San Jose CyberRays

Women’s United Soccer Association (2001-2003)

Make Everyday Cyber Monday

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San Jose CyberRays
Logo T-Shirt

With a talented line-up that included Brandi Chastain, Sissi, LaKeysia Beene and Kelly Lindsey, the CyberRays won the first women’s professional club title in American soccer history as champions of the WUSA in 2001.

Had the WUSA survived, there’s little doubt that the club’s goofy Y2K-era brand would have earned a complete overhaul, just as their MLS brethren, the San Jose Earthquakes, memory-holed their original “Clash” identity.

You can grab a CyberRays logo tee now at American Retro Apparel. Available in sizes small through XXXL!

 

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Background

In the relatively short history and small sample size of women’s professional team sports in North America, I’d hand the Weirdest Name prize to the Bay Area CyberRays of the Women’s United Soccer Association.  After their debut season, in the summer of 2001, WUSA officials came to realize it was an appallingly stupid name and they changed it … to the San Jose CyberRays.

Inaugural Season Champions

But anyway, back to that first season.  The team was actually pretty damn good under the direction of former Stanford coach Ian Sawyers.  The big star was the 1999 U.S. World Cup hero Brandi Chastain, but the offense was powered by a pair of standout Brazilians: midfielder Sissi (10 assists) and forward Katia (7 goals). Australian Julie Murray was the team’s leading scorer with 9 tallies.

CyberRays advanced to the 2001 Founders Cup final and won the first WUSA championship by defeating the Atlanta Beat on penalty kicks before 21,078 fans at Foxboro Stadium in Massachusetts on August 25, 2001.  Murray scored in regulation and converted the final PK to earn Player of the Match honors in her final pro match before retirement.

The CyberRays were unable to recapture their first season form and missed the WUSA playoffs in 2002 and 2003.  Maybe it’s bad mojo to change your name, however slightly, immediately after winning the championship.

Demise of the WUSA

The CyberRays were somewhat of an orphan club from inception.  The team was jointly operated in the centrally-owned WUSA by cable TV barons Amos Hostetter and John Hendricks.  Both men lived on the Eastern seaboard and were more actively engaged with the WUSA franchises they operated in their local communities. Hostetter with his Boston Breakers and Hendricks with the league’s flagship Washington Freedom franchise. One rumored scenario had the club moving to Los Angeles for the 2004 season under the management of Anschutz Entertainment Group, owners of the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer.  But instead the entire WUSA went out of business on September 15th, 2003, rendering the matter moot.

Women’s pro soccer returned to the Bay Area with the formation of FC Gold Pride of Women’s Professional Soccer in 2009.  Like the CyberRays, F.C. Gold Pride also won a league championship. But they were similarly short-lived and folded after just two seasons.

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Links

Women’s United Soccer Association Media Guides

Women’s United Soccer Association Programs

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