“It’s been rough watching the team,” she says. “It’s going to get even tougher once we get into the playoffs and I’m going to want to be out there.”

   Cozzo isn’t alone. There are other moms who play. The roster is filled with women who balance family and professional lives outside of the sport. The league doesn’t pay most to play, so many work, some in other states. In fact, the league that the Passion plays in, the IWFL, requires teams to pay a fee. Chelsea Zahn, the team’s marketing and special events coordinator, says that many of the players find sponsorships to help cover the fee. Without the big-time television contracts and ticket sales of the NFL, it’s an essential component to team operations.  

   Riley was living in Pittsburgh when she joined the team, but now commutes from Ohio to practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as to games on weekends. Local players, too, can have a hard time balancing a work schedule, practices, games, and still finding time to work out on their own. The team doesn’t have a gym, so it’s up to them to search out their own. It’s an essential part to the sport, too, since not working out can not only impact play but also result in injuries.

   Julia Rawlings, who works with players through UPMC Sports Medicine, says that, for the most part, the injuries she sees aren’t from contact but players not being in good enough shape. She says she sees primarily knee injuries, and in particular ACL tears.

   “The better shape you’re in, the less you’re going to get hurt,” she says.

   Injured players are also on their own as far as health and disability insurance goes, though they do get to take advantage of trainers like Rawlings. Zahn says that the same entity they partner with handles the Pittsburgh Steelers and Penguins. She says that most players use a combination of their own insurance and team trainers.

   In the winter, the team practices at an indoor facility in Monroeville from 9 p.m. to midnight. That means after getting home at 1 a.m. on a Tuesday, many players still have to get up and go to work in the morning.

   “Sometimes you’re like, oh my God, it’s Tuesday at 1 a.m. and I just got done with practice and I have to get up to work in the morning,” says Cozzo, who works as a pet groomer.

   She says, though, that she acclimates to the schedule.

   “It can definitely be difficult balancing everything, between practice and activities,” says Nelko, who works in environmental compliance for an oil and gas operator.

   Riley says that the commitment players made to each other is what keeps them coming back.

   “It’s definitely worth it,” she says.

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   Despite the multitude of backgrounds, the long hours, no pay, and everything else thrown at female football players, this team at least, as of this writing, stands on the verge of competing for a national championship. On June 28, the team pummeled undefeated Mid-Atlantic Division rival Keystone Assault, 46-12, for a tiebreaker that put them in the league’s semi-finals. If they win their next game July 12 against the New York Sharks at Cupples Stadium on the South Side, they’ll play the western conference champion for the national championship.

   Players attribute that success not just to team chemistry but also coaching and veteran leadership. It’s what has helped transform players with limited knowledge of the sport into professionals. Hutchinson says that coaching women, many of whom come on the team with a blank slate, actually has its advantages.

   “Coaching women is definitely easier than coaching men,” says Hutchinson, who before coming to the Passion coached a semi-professional team in Germany, at Kiski Area School District, and for some youth leagues.

   “They haven’t picked up a lot of the bad habits we have,” he says, meaning longtime players. “I try to keep everything basic. Good, basic fundamentals. That’s why they’re so good.” 

   Last year, Hutchinson started implementing a two-down system and subbing in less experienced players like Nelko for third and fourth downs. That, coupled with good, basic fundamentals, he attributes to the dominance of this year’s defense. In the regular season, the team didn’t allow more than six points in a single game. The 12 it gave up in the first round of the playoffs was the most it had given up all season. On the entire season, at the time of this writing, the team has outscored opponents 320-36.

   For Cozzo, she says the biggest part of adjusting to football was learning to run full speed at another player. It’s something that disregards a certain amount of personal safety, but is entirely necessary for a corner who needs to separate a receiver from the ball as they’re crossing over the middle, or wrap one up on the sidelines before they can break out for a long run.

   For Riley, she says the game was easy to learn but is proving difficult to master.

   “I can break down a route tree in five minutes but all the intricacies are definitely second level,” she says. “There’s definitely a learning curve.”

   When Riley first came on the team last year, she played special teams and safety. This year, she’s been backing up at tight end. In the next to the last game of the season, she caught her first pass as a professional football player - a 13-yard grab that moved her team down to the one-yard line. 

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   “Women’s football is nothing new,” says Zahn. “There were a lot of women’s teams in the 1970s, but then with the popularity of the NFL it died off for a few decades.”

   As it has reemerged, Zahn attributes the Passion’s success in part to team partnerships and sponsors. In 2011, former Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris became part owner of the team, and last year, it arranged for the Women’s Football Association to play their championship game at Heinz Field. The team at that time played in the league, and though the Passion were not competing for a championship, it was the first time a women’s football game had played on the field.

   As the team has continued to break new ground and make inroads with fans, it continues to attract players to tryouts each year. Women’s football isn’t for all of them, but for those who make the commitment, it provides something that was missing in their lives.