Bay Area Women’s Pro Soccer; A History.
Oakland is home to some of the most passionate, diverse, and forward thinking soccer fans around. With that in mind, we’re taking a deep dive into the history of women’s soccer in, and around, the Bay Area.
First up: A historical view of professional soccer.
Since the turn of the century, two women’s professional teams have played in the Bay Area. First came the San Jose CyberRays of the now defunct Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2001. Following the success of the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup in the United States, WUSA sought to leverage the immense popularity of one of the most iconic sports teams in our nation’s history, with players like Mia Hamm, Julie Foudy, and, of course, Brandi Chastain signing on for that inaugural season.
Chastain, a Bay Area native herself, was a massive star after scoring the game-winning penalty kick for the United States at the World Cup Final. She landed with her hometown CyberRays, and led the team to the inaugural 2001 WUSA Championship in front of 21,000 fans in Foxboro, Massachusetts. Tisha Venturini, another member of the ’99 National Team, featured for the CyberRays as well. Venturini was the final sub to come onto the pitch in the ’99 World Cup Final. Throughout the tournament, she scored two goals for team USA in that tournament.
What made the CyberRays really fun, though, were the recognizable stars from that same World Cup who did not play for the United States. The CyberRays featured the ’99 Mexico national women’s team Captain Gina Oceguera as well as the ’99 World Cup Golden Boot winner Sissi who was also the WUSA league leader in assists with 10 in 2001.
Many of the players, including Chastain and Sissi, are still making an impact on young female soccer players in the Area. Following her time in the WUSA, Sissi became a staple of Northern California soccer. She went on to be a player-coach for FC Gold Pride and the California Storm as she never left the Northern California area following her time with the CyberRays. Sissi has gone on to inspire and coach many of the most talented players to come out of the area in the last decade plus. Meanwhile, Chastain has since served as a coach at Santa Clara University, her alma mater, and at one of top academies for Girls the California Thorns.
Not all of the players were household names like Chastain and Sissi, but many went on to impact the soccer community thereafter. Kelley Lindsey went on to coach Sky Blue FC in the WPS and the Afghanistan women’s national team (which includes Roots Club Ambassador and captain of the Afghanistan team Hailai Arghandiwal). The CyberRays also featured the league’s leading goal scorer and finals MVP Julie Murray. The team was led by head coach Ian Sawyers, who is now married to Julie Foudy. Sawyers would win the 2001 Coach of the Year while Lakeysia Beene collected the Goalkeeper of the Year award.
The Inaugural 2001 season was a special one for the CyberRays who averaged over 7,000 fans a game. They would go on to finish the regular season runners up on goal differential to Atlanta. The team would first beat New York 3–2 at home in San Jose before facing Atlanta in a neutral site Championship game. The Final would end 3–3 before heading to PK’s with goals from Chastain, Venturini and the team’s leading goal scorer, Julie Murray. The CyberRays won the final 4–2 on PK’s as they beat USWNT goalkeeper Briana Scurry to win the inaugural league championship.
Following the 2003 season, the league folded. However, the CyberRays were pioneers for a new era of women’s soccer in the Bay Area, and touched the lives of many young players who had their first chance to watch their female soccer heroes on a professional pitch.
The second team to come to the Bay was FC Gold Pride of the now-defunct Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2009. The CyberRays played out of Spartan Stadium in San Jose from 2001–2003 while FC Gold Pride played out of Buck Shaw Stadium on the Peninsula in 2009 and Pioneer Stadium on the campus of Cal State East Bay where they went on to lift the trophy in 2010 in front of a sold-out crowd before suddenly closing up shop. Many would even argue that the 2010 Gold Pride team might have been the greatest women’s professional club team in any league ever.
The 2010 Gold Pride should never be forgotten for their play on the field, as they featured some of the biggest names and best players in world soccer. The first player to talk about when looking back at this team is undoubtedly the six-time FIFA women’s player of the year, Brazil’s own Marta. She would go on to win the Michelle Akers Player of the Year Award in 2010, as well as win the League’s Golden Boot for bagging 19 goals in just 24 matches, six more than runner up Abby Wambach.
Marta played up top in a front three, with two other legends of the women’s game: Christine Sinclair and Tiffeny Milbrett. Sinclair is Canadian soccer’s most prominent player, and was the league’s top assist creator, providing Marta with the service she needed. Sinclair is the all-time leader in international goals. In 2010 she led the League with nine assists, but also had 10 goals, good for fifth in the League’s Golden Boot race. Milbrett was a key member of the 99er’s World Cup team, leading the USWNT in scoring during the ’99 Cup run with three goals in the tournament. She was also a member of both the ’95 and ’03 World Cup teams.
The best part of this attacking trio might have been the fact that they had a young Kelley O’Hara who could come off the bench for any of the three. O’Hara who would go on to star at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups but in defense. The attacking group finished with four of the top 10 scorers in the league.
The team was not all about attack, and were very well balanced. The creator for the team was French star, Camille Abily. Abily finished her career with 183 international caps all while captaining her national side for a good portion of her career. She played alongside USWNT star and veteran of four World Cups, Shannon Boxx. The combo would go on to be fourth and sixth, respectively, in the league’s assist count.
At the back, this team was no slouch either. The back was built around captain Rachel Buehler. Buehler was a key member of both the 2011 USWNT World Cup second-place squad, the 2012 Olympic gold medal squad and has more than a 100 caps to her name. She played alongside Candace Chapman, one of the most capped defenders in Canadian history. Ali Riley was another standout defender for the Pride, who like O’Hara was fresh out of Stanford and won the League’s Rookie of the Year Award in 2010. Riley is a member of the New Zealand National Team and has featured for her national team side in the World Cup.
The Gold Pride also had some fun with a popular video series that featured former Stanford players Kelley O’Hara and Ali Riley. They were best friends and roommates at Stanford, and the series on YouTube for Gold Pride was called “Kelley and Ali’s Corner.” This series gave the fans a fun inside look at the team through two of their youngest stars.
The last line of defense for this team was Nicole Barnhart. Barnhart is a veteran of two World Cups and was the goalkeeper for the two-time defending NWSL champs, FC Kansas City. She also won the WPS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2010. This defensive unit would post the best goals against average in the League for 2010, making them unstoppable in attack and unbeatable in the back. Sadly the team would go on to fold in 2011 one season before the league as a whole folded and just months after winning the league title.
The inspiration this team gave to the next generation could be seen in the stands. As players such as Alex Morgan could regularly be seen in the stands with her Cal teammates before she would turn pro the following year. The way in which fans were able to interact with players and some of the biggest stars in the world’s game was special. You could regularly find the players in the local restaurants and bars along 238 in Hayward after a match. Unlike most professional sports at this level, the players were all approachable and friendly leaving an impact mark on the next generation of players.
Professional women’s soccer in the US is now in its third iteration as WUSA and WPS failed after three seasons. Despite history pointing to the difficulties of maintaining a women’s league, the most recent and current league, NWSL, is about to enter its eighth season. Still, the league has yet to feature a team in California, one of the leading homes for the game in this country.
Thank you for reading. Next up, we’ll dive into the USWNT’s history and strong ties to the Bay.
