Hinchliffe Stadium will be home to NJ women's tackle football team Jersey Shore Wave

Hinchliffe Stadium will be home to NJ women’s tackle football team Jersey Shore Wave

Posted by author January 31, 2025 Football

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Hinchliffe Stadium in Paterson will be the home of the hard-hitting, tough-nosed football team Jersey Shore Wave, the newest franchise in the Women’s National Football Conference.

That’s tackle football and it promises to be a game changer for New Jersey women’s sports, said Jersey Shore Wave team owner Dawn Sherman, CEO and board chair of ProPharma Group.

This week the team announced its home field will be the historic stadium in Paterson situated atop the Great Falls of the Passaic River and part of the National Historical Park. Built in 1932, the stadium was shut down due to neglect in 1996 and reopened in 2023 after it was renovated.

Story continues below photo gallery.

“It is a personal ambition of mine to drive equity for women broadly,” Sherman said. “Owning a professional women’s tackle football team gives me the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the important role of women in sports.”

Sherman said she’s all in when it comes to the team and will fund much of the team’s travel expenses in its inaugural season.

She said the travel expenses of moving an entire team and all that goes with it will cost about $50,000 per game.

She said she knows it’s a risk, but she was intrigued when the WNFC founder Odessa Jenkins asked her to form a New Jersey-based team last May. By August, the Jersey Shore Wave had been created.

“It’s been off to the races since then,” she said.

Aggressively marketing and promoting the team and the league will hopefully fill the 10,000 seats at Hinchliffe Stadium, she said. In that scenario, at $20 a seat, ticket sales would bring in $200,000 for each game, she said.

“Hinchliffe has always been at the forefront of progress, and our partnership with the Wave will add to its storied history,” said Bryan Verhasselt, general manager at the Hinchliffe Property District.

“This partnership represents more than just a game,” said Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh. “It celebrates progress, equality and opportunity.”

When does season start?

On March 29, the Jersey Shore Wave will kick off their inaugural season when they head to the Second City to take on the Chicago Winds. It will be the first of six games.

Hinchliffe’s home opener is the following week, April 5, when the team hosts the Washington Prodigy.

The regular season ends on May 10 with a home game, and the playoffs start after Memorial Day. The finals, known as the Title IX Cup, are on the weekend of June 20-22.

Women’s tackle football history

Women’s semi-pro tackle football has been around since 1965 when the Women’s Professional Football League was founded. It ran until 1973, and since then, women’s full-contact football has seen a number of leagues.

While the WNFC has been around since 2019, there’s also the Women’s Football Alliance, which has almost 60 teams and was created in 2009. There’s also The Women’s Tackle Football League.

There are others, and as for the WNFC, the league has seen some teams come and go. There are currently 17 teams.

Teams like Jersey Shore Wave, Chicago Wind and Atlanta Truth are joining the conference this year, while others folded and franchises like the Alabama Fire joined the WFA and the North Florida Pumas joined the Women’s Tackle Football League.

Women’s tackle football league grows

The pool of talented women players is growing, Sherman said. The team’s roster shows a number of state players made the team in last fall’s tryouts.

North Jersey is represented on the team by several athletes, including Rutherford twins Jenna and Paige Goldsack who were accomplished freshmen football players for Rutherford High School. Paige was a softball standout in college and works as a firefighter in Hoboken. The twins will play the defensive line.

From Paterson, the Jersey Shore Wave acquired another civil servant and outstanding athlete in Monae Clancy, a local track star for Montclair State University and John F. Kennedy High School who works as a Paterson police officer. The roster lists her as a running back.

Woodland Park is also represented with Nicole Muccio, who played for the New York Wolves and is listed as a linebacker.

Wayne is also represented with Imani Thompson, who played soccer at Wayne Valley High School and Montclair State University. She is listed as a wideout.

In all, there are more than 60 players listed on the roster and most come from the tri-state area. They are currently practicing Saturday mornings in Waldwick’s Superdome, Sherman said, and in March will practice three times a week at Hinchliffe Stadium.

While Sherman, with the help of sponsors such as Adidas and Riddell, is paying the expenses, the players and many of the supporting staff are volunteers.

Jersey Shore Wave President Jared Ferko said he hopes that will soon change.

“One of our primary goals is to pay our players a living wage,” he said. “Everyone involved from players to owners, and everyone in between, believes in the potential of this league.”

Sherman said she is confident that with the planned promotions like tailgates before the games, the team will fill seats at Hinchliffe.

“Owning a professional women’s tackle football team gives me the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the important role of women in sports,” Sherman said. “General awareness, recognition, game attendance and pay all continue to lag behind sports played by men. It is time for all of this to change.”