The NWSL schedule arrived earlier than ever this year, giving you plenty of time to make plans for the season ahead. Over the next three weeks, we’ll help you with those plans by looking ahead to some of the key matchups of the 2025 season. This week, we look at Angel City's three biggest rivals: San Diego Wave, NJ/NY Gotham FC, and Bay FC.
San Diego Wave FC: Sunday, March 16, 3:50 p.m. (season opener)
For the second year in a row, Angel City opens the season facing a California rival—this time our neighbors to the south, San Diego Wave.
This is ACFC’s original rivalry, dating to the 2022 preseason Challenge Cup, when both clubs were in their first year in the league. In Angel City’s first-ever official game—which was also San Diego’s—the two played to a 1–1 draw at Cal State Fullerton, following goals by ACFC’s Savannah McCaskill and Wave’s Kaleigh Riehl.
Both teams have changed substantially since then, with McCaskill moving to San Diego ahead of 2024. Both are also coming out of rocky 2024 seasons where they earned inconsistent results and missed the playoffs. Wave said goodbye to Casey Stoney, who had coached the team since 2022, midseason, bringing in Landon Donovan as an interim replacement; he was not asked to return for 2025, with the club instead hiring former Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall.
Wave have made a handful of roster changes this offseason in the wake of forward Alex Morgan’s retirement late last season. New signings include Quincy McMahon and Trinity Armstrong out of UCLA and UNC, respectively, as well as 19-year old Chiamaka Okwuchukwu, who has represented Nigeria at the youth level. The club traded star attacker Jaedyn Shaw to North Carolina for allocation money and intra-league transfer funds, potentially signaling more moves to come.
Regardless of circumstances, the SoCal Derby is always appointment viewing for Angel City fans. Highlighting the competitiveness of this matchup, only one of the two teams’ six regular-season meetings has been decided by more than a one-goal difference, and some of LA’s most memorable moments on the field—like Alyssa Thompson scoring her first two goals of 2024, the 2023 win on the road that started a half-season winning streak, and Ali Riley’s iconic 2022 goal—have happened against San Diego.
NJ/NY Gotham FC: Friday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.
Gotham are one of the powerhouse teams in the league. The 2023 champions always provide stiff competition and this season looks to be no different.
The core of last year’s team—including USWNT defenders Emily Sonnett, Tierna Davidson, and Jenna Nighswonger; midfielders Nealy Martin and Rose Lavelle; and forwards Esther González, Ella Stevens, and Crystal Dunn—is mostly intact.
The club did trade away midfielders Delanie Sheehan and Yazmeen Ryan, as well as forward Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams), bringing in a group of mostly younger new players to fill their spots. That group includes three former UCLA players: goalkeeper Ryan Campbell, forward Khyah Harper, and defender Lilly Reale. Also new this season are midfielder Jaelin Howell, making the move from Seattle; goalkeeper Shelby Hogan, formerly of the Thorns; and two exciting internationals, Brazilian attacker Gabi Portilho and 19-year-old Ghanaian forward Stella Nyamekye.
Angel City hasn’t beaten Gotham since 2022, but some of the team’s more recent results against their Harrison, New Jersey-based rivals—including the 2023 home opener that saw a Jun Endo golazo controversially waved off—will still be fresh in fans’ memories and have them hungry for another chance in this East vs West battle.
Bay FC: Monday, September 1, 6:00 p.m.
Bay FC are Angel City’s newest rivals, but the competition between these two teams is no less fierce.
The San Jose-based club struggled for much of the first half of their inaugural season, earning nine losses and four wins; their fortunes turned in the second half, as they lost just five between mid-June and the end of the regular season, enough to claim a seventh-place finish and a spot in the playoffs.
Having made a decent showing for a first-year expansion team, Head Coach Albertín Montoya has opted to make relatively few changes. The biggest is the departure of Venezuelan midfielder Deyna Castellanos, a former FSU and Manchester City star who contributed two goals and an assist in her first NWSL season. To fill the roster spots left open by her departure, as well as that of midfielder Alex Loera and the retirement of defender Jen Beattie, the team has signed two rookies out of college: midfielder Taylor Huff, a 2023 national champion with FSU, and forward Karlie Lema out of Cal.
Bay has retained its top scorer, Nigerian international Asisat Oshoala. One of the world’s most dynamic and prolific strikers, Oshoala notched eight goals for her club in 2024, the first of which came in the team’s first-ever game: their season opener against Angel City.
September tends to be about when the playoff race really heats up in the NWSL, meaning this match could have postseason implications for both teams—all the more reason to circle this one on your calendar.
