By Charlie Pike
From our May 2025 issue
Long before the Portland Hearts of Pine, Maine’s first professional soccer club, kicked off its inaugural season in March, fans were showing their love. Last fall, 4,500 folks put down deposits on season tickets, a record for a League One team in the United Soccer League, the third-tier division in which the Hearts compete. In November, 1,708 fans packed Portland’s State Theatre for the reveal of the club’s jersey, featuring wide green and blue stripes meant to represent woods and water. To date, the franchise has sold thousands of jerseys, and shipped merch, including hats, T-shirts, and hoodies, to 48 states. We took the pulse of the fledgling team.
1. FOUNDER
Portlander Gabe Hoffman-Johnson was a two-time All-American forward at Falmouth High School and captain of the Dartmouth men’s soccer team, who played briefly in the United Soccer League before sustaining a career-ending back injury. When USL launched its League One division tailored to mid-size cities, in 2019, Hoffman-Johnson formed an investor group to help bring a club to Portland.
2. COACH
Bobby Murphy’s first head-coaching gig was at the University of Southern Maine, back in 1999. He went on to coach teams all over the country, including one in the premier Major League Soccer division. Last year, he left the St. Louis City 2 club to take the top job with the Hearts, saying the opportunity “to build something from scratch . . . that is about as satisfying a job as I could find.”
3. HOMETOWN HERO
Last December, 100 players showed up for a Mainers-only tryout for the Hearts. Eighteen advanced to a second tryout, where they competed against athletes from around the world. Lewiston-raised midfielder Khalid Hersi, who played for the University of Southern Maine and on semi-pro teams, was named the combine’s MVP and became the first Mainer to sign with the Hearts.
4. FIELD
The Hearts have poured more than $2.5 million into renovating city-owned Fitzpatrick Stadium in advance of the club’s first home game, on May 4, 2025. Upgrades include new artificial turf, lighting, modular locker rooms, and a refurbished press box. The decision not to include permanent lines for the multiple sports played on the field or reinstate the Portland High School Bulldog logo at midfield was initially a sticking point for city officials. Instead, the Hearts will use semi-permanent paint to draw lines for each sport.
5. COLLABS
The Maine Office of Tourism and L.L.Bean sponsored the Hearts’ inaugural jersey, and the club partnered with The Dempsey Center cancer nonprofit on a second heart-strewn jersey honoring the late Valentine’s Bandit, who papered Portland with hearts. The city’s Allagash Brewing Co. will create a special beer to sell during games, and Bissell Brothers has released a piney Hearts of Pine Pale Ale.
Graphic: Todd Dionne (Murphy); Pete Bissell (Hersi); Nicole Wolf (Hoffman-Johnson); courtesy of Portland Hearts of Pine (jerseys); courtesy of Bissell Brothers (beer); courtesy of the City of Portland (stadium).
