we could take the pitch in year 1 (and beyond), to all of our fans (whether watching live at House Park or streaming from a bar in Portland, Oregon), our advisors who have shared their professional experience and insights, up to our coaching staff and all personnel that have helped us since inception. We want to see everyone in the community better off and we are forever grateful and appreciate everyone’s support.
How can our readers support you and get involved?
The best way to support us is to show up—come to games, bring your friends, and make some noise! Follow us on social media, spread the word, and if you’re a business looking to align with a movement that’s making waves, let’s talk sponsorships. Every ticket purchased, every jersey worn, and every conversation about Austin Rise FC helps build something bigger than just a soccer team—it builds a legacy. We’re inviting everyone to be part of this journey with us. We believe soccer has the power to unite, and we’re here to make sure Austin has a team it can be proud of.
Pricing:
- 2025 season tickets have just been released!
- All ticket options are available here: https://austinrisefc.simpletix.com/
- Season tickets are $50 and include entry to all 5 home games, 10% off Austin Rise FC merch (online and in-person), 15% off at The Soccer Corner (online and in-person), 10% off food and drink at 1972 Pub and an exclusive merch item which is gifted to all season ticket holders!
- Single game tickets will be available in the upcoming weeks and are $10 per match.
- Free entry for kids ages 12 and under
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.austinrisefc.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/austinrisefc/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Austin-Rise-FC-100088841523993/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/austin-rise-fc/posts/?feedView=all
- Twitter: https://x.com/austinrisefc
- Other: https://austinrisefc.square.site/s/shop
Image Credits
Conrad Stoll
Lynelle Leinbach
