Savy King, a center-back who starred at the University of North Carolina as a freshman, and Maya Doms, a midfielder and two-time captain who won a national championship at Stanford, became the newest members of Bay FC on Friday night.
Selecting No. 2 and No. 8 overall at the National Women’s Soccer League draft in Anaheim, Bay FC selected King and Doms, respectively, to bolster its roster ahead of its inaugural season.
“I’m so excited and I love the Bay so much and I love the coaches and I can’t wait to see where this next step takes me,” King told reporters at the draft.
King, who turns 19 in February, made headlines in August after UNC coach Anson Dorrance, in his 47th year, called King’s debut “the best first-game performance by a freshman in the history of our program,” according to The Daily Tar Heel.
Reached by email on Friday, Dorrance said Bay FC fans “will love watching her. She is special.”
UNC saw back-to-back players drafted with the first two picks on Friday. The Utah Royals, the other expansion team in the NWSL this year, chose UNC midfielder Ally Sentnor at No. 1 overall before King went No. 2.
“I still can’t believe it,” King said. “I almost cried, because I felt my mom starting to cry. And I was like, ‘I just gotta keep it together, keep it together.’ It’s just surreal. Those are the moments you wait for your whole life. That’s something I’ve been dreaming of forever. To finally have it happen is absolutely amazing.”
King anchored a UNC defense that allowed just seven shots per game while making a run to the College Cup quarterfinals, where the Tar Heels lost to BYU, 4-3. She finished the season leading the team in minutes played and saw the full 90 minutes in 19 of her 23 games, earning her All-ACC Second Team honors.
Leaving North Carolina after just one season “was hard because of how much I really love it at UNC,” she said. “It helped me grow so much. But this was the next step.”
King also has experience playing for the United States Women’s National Team at the U-15, U-17 and U-20 levels. She was one of five nominees for the 2023 U.S. Soccer Young Female Player of the Year.
Welcome to #BayFC, Savy King! 👑#WeCameToPlay #NWSLDraft pic.twitter.com/u4htxnCBQU
— Bay Football Club (@wearebayfc) January 13, 2024
Before landing at Chapel Hill, King was a star at Agoura High School in Southern California, where she was a four-year track and field letterwinner and played wide receiver on the girl’s flag football team. She was the team’s MVP and set school records with six interceptions and four touchdowns in a single game.
King should slide in immediately as an impact center-back for Bay FC, which now has a strong defensive line with fellow center-back Emily Menges, an NWSL champion with Portland in 2017, and fullbacks Caprice Dydasco and Alyssa Malonson.
Doms, selected at No. 8 overall, is a familiar name in the Bay Area.
Born in San Francisco, she prepped at Davis Senior High School before arriving at Stanford in 2019. She won a national championship with the Cardinal while finishing on the All-Pac-12 freshman team during her freshman year, then went on to lead the team in scoring with 25 points as a junior in 2021 and led the team again with 30 points as a fifth-year senior in 2023.
Bay FC also had draft selections at No. 30, No. 34, and No. 55 in Friday night’s draft.
At No. 30 overall, the club selected Jamie Shepherd, a fifth-year senior at BYU who set the record for most career games in the team’s history with 108. A possession-based center-midfielder, she finished her career with 14 goals and 21 assists.
At No. 34 overall, the club chose Caroline Conti, a fifth-year senior from Clemson. The forward put together a remarkable five-year career in which she scored 27 goals with 20 assists for the Tigers.
Bay FC wrapped up its draft with the selection of another BYU player, fifth-year senior defender Laveni Vaka, at No. 55 overall. A Utah native, Vaka represented Tonga at the international level in 2022. She led BYU in minutes played last season, when the Cougars advanced to the College Cup semifinals before losing to Stanford.
Bay FC now has 16 players on its roster. NWSL clubs are allowed to take between 22 and 26 players into the regular season, which begins in March.
By position:
Goalkeepers (one): Katelyn Rowland
Defenders (five): Caprice Dydasco, Savy King, Alyssa Malonson, Emily Menges, Laveni Vaka
Midfielders (six): Joelle Anderson, Dorian Bailey, Maya Doms, Sierra Enge, Alex Loera, Jamie Shepherd
Forwards (four): Tess Boade, Scarlett Camberos, Caroline Conti, Rachel Hill
