SAN JOSE — The sun was shining on the cleanly cut grass at San Jose State University on Tuesday morning, as Bay FC began training on its home field for the very first time.
SJSU will be the practice home of the club for its inaugural season in the National Women’s Soccer League, which kicks off March 17 against Angel City in Los Angeles. Bay FC will play its home games at PayPal Park.
The team had 23 players take the practice field Tuesday, though a few were missing, notably Barcelona’s Asisat Oshoala and Madrid’s Racheal Kundananji, a pair of prolific scorers and two of the best players in Europe who will be joining the squad soon.
Until Tuesday, the club had been couch-hopping from place to place while practicing on three different training grounds in a hectic preseason that began in early February.
“We’re excited to be in Northern California, for the players to get settled in,” said head coach Albertin Montoya, the longtime club director at Mountain View Los Altos. “That’s really important. And for the coaching staff to get into their offices and get the lay of the land. Now we’ve got a great field here in San Jose State that we’re looking forward to playing on. We’re excited to get home and get started.”
Montoya began Tuesday’s training session by calling his team together and congratulating Scarlett Camberos, a former player with the Mexican women’s national team, on Mexico’s 2-0 victory over the United States in the CONCACAF Gold Cup on Monday. It was just the second time Mexico has beaten the U.S. women in 43 tries, and the first since 2010.
Montoya’s job will be to elevate the level of play of a talented roster that includes several players like Camberos, who have already been tested at the international level.
Historically, it’s been hard for expansion teams in the NWSL to make an immediate impact. The San Diego Wave is the only team to have been competitive in its first year as an expansion franchise.
But Bay FC has already invested heavily in its roster while luring several top players from Europe, including Kundananji, who commanded an estimated $789,000 transfer fee that set a new worldwide record for women’s soccer.
Deyna Castellanos, the captain of the Venezuela women’s national team and a proven goal-scorer who could operate out of an attacking midfield role for Bay FC, said the talented roster has big expectations.
“Winning the league, winning everything,” she said. “That’s the goal for all of us. We know it will be a hard year for us but we’re here to take the challenge. We like that.”
Bay FC players participate in a training session at the Bay FC training facility at San Jose State University on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
Montoya has been vocal about his desire to play a possession-heavy brand of soccer out of a 4-3-3 formation. General manager Lucy Rushton tried to recruit players who could fit. And through two preseason games, Bay FC out-possessed Angel City and San Diego, Montoya said.
“Preseason went really well for us,” he said. “We achieved what we wanted to do, getting the team to understand the way we want to possess the ball. And also controlling the tempo of the game as much as possible.”
Montoya wants to play out of the back with possession rather than using a more freestyle approach of clearing the ball up the field to escape danger.
“Obviously it’s a different style that most of the players are not used to,” Castellanos said. “But they’re getting what Albertin is asking from us. That’s something we wanted.”
Melissa Lowder, a former Santa Clara University standout competing to be the team’s starting goalie, said Montoya’s desire to play calmly out of the back has encouraged the players to solve problems.
“We were able to do that, build confidence playing out of the back under pressure in a real game scenario against a real opponent,” she said.
Bay FC will rely on some veteran center backs to control the tempo.
The club will likely deploy two-time NWSL champion Emily Menges, 31, and former Arsenal standout Jen Beattie, 32, to lead the squad from the back line, though Kayla Sharples, 26, has had a strong preseason and could push for playing time.
Savy King, the team’s first-round pick at No. 2 overall out of North Carolina, is transitioning from center back to left back, while veteran Caprice Dydasco is expected to play right back.
Positions have yet to be decided upon, however, as Montoya has made it a point to make every player earn their starting spot, no matter their pedigree.
“The coaches have really pushed us,” Lowder said. “We’ll be excited to show that to everybody.”
Montoya also wants his team to press high up the pitch to create quick counter-attacking opportunities.
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“That’s going to be part of our DNA, hunting the ball down, having a mentality of winning it back as soon as possible,” he said.
It’s the trendy way of playing the game at the highest levels across the world. The question is whether or not Bay FC will have enough time to get its fitness and chemistry right before their first match on March 17.
“The chemistry has been absolutely incredible,” Montoya said. “Now the challenge is going to be when these other players arrive, because we have some really good players coming in who will have an immediate impact.”
Bay FC will continue training at SJSU until leaving for Los Angeles ahead of its season opener. The club plans to open practices to the public at some point this season.
Bay FC player Deyna Castellanos talks to the media before a training session at the Bay FC training facility at San Jose State University on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2024, in San Jose, Calif. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)
