A week ago, Bay FC had just two players on its roster: midfielder Alex Loera and outside back Caprice Dydasco.
After making five trades on Tuesday, the newest expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer League now has seven players.
Friday night, the club will get another chance to bolster its lineup when the league’s expansion draft kicks off at 4 p.m. PT. It will be aired live on CBS Sports Network.
It will be the first draft for general manager Lucy Rushton, who was previously the general manager for D.C. United of Major League Soccer.
Learning the rules of the NWSL after coming from MLS “wasn’t easy,” Rushton said.
“The biggest thing was learning the quality and level of the women’s game,” she said. “That for me was the thing that took more time and I had to immerse myself in the game and watch and watch to make sure I understood the quality of a player, the value of a player, what does a transfer fee look like and what does a salary look like. Those are the things that are completely different from the mens’ game.”
Bay FC has the first pick in the expansion draft, which has been controversial because of the way teams have traded around it this week.
Bay FC made deals with eight of 12 teams in the NWSL who were willing to trade in exchange for protection from the expansion draft. There are only four teams remaining for Bay FC to make picks from in the 12-round draft on Friday, and no team can lose more than two players, meaning Bay FC might not make too many picks.
The Bay Area club, which will kick off its inaugural season at PayPal Park in March, has the first overall pick and the Utah Royals, the other expansion team, will go next.
The other 12 clubs were permitted to protect a total of nine players, and they can protect an additional player after the first expansion team selects a player from its roster. Teams had to submit their protected player lists on Tuesday, which signaled a flurry of last-second trade activity involving teams trying to acquire protection in the draft.
Bay FC was able to make out with some big scores, including five players via trade in Loera (KC Current), Joelle Anderson (Houston Dash), Dorian Bailey (Washington Spirit), Scarlett Camberos (Angel City), Ellie Jean (Gotham FC), and Emily Menges (Portland Thorns).
They also received additional picks (No. 8, No. 28, No. 34 and No. 42) in the college draft that will take place on Jan. 12.
The only four teams that did not acquire protection from Bay FC are the Chicago Red Stars, NC Courage, OL Reign and San Diego Wave.
Rushton and some of her coaches have been traveling the world this offseason looking to lure some of the game’s brightest stars to the Bay Area. Newly-hired goalkeeper coach Diego Restrepo, who Rushton worked with at D.C. United, has been scouting goalies in Europe for the past month.
“We are down to eight goalkeepers from the top 10,” he said by phone last week. “A couple have said they want to come. It’s a dilemma to see which one we’re going to pick. It’s going to be a big name. It’s good for us, good for the league, good to start off properly.
“We’re prioritizing the goalkeeping position to be an older and more experienced player.”
Bay FC also announced its entire coaching staff on Thursday. Head coach Albertin Montoya, the longtime technical director at Mountain View Los Altos, has been on board since September. Former Kansas City Current head coach Matt Potter was hired as the technical director this week.
Jason Goodson, who has been coaching since 1996, and Angela Salem, a former NWSL MVP finalist with Portland who retired after the 2021 season, were hired as assistant coaches.
Building a team from scratch “is a huge jigsaw puzzle,” Montoya said. “It’s constantly evolving and changing. But I can’t wait till I’m on the field. That’s where I’m in heaven.”