Summit set for temporary home launch, Lindsey Heaps debut

Fourteen years, two continents, a World Cup ring, an Olympic gold medal and 178 caps for the red, white and blue.

On Saturday, Lindsey Heaps plays for her home team for the first time.

The United States women’s national team’s (USWNT) captain and Golden native is expected to make her Denver Summit FC debut when the expansion club opens Centennial Stadium against the Portland Thorns at noon (CBS, Paramount+). It’s a double-christening: the franchise’s first match inside the purpose-built venue it will call home through 2027, and the long-awaited arrival of the biggest name on the club’s roster.

“I’m waking up and getting on I-25 to go to training, which is a highway I would take all the time as a little kid to go play club soccer,” Heaps told ESPN. “It’s so bizarre to me.”

The storyline gets better. Heaps’ first opponent back in the States? Her old club. She won the 2017 NWSL Championship with Portland, scored the title-clinching goal and took home MVP honors that season. Now she lines up against the Thorns (8-3-4), one of the league’s best who are led by fellow Colorado USWNT star Sophia Wilson (Smith), while the Summit (4-4-5) try to claw into the playoff picture.

Heaps, 32, signed a pre-contract with Denver back in January but had to wrap up her stint with French powerhouse OL Lyonnes before joining full time.

She watched from the stands two weeks ago when the Summit fell 3-0 to Kansas City at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, then reported to the CommonSpirit Performance Center the next morning.

“Everything they’ve done for an expansion team is incredible,” Heaps told the NWSL broadcast crew. “They’re doing everything the right way. I hope I can bring experience, leadership, and help the team improve. … I’ll do everything I possibly can to put us in that playoff picture.”

Beyond Heaps, Saturday marks the Summit planting a flag in Centennial — literally. The club’s temporary stadium sits adjacent to its new training facility and was built as a joint project with Cherry Creek School District at a cost of roughly $25 million. When the planned $150 million permanent stadium in Denver’s Baker neighborhood opens in 2028, the Centennial venue gets handed over to the district.

The Summit drew about 63,000 to their franchise opener at Empower Field back in March and have bounced around Dick’s Sporting Goods Park since.

Speaking of finding home. For Heaps, Saturday is less about logistics and more about a circle finally closing. She left Colorado at 18 in 2012, becoming the first American woman to skip college and sign professionally overseas out of high school.

Denver, your star midfielder is home.

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