Quality soccer players find outlet with Rush

What's the rush? The Rush.

Nelson, a former UA soccer star, is one of the 20 players who dresses for home games played by the Arizona Rush, Tucson's semi-pro soccer team.

The club — a member of the Women's Premier Soccer League — plays its final regular-season home game tonight at 7 at Murphey Stadium.

At 6-1-2, the team leads the Big Sky North Division and draws about 200 fans per game.

The squad is made up of current and former college players, players with professional aspirations and those just trying to stay in shape. There's even a 15-year-old, Rincon/University High School's Layla Martin, on the squad.

"I don't play outside of this," said Nelson, 24, who is married to Rush head coach Chris Fernandez. "I had thought about it, but quite frankly, nothing in town was as competitive as I was looking for. We don't have the fields; we don't have the venues.

"I play because I want to, because I love the game."

The Rush fills a void for soccer players looking for a good game. In baseball terms, it's the Cape Cod League, Arizona Fall League and a serious pickup game wrapped into one.

"It gives people like us a chance to do this over the summer," Martin said, "and the people in Tucson a chance to watch."

The Rush — a three-year-old youth program that features about 600 players and more than 30 teams — entered a WPSL team for the first time this year.

Fernandez, who is also the club's technical director, figures the WPSL team gives young players a goal — and people to look up to.

It comes at no small cost. For a three-month season, the team will spend about $45,000. It flies to neighboring states — except for New Mexico — and sleeps four to a room.

Renting the UA's soccer field costs $7,000 for a seven-game season — and the school gets to keep any revenue from concession stands, Fernandez said. Besides a $295 fee paid by every player, the club is buoyed financially by donations and sponsorships.

Brianna Moore, who is between her sophomore and junior years at UNLV, moved to Tucson to stay in shape this summer. Moore, 20, and Rebels teammate Danielle Morin, came here at the advice of UNLV assistant Jennifer Klein, a former UA player.

Morin and Moore, both Southern California natives, are staying in spare rooms at Fernandez's house.

"We wanted to go somewhere and play together," she said. "I wanted to get an experience away from home. And I wanted to come somewhere that's hot, like Vegas."

At 15, Martin hopes to be in the same position one day. A player on the Rush's youth teams, Martin said she was told she "wouldn't play that much in games, but it was a good opportunity to train."

But she has played in games this season, alongside some players twice her age, despite being "definitely" overwhelmed.

"They're so much older and skilled," she said. "I'm planning on playing in college, and I talk to them about their games."

This season comes with a professional carrot at the end. As in 2002 and 2003 — when Tucson hosted another WPSL team, the Sonoran Thunder — players can take aim at a higher professional league.

Women's Professional Soccer will launch next spring, the first American league of its kind to sprout since the Women's United Soccer Association folded in 2003.

Nelson — a former three-year UA captain now working toward a master's degree in policy and management — would walk away from her current life to join the new league.

"We know what a great opportunity it is, with the full professional league coming back next fall," she said. "That's definitely the goal."

Today

• Who: Arizona Rush vs. Northern Arizona Cheetahs

• Where: Murphey Stadium

• When: 7 p.m.

• Tickets: $5 for adults, $3 for kids ages 6-17