The Vine Is Where Women's Soccer Takes Center Stage
Women's soccer is no longer on the sidelines of the soccer conversation, it is helping lead it.
From record breaking NWSL audiences to historic NCAA attendance, from grassroots clubs and high school programs to the college game, professional leagues, and the global stage, the women's game is growing at every level. The Vine exists to tell that story.
The Vine is the SDH Network's home for women's soccer, connecting fans to the players, teams, stories, and moments shaping the game from the grassroots to the highest levels. Our coverage spans Atlanta and beyond, shining a light on the women building the future of soccer in our communities, across the country, and around the world.
For too long, women's soccer was treated as secondary. We believe it deserves to be covered with the same passion, credibility, consistency, and depth as every other part of the game.
Leading the creation of The Vine is deeply personal to me. Women's soccer was where I found some of my first opportunities in broadcasting, and it played a defining role in helping me find my voice in this industry. SDH gave me the platform to grow, develop, and become the professional I am today, and it showed me the impact that comes from giving women the space and opportunity to be heard.
The Vine is my opportunity to help create that same space for the women's game. To amplify the voices of the players, coaches, broadcasters, and people who make women's soccer what it is. To tell the stories that deserve to be told, celebrate the moments that move the game forward, and shine a light on everything in between.
Like the SDH Network as a whole, The Vine is built on trust, context, and connection. We want fans to come to us for the latest news, stay for the stories behind it, and return for the conversations that make the game matter.
The Vine is where women's soccer takes center stage.
Through the Lens
Amplifying voices means more than covering the players on the field. It means making room for the people building the women's game from behind the camera, in the stands, and everywhere in between. Two of them are Sofia Cupertino and Agustina Noriega.
Sofia Cupertino is SDH's Chief Creative Officer and primary photographer, and she contributes coverage of Atlanta United, Kennesaw State, Georgia Revolution, and college and high school soccer. She drives SDH's creative direction, including the branding, visual storytelling, and design that shapes the network's public identity. Soccer has been part of her life for as long as she can remember, first as a player, then, after she stepped away from the game, as the photographer who found her way back to it. Here, in her own words, is how it made her who she is.
I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't have soccer. I grew up playing for almost ten years, until COVID took it away from me. Before that, I was a pretty timid kid. I had a good number of friends, but I never went out of my way to talk to people, and I wasn't very confident. My dad always told me he wanted me to be kind, confident, and respectful. The kind and respectful parts always came easily to me. Confidence was the one I struggled with.
In high school, I was asked to be captain of my club team, and that's what pulled me out of my comfort zone. It was the result of years of being told to talk on the pitch, of getting to know my teammates, of just being around the game that long. But it was stepping up to be captain that actually broke me out of the timid, scared bubble I had been living in. I became loud and commanding, and still respectful, just not quiet about it anymore.
That shift made me think seriously about the kind of person I wanted to be, especially going through high school while also dealing with COVID and a year spent mostly in the house. You have a lot of time to think about who you are and who you want to become when your life narrows down like that. When I quit soccer, I felt like I lost something. There was a hole in me, and at the time I didn't even know what it was.
By my senior year of high school, I went back to soccer, but this time I wasn't playing. I was photographing it. That day I picked up a camera and went out to a game changed my life, because up until then I didn't know who I was or what I wanted to do. I was heading into college, and it was a scary time. I felt like I was losing control. I was only eighteen, but it felt like my life was getting away from me, and I was sure everybody else already knew what they wanted to do with theirs.
Then I got to college and started photographing at a higher level, with Atlanta United, and it snowballed into constant work. But it wasn't just work. It was fun. That's when I realized this is what I want for my life. There's a feeling of being out on a soccer pitch that I can't fully describe, a feeling of belonging that I haven't felt in any classroom or job. I know soccer is where I'm supposed to be. I can't explain how it made me who I am, because I'm not who I am without it.
It helped me as a kid make friends, get out of my comfort zone, and have something to look forward to. As an adult, it's done the same thing all over again. It's helped me make friends, get out of my comfort zone, and given me incredible opportunities. Soccer is part of who I am, and without it, I don't feel complete. I thank soccer for giving me the confidence to chase my dreams and do what I love.
A Family Language
If soccer gave Sofia a way back to herself, it gave Agustina Noriega a way to stay close to where she's from. Agustina is a rising junior at the University of Georgia from Alpharetta, Georgia, studying Journalism and Economics. She contributes photography and photo essays to SDH's coverage of Georgia Bulldogs soccer, including the record crowd at Sanford Stadium this August. On campus, she serves as a Homecoming Ambassador, shoots for the Pandora yearbook photography staff, and interns with the UGA Women's Ice Hockey team.
Soccer is the game that began my love for sports. I started playing at four years old in my local recreation league and kept playing all the way through my junior year of high school. It was huge in my family. Both my dad and my brother played too. If I walked downstairs on a weekend, the TV was already on, tuned to whatever Premier League or LaLiga game was playing. Being Argentinian American, I was raised around soccer because of how deeply it's woven into the culture.
Whenever we visited family in Argentina, soccer was one of the things that brought us together. My cousins and I played every day, no matter where we were, as long as we had a ball. Even on Christmas Eve, in the middle of celebrating, there was always time set aside for the family to split into teams and play. It's the sport everyone in Argentina seems to have been born knowing how to play, which shows just how ingrained it is in the culture. The game gave me a way to feel closer to my heritage and closer to my family.
Soccer changed my future too. It gave me my love for sports. Growing up and watching the passion Argentinians bring to the World Cup instilled that same passion in me. I learned how impactful the game can be on a person's life, and I saw firsthand how soccer has the power to bring hope to an entire nation. It can make people feel a whole range of emotions, and that's what began my fascination with sports, and with trying to capture everything that comes with them.
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