This was supposed to be a breakthrough season for the Spokane Shine Women's Premier Soccer League team this summer.

Instead, they're just broken.

THE SHINE, limited by a lack of players and funds to travel, had to forfeit a road trip in June to Oregon and were later kicked out of the league.

Whitney Wood, a 2011 graduate of Coeur d'Alene High, was a center midfielder for the Shine the past two seasons. The Shine was founded in 2010 and played home games at Joe Albi Stadium in Spokane, and at Spokane Falls Community College.

Last year, the Shine finished the season 6-2-2 and won the Northwest Division championship. But due to injuries and costs of transporting an incomplete roster to San Diego, the team did not compete in the playoffs.

Jason Quintero coached the team in 2011 and 2012, but resigned a few months before the 2013 season started to become the director of coaching for Moscow United - a youth club team in the Moscow/Lewiston area.

QUINTERO COACHED the Shine in 2011 and 2012 after coaching the Spokane Black Widows in 2010. In 2011, the Shine went 6-5-1 and finished second. He was also the director of FC Spokane.

"It was a really difficult decision to leave both the Spokane Shine and FC Spokane," Quintero said. "But ultimately, I was really excited about the opportunity for a new challenge. To field a high level, very competitive WPSL team, it's a full time job, but without the full time pay. So basically, I had two full time jobs, and was getting worn very thin."

The Shine were developed in 2012 after the demise of the Black Widows the previous year.

A growing family also took its toll on Quintero as he and his wife welcomed their first child last year.

"The 14 hour days during the summers were tough," Quintero said. "Even before you add the grueling road trips that every minor league

athlete and coach know all too well about. But it was also very rewarding to win the division with a very fine group of top level athletes in the women's game. I had a great experience coaching the team and it was a fun chapter in my life."

He was replaced with Dan Philp, who coached the Spokane Spiders men's soccer team after they moved to the Premier Development League in 2007.

At the beginning of the season, the Shine had numerous players show up for tryouts. Once the season got started, only 10 showed up for the games, leaving the team to play one or two down.

AFTER GOING 0-10-0 to start the season, the Shine was kicked out of the league, according to a report by Goalwa.net.

"We were told that we weren't going to Oregon after our last game before that trip," Wood said. "We weren't told why or that we were forfeiting - so it definitely came out of nowhere."

Players were unable to transfer to other teams due to it being late in the season.

"I'm guessing we had financial issues according to an odd text we got from our coach saying the Shine will be no more until we get new owners and probably change our name," Wood said. "Because of that, we didn't have money to hold practices for the Shine anymore."

According to the same report in Goal.wa.net, the Shine could be allowed back into the league in 2014, but it will be under new a new owner and team name. Linda Davis was owner/executive director of the Shine the past two years.

"The Shine started as a community effort to field a team and bring in athletes during the summer in one of the biggest soccer leagues in the world," Davis said. "The community and advisory board worked hard to put together a team and support the team, and in the end, it wasn't enough. We were determined not to rack up debt and just couldn't get the financial support we needed. We've got some fans that have some sorrow it's gone, but there's a certain amount of income you need to have to keep them on the road. We had some remarkable people that kept it going in so many ways, but it just wasn't enough. They were all volunteer and all about the girls trying to get this to go, but in the end, it just didn't work."

Wood will be a junior midfielder at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa in the fall.

"It was sad that it had to end because I really enjoyed the coaches and my new teammates," Wood said. "Our season definitely didn't reflect our capabilities, but I felt that our team had a strong bond and we all got along really well. I'm sad to see us have to end on such bad terms."

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d'Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com.