2024 NWSL Season Previews: Bay FC and Utah Royals
/We’re releasing team previews ahead of the NWSL season that kicks off on Saturday, March 16! Our first edition includes the league’s two newest expansion teams in Bay FC and Utah Royals. You can find all of our season previews here!
Bay FC: Setting the standard or just setting the table?
Breaking the global transfer record in women’s football, signing away key players from top European clubs, Bay FC certainly has not lacked ambition heading into their inaugural season. To guide them, the team selected Albertin Montoya, a staple of women’s soccer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Aiding Montoya in putting together this team is former DC United GM Lucy Rushton, known analytics aficionado assistant GM Austin Buchanan, and an analytics department headed up by ASA alum Arielle Dror. This group has come together to build a team of NWSL veterans, promising youth from the draft, and star power from some of the top clubs in Europe.
While there has been no stated goal for this inaugural season the overall positive vibes from the team, and the ambition from bringing in top talent, would point to being a competitive club right out of the gate. Getting into the expanded playoffs (eight of the 14 teams qualify) would be a solid benchmark for an expansion side. In the past few seasons the playoff line was around 32 points, so a move to the new 26 game season would translate to a 37-point season being the most likely number to target. The question is, how will they get there?
As head coach Montoya will be charged with taking this collection of talented women and molding them into an effective team. So what does his past tell us about how we should expect this team to look? He was head coach of the FC Gold Pride, the Bay Area team of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer league (WPS) and led them to the cup championship in 2010. Through his professional coaching career and the work of his youth club he has espoused a possession based system that is most similar to the current Barcelona Femini. This style of tactics will differentiate Bay from the rest of what has traditionally been a very transition heavy NWSL. Normally one would expect a touch of conservatism with a newly formed team but the overall roster selection would indicate that Montoya’s preferred style was front of mind.
Let’s break down how Bay FC will most likely line up based on Montoya’s preferred tactics and the talent available to him. The most likely formation will be something of a 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 setup where the expectation is for ball playing defenders to move the ball up the pitch either through the middle, connecting midfielders up to forwards, or along the flanks, connecting fullbacks up to wingers. Let’s look at a few of the most likely players that will fill out this starting XI to see how this could play out.
To kick this off from the back, Bay FC acquired Goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland (from NC Courage) to be their primary shot stopper. She’ll help the team stay clean at the back with her shotstopping and defending skills and provide reasonable groundwork for a possession based system with average passing. They also added Canadian international Lysianne Proulx, who had been plying her trade in Australia. We don’t have much on her, but she profiles like an aggressive shot stopper who struggles with crosses. Keep an eye on that battle.
Along the backline two players that will be key to the success are centerback Jen Beattie (acquired from Arsenal) and fullback Caprice Dydasco (from Houston Dash). In the center, Beattie is more of a ball-playing back who is strong in the air and excellent at passing. According to FBRef, her closest comparison in the NWSL is Abby Erceg from Racing Louisville. On the flanks, Dydasco is strong in defending and solid in passing/progressing the ball. These skills will allow Bay FC to potentially snuff out attacks but more important keep and move the ball forward.
In the midfield, the key players are holding midfielder Alex Loera (from Kansas City Current) and attacking midfielder Deyna Castellanos (from Manchester City). As the deepest midfielder Loera will be able to dictate the game with her top defending ability and her elite level passing. She’ll be able to win the ball and move it forward consistently. To connect all that possession to the attack Bay FC brought in Castellanos who has elite skills as both a creator and a shooter. The Venezuelan international began her career with three years as the main attacking force for the Florida State Seminoles before going pro and moving to Atletico Madrid in 2020. Her ability on the ball in the middle of the pitch will be a key component in Bay FCs ability to control the ball and create chances. According to FBRef. the closest NWSL comparison is Ashley Sanchez from NC Courage (previous Washington Spirit). Castellanos played a bunch of odd roles at Manchester City (Gareth Taylor, amiright?), so it will be interesting to see exactly how her skills are interpreted in the Bay.
On the forward line the two players being counted on to consistently get the ball into the back of the net are Asisat Oshoala (from Barcelona) and world-record transfer signing Racheal Kundananji (from Madrid CFF). They both combine elite level receiving skills with goal scoring metrics to match. Kundananji brings the added ability to defend well from the front while also progressing the ball via the dribble. From FBRef the comparables for the two read like a murderers row of the top strikers in Europe: Bunny Shaw, Sam Kerr, Ada Hegerberg, and Stina Blackstenius among them. Both show the underlying metrics to step into an NWSL lineup and put up numbers.
Top to bottom, this roster shows it has the talent to field a starting XI that could challenge from day one in NWSL. The progression, passing, shooting, and defending skills are all there to play a high possession system that will create chances and score goals. Given the time to gel they could potentially be ready to make some serious noise come playoff time. The real question is do they have the depth to weather a full season of high intensity NWSL action? While there are plenty of experienced players to fill out the XI and even some promising young signings in defender Savy King and forward Princess Marfo it may not be enough. Only time will tell if this roster Bay FC have collected is enough to make some noise in this inaugural season. We’ll just have to wait until March 17th to see if they can buck the trend of expansion teams missing the playoffs or if they join the San Diego Wave in shocking the league.
Welcome to BYUtah
By J.J. Post
Is there a team in the league that enters 2024 with a more open-ended outlook than the Utah Royals?
Their manager, USWNT icon Amy Rodriguez, will be in her first year of leading a team, so the style of play largely remains unknown outside of a few core tenets. The squad is young – there wasn’t a single player on the team’s initial preseason roster over the age of 30.
We don’t even have a prior season to evaluate or analyze because, if you happened to fall into a coma sometime around December 2020, the Royals are now back after a three season hiatus of existence. So let’s talk about the knowns and the unknowns.
The honorary BYU grads
The average age of the Utah roster may be low, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a squad that lacks experience. Ifeoma Onumonu, for instance, is a league veteran who played a key role in Gotham’s development over the past several seasons. Onumonu has 15 goals and eight assists to her name over the last five NWSL seasons, and the Royals will be hoping that a change of scenery will be beneficial for the forward who saw her minutes dwindle last season in Harrison.
Also joining Utah following a move from Gotham is another potential cornerstone veteran, Imani Dorsey. Dorsey stepped away from soccer in 2023 to focus on her mental health, but brings to Utah over 7,000 minutes worth of professional reps since being taken fifth overall in the 2018 NWSL Draft. Another player to keep an eye on is Michele Vasconcelos, who holds the distinction of being the first free agent the Royals signed following their return to the league. Vasconcelos is a Utah native who was with the old Royals franchise in their last season before moving to Kansas City. The BYU alum enjoyed her most active year in the NWSL since her rookie campaign last season, totaling 17 appearances across league and Challenge Cup play.
An important name to keep an eye on in defense will likely be Addisyn Merrick, who comes over from the Kansas City Current. Now with four seasons under her belt, Merrick’s profile has steadily grown with each year she’s been a pro. After earning just two league starts in two years with Racing Louisville, Merrick amassed five in 2022 and seven in 2023 with the Current. She proved a hub of defensive action in her minutes last season, ranking in the 96th percentile of centerbacks for tackles and the 99th percentile for blocks, per FBRef.
BYU international student union
While the Royals leaned heavily into domestic acquisitions in building their initial roster, they did make a pair of interesting international moves. Agnes Nyberg and Dana Foederer are both midfielders acquired from Sweden and the Netherlands, respectively. Both players are young (Nyberg is 23, Foederer 21) but bring years of professional experience in their respective domestic leagues to the table. Nyberg made 25 starts last season for IK Uppsala, logging over 2000 minutes total. Foederer’s domestic minutes don’t match the towering bar set by Nyberg, but she’s still been in the professional ranks for several years now. Also of note for Foederer is she served as the captain of the 2022 Dutch U20 Women’s World Cup squad that reached the semi-finals, the team’s best ever finish in the competition.
BYU graduate placement program
As of this writing, the Royals have inked three of their draftees to first team contracts, and all three players will likely contribute in major roles right out of the gate. Here’s what you need to know about each of them.
Ally Sentnor was the top pick in this year’s NWSL draft, a distinction that historically holds a pretty significant hit rate. Six of the last eight No. 1 selections in the draft are currently with the USWNT as they prepare to play in the Gold Cup Final, with the only exceptions being Alyssa Thompson who missed camp due to injury and Andi Sullivan who has over 50 caps in her own right, and has long been a consistent positive contributor in NWSL. Sentnor is expected to be the next great North Carolina alum to make a name for themselves in the NWSL, offering an ability to play both in the midfield or in the attacking band. Her ability to both get on the ball in the box (4.6 box touches p96) and move the ball into the box (3.5 passes into the box p96), while getting a monster five shots and two shot assists off every game makes her just a total offensive hub in the college game.
Even though the Royals took Sentnor with the first overall pick, Utah wasn’t done in the first round of the draft. Two picks later they would snag BYU star Brecken Mozingo at No. 4 overall, keeping the Sandy, Utah native in her hometown. Mozingo actually started her career at UCLA, but emerged as a star after transferring to the Cougars. She amassed 33 goals and 34 assists over her final three years in Provo, leading BYU to a pair of College Cups in that span. It’s questionable quality Wyscout data, but Mozingo put up a big 0.52 NPxG + xA on four shots and three shot assists per game in her senior year. Expect her to be a plug-and-play starter in the Royals’ opening day midfield.
Utah’s final draft signee (at least as of now, as the team’s preseason roster contained multiple other prospective rookies) was third round selection Zoe Burns, out of USC. Hailing from Canada, Burns should offer some crucial versatility on a squad that likely won’t have a set lineup. She can offer cover at both centerback and fullback, and has pre-collegiate experience at midfield as well. She should fight for immediate minutes as well.
Final thoughts
For all the potential ways Rodriguez could go with her first NWSL lineup on March 16, perhaps the biggest question comes at the goalkeeping position. The Royals have just two goalkeepers on their present roster, Mandy Haught and Carly Nelson. Neither have been a full-time starter in the NWSL before, though both have some notable resume points (Nelson posted eight clean sheets in 17 matches with Danish club FC Nordsjælland and Haught enjoyed a successful spell in Sweden before starting seven games for Gotham FC last season). Will Haught, who was acquired for $150k in allocation funds, enjoy a leg up in what looks to be a relatively open battle for the No. 1 role due to more significant NWSL experience? Or will the Utah native Nelson earn the nod and give the Royals another local starter? It’s unlikely we’ll get any intel until approximately an hour before the Royals open their season against the Chicago Red Stars.
In a way, the unknown of the team’s starting ‘keeper is emblematic of the overall outlook for the Royals this year. It’s a reborn club, led by a new coach, featuring a young roster. Aside from some obvious building blocks, such as the expected opening day debuts of Sentnor and Mozingo, it’s all but impossible to know exactly what Utah will look like when they line up next week. This is very much a malleable roster, and it will be fascinating to see how Rodriguez builds up her team’s identity and finds foundational pieces for the coming years over the course of her debut season as boss.