History in The Making
Photography by: Lorena Barros
Bay FC didn’t have the entire squad together at training until the middle of its season-opening match week. But — for good reason.
The new NWSL expansion club welcomed a couple of its buzzworthy signings from international duty in the days leading up to its first-ever win in its first-ever match, against in-state rivals Angel City FC.
“I mean, this is seven weeks, eight weeks together,” Bay FC defender Caprice Dydasco said after the match. “This is only a building block.
“We're only gonna go up from here, but I'm just really happy how we came out. We had internationals just join us literally this past Tuesday… And this is like something that I'm just super proud of, that mentality out there and [to] play with heart, you can't teach that.”
Safe to say that, despite the short lead-up, the Bay Area club will be happy heading back up the West Coast after closing out the opening weekend of the 2024 NWSL season with a 1-0 win.
By attacking statistics, Angel City will regret not grabbing points from the close match, which was a fitting final chorus for the season’s opening song, for three reasons.
International stars add new flair to the NWSL landscape
In the seventeenth minute of Sunday’s match in Los Angeles, Bay FC forward Asisat Oshoala silenced the rocking BMO Stadium as her first shot in the league became her first goal. (First of many, we assume, as Oshoala is a safe pick for Golden Boot candidate.) Tess Boade picked off an Angel City pass and fed the ball to Oshoala, whose one-touch shot from the edge of the eighteen arced into the net and put Bay FC up, 1-0.
Oshoala celebrated the club’s first-ever goal with a golf-club-swinging celebration, and her teammates’ gazes followed her invisible ball up into the stands.
“My career has always been about making history, and I am very happy to be a part of the history at this club,” Oshoala said.
The Nigerian forward signed with Bay FC from Barcelona, where she won four Liga F titles and two Champions League trophies. The six-time African Player of the Year wasn’t the only noteworthy international signing that the club enticed to the league.
Venezuelan forward Deyna Castellanos crossed the pond from Manchester City and started for Bay FC on Sunday. Though they’ve yet to make their NWSL debuts, Scottish defender Jen Beattie joined from Arsenal; young Ghanaian forward Princess made the leap from Danish club FC Nordsjælland. Zambian forward Racheal Kundananji transferred to Bay FC from Liga F’s Madrid CFF for a record-breaking $788,000 fee — the highest in women’s soccer history.
“As you see the league grow and become more of a powerhouse and starting to contend with the rest of the world in terms of what their investment is here — you're starting to see that in the women's side — I think you're just going to continue to get better and better players from overseas that will come in and elevate [the league],” Angel City defender Merritt Mathias said.
In goal against Angel City, Canadian keeper Lysianne Proulx made eight saves — tied for the most in an NWSL debut, after she signed with Bay FC from Australian club Melbourne City. Prior to match day, Proulx wasn’t revealed or widely assumed as Bay’s starter in net, either. She snuffed out an Angel City attack that generated 18 shots (to Bay’s eight), 19 crosses (to Bay’s 11) and 12 corners (to Bay’s four) but couldn’t find the back of the net.
“She's also very good with her feet, and she's calm and composed. She reads the game well,” Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya said of Proulx’s performance. “My hat's off to her; she was excellent.”
Proulx’s 35th-minute save, diving right to parry away a close-range shot from Meggie Doughtery-Howard, earned groans from the Angel City home crowd. She put on a similar clinic in the second half, with 2021 NWSL Defender of the Year Dydasco chipping in with a goal-line clearance in stoppage time.
“I think we kind of beat ourselves [this match],” said Mathias, an NWSL veteran making her club debut after over a year out injured. I think we had a bunch of opportunities to either tie the game up and go ahead, and I think it's just [a matter of] being ruthless.”
While Bay FC might top the league in the sheer number of players signed from international leagues, the club wasn’t alone in looking overseas for talent. The Thursday before the NWSL season kicked off, commissioner Jessica Berman confirmed that the league was upping the number of international roster spots for each club, from five to seven. The team salary cap had already doubled from 2023, opening the door for more high-bill talent.
Midfielder Jessie Fleming — of Canadian and Chelsea fame — moved to Portland. South Africa’s Linda Motlhalo returned to the NWSL with Racing Louisville. German defender Maxi Rall strengthened Chicago’s back line in a move from FC Bayern Munich; ditto for Feli Rauch, jumping from VfL Wolfsburg to the North Carolina Courage. South Korea’s Ji-So Yun joined Seattle, and Bia Zaneratto reunited with Brazilian teammates in Kansas City. Africa’s all-time leading Olympic goal scorer, Zambian forward Barbra Banda, joined a Brazilian contingent at “Orlando de Janeiro” for a staggering $788,000 transfer fee.
These new international signings — a non-exhaustive list, some which said hello to the league this weekend, and some yet to debut — offer new matchups for NWSL veterans. Angel City’s Player of the Match, centerback Sarah Gorden, has been in the league since 2016. Since, she’s earned NWSL Best XI honors and a Defender of the Year finalist nod. Oshoala is a new challenge, and besides the game-winning goal, Gorden was able to keep Oshoala quiet in the attack for the remainder of the match.
“Oshoala is a top number nine in the world,” Angel City captain Ali Riley said after the match. “You saw some great defensive skill from our center backs tonight.”
Young talent makes its mark
The night before Angel City hosted Bay FC, 17-year-old midfielder Kennedy Fuller got word she’d be starting in her NWSL debut the next day.
“I wouldn't have been able to get the courage and all that without my teammates. Before the game, I had a bunch of pats on the back and “Let’s go’s,” which really helped,” Fuller said. She said she was nervous, just “a little bit. But that's good. If you're not nervous, I don't think you care enough.”
Fuller played a physical 92 minutes in her debut, won four of her five ground duels and led the team with three chances created, alongside forward Claire Emslie.
“She doesn’t play like she’s 17,” said Angel City head coach Becki Tweed. “She’s not fazed by anything.”
This offseason, the U.S. youth national team star opted out of playing college soccer at storied powerhouse University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to go pro with Angel City via the league’s U18 entry mechanism.
“Having to tell [UNC] was probably one of the hardest parts,” Fuller said. “They supported me and they've conferenced me throughout everything.”
Another former UNC commit, Portland’s Olivia Moultrie, spearheaded a youth movement when she sued the league for the right to play at age 15. Now 18, Moultrie is one of many young players shaking up the league and opting out of college ball. In Kansas City’s 5-4 win over Portland on Saturday, 16-year-old Alex Pfeiffer became the youngest goal scorer in NWSL regular-season history.
Last season, Ali Riley posted a viral TikTok poking fun at the differences between the training warmup routine necessary for her now 36-year-old body and that of teammate Alyssa Thompson, now 19. Riley will have plenty of young teammates to poke fun at this year. Fuller, yes, but also forward Casey Phair, who became the youngest-ever player to feature in a Women’s World Cup when she took the field for South Korea last summer.
Sisters Gisele and Alyssa Thompson are jersey “number neighbors:” 20 and 21. They’re also both younger than their jersey numbers, 18 and 19 respectively. Alyssa featured on the United States’ 2023 Women’s World Cup roster the summer after graduating high school and went straight to the pros with Angel City. Her sister, Gisele, followed in her footsteps this season.
“It was really hard to make the decision, because obviously Stanford was always our choice. When we were little kids, we never thought going pro was a choice for us. Having that option and seeing what Alyssa was going through helped me make my decision easier to go pro,” Thompson said.
Alyssa subbed out for Gisele in the 82nd minute of Sunday’s match — A. Thompson for G. Thompson on the back of the jerseys. The pair became the first sisters to feature for the same NWSL team.
Despite the signature speed that Alyssa brought to Angel City’s wide spaces, the hosts couldn’t capitalize on balls served into the six throughout the match. Emslie attempted 19 crosses, and defender M.A. Vignola had several low balls driven right across the face of goal without a finish to put Angel City on the board.
Outside back Savy King — Bay FC’s top college draft pick after one season at UNC — battled 1v1 with Thompson throughout the match.
“[King was] world class,” Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya said. “She's got the pace to keep up with anyone in the world.”
In the second half, King’s tumbling fall in the eighteen, pressured by Thompson, had Angel City fans chanting “V-A-R,” as replays showed King’s arm coming in contact with the ball. No dice, no penalty, and King got the shutout in her first NWSL start.
Former players, new rivalries rise in the league
As former pro players and Bay FC founders Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton, Brandi Chastain and Leslie Osborne walked into BMO Stadium for the first match in their club history, they shouted “You’re going down!” to Angel City fans.
The young San Diego Wave and Angel City FC rivalry is undeniable: Southern California neighbors, 2022 expansion clubs, high attendance numbers for both teams. But now, Bay FC has been added to the Cali mix.
“One of our goals for the year was to win the state,” ACFC’s Mathias said. “We have a little making up to do, but anytime that you can create a rivalry and create a buzz around it, I think the fans love it. America loves a rivalry.”
The new Bay Area club offers another budding rivalry with plenty of intercity connections, with traditional soccer college powerhouses UCLA and USC in LA and Santa Clara and Stanford up the coast tying players to each city. Dydasco went to college at UCLA, then dashed the hopes of a draw for her college-city pro team with that stoppage-time goal-line clearance for Bay FC.
“Just being back in LA, the crowds are amazing,” Dydasco said. “You dream of that for women's sports, and just to get a win in this environment is amazing.”
The Bay FC founders also represent a group of former pro players getting involved in clubs at the administrative and coaching levels. Angel City has a long list of former pros as founding members, including Julie Foudy and Mia Hamm. Amy Rodriguez became the first former NWSL player to serve as head coach of a club when it was announced she’d be leading the expansion Utah Royals club this year. Bev Yanez became the second former player to earn that honor at Racing Louisville.
Between these familiar faces in new roles — and the success of former pro Yael Averbuch as the general manager of defending champs NY/NJ Gotham FC — legendary players are getting the chance to form fresh rivalries with new teams, new international signings, new homes for veteran players and new young talent.
Photography by: Lorena Barros
