Background & History

The Chicago Tempest are a founding member of Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), based in the Chicago, Illinois. Following the announcement of WER in April 2024, the Chicago Tempest team name and logo were announced in January 2025 alongside the other 5 founding WER teams. In addition to the name and logo, the Chicago Tempest announced their ‘Foundational Five’, a group of 5 players that made up the team’s first signings. The Foundational Five for the Chicago Tempest can be found below.

Building on the foundation of the WPL’s Chicago North Shore, The Tempest played their first ever professional game on 23rd March, 2025 against their Midwest rivals, the TC Gemini. The Tempest struggled during WER’s inaugural season, which was not helped when head coach Bryan Colbridge stepped down for personal reasons just 1 month into the season. Despite coming close a number of times, they finished the campaign in 6th place with a winless 0-10 record and only 2pts in the standings, 15pts behind the 5th placed TC Gemini. The following season saw improvement for the Tempest, although only marginally. They picked up their first franchise victory against the Boston Banshees in Round 2 but this would be their only win of the 2026 season despite coming close in their rematch against the Breakers in Round 9, as well as their clash with New York in Round 8. The Chicago Tempest finished 6th again in 2026 with a 1-9 record and 8pts in total, ending their second season far closer to the pack, just 5pts behind the Banshees in 5th place rather than 15pts adrift in 2025. The Tempest have earned that taste of victory, and the same level of improvement again should have them in the win column a few more times in 2027.

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Foundational Five

• Anabel Diaz
• Emma Farnan
• Keki Jordan
• Betty Nguyen
• Kadie Sanford

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records & Record Holders

All-Time:

Top Scorer: Nicole Fisch (40pts)
Top Try Scorer: Gracie Anderson (7)
Most Appearances: Nicole Fisch (18)
Most Starts: Nicole Fisch (17)

Single Season:

Top Scorer: Gracie Anderson (35pts – 2026)
Top Try Scorer: Gracie Anderson (7 – 2026)

Historical Performance

2025: 0-10 (-325) – 2pts: 6th
2026: 1-9 (-291) – 8pts: 6th

Overall Regular Season Record: 1-19
Overall Legacy Cup Record: N/A
Legacy Cup Appearances: 0

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Head Coach & Captain

Head Coach:

• Bryan Colbridge (March-April 2025)
• Kristin Zdanzewicz (2025-2026)

Captain:

• Ilene Andrade (2025)
• Nicole Fisch / Katie Lohaus (2026)

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Logo

All of the WER logos and branding for the league’s inaugural season were co-designed by the league and British advertising agency MATTA. They were unveiled in January 2025. The Chicago Tempest logo ties in the extreme weather of the ‘Windy City’, with a crest featuring a storm circling the iconic Willis Tower as lighting strikes the antennae. The logo fits well for a midwestern team while also paying homage to the city of Chicago, and predicts the oncoming storm on the field.

VEnue

For their inaugural season, the Chicago Tempest played their home games at the 12,000 seat Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium within the campus of Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. They shared this grass stadium with the Northwestern Wildcats NCAA lacrosse, men’s & women’s soccer, and football teams. Following the inaugural 2025 campaign, the Tempest relocated to the village of Lisle between Chicago and Naperville, and played out of the Benedictine University Sports Complex, which boasted a 3,000 seater artificial surface. A more appropriatly sized stadium for the fledgling WER franchise.