Background & History

The Bay Breakers are a founding member of Women’s Elite Rugby (WER), based in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. Following the announcement of WER in April 2024, the Bay Breakers team name and logo were announced in January 2025 alongside the other 5 founding WER teams. In addition to the name and logo, the Bay Breakers announced their ‘Foundational Five’, a group of 5 players that made up the team’s first signings. The Foundational Five for the Bay Breakers can be found below.

Evolving from the Berkeley All-Blues and to a lesser extent the Life West Gladiatrix of the WPL, the Bay Breakers competed in the inaugural WER season in 2025. The Breakers played their first ever game on March 29, 2025 against the Denver Onyx. The Breakers finished 3rd in WER’s inaugural season with a 6-4 record and 32pts, missing out on the chance to compete for the WER Legacy Cup by a single point on the final day of competition. The following season, the Bay Breakers improved on their 6-4 record from 2025 to a strong 8-2 record, handing the defending champion Denver Onyx their only defeat of the season. In 2026, the Breakers finished in 2nd place with 41pts and a 7pt buffer to 3rd, qualifying for their first Legacy Cup appearance, where they faced the Denver Onyx at Infinity Park in Glendale, CO. Although the Onyx ran out to a 24-5 lead by half-time, the Breakers fought back but fell just short as the Onyx secured their 2nd successive Legacy Cup title with a 24-17 victory. The Breakers finish the 2026 season a step higher than their first year, claiming the 2026 WER Runners-Up spot.

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Foundational Five

• Olivia Bernadel-Huey
• Elena Edwards
• Celine Liulamaga
• Jade McGrath
• Roxelle Thomas

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records & Record Holders

2026 WER Runners-Up

All-Time:

Top Scorer: Olivia Bernadel-Huey (73pts)
Top Try Scorer: Jade McGrath (10)
Most Appearances: Roxelle Thomas (21)
Most Starts: Roxelle Thomas (18)

Single Season:

Top Scorer: Olivia Bernadel-Huey (59pts – 2026)
Top Try Scorer: Eden Kilgour (7 – 2025), Laura Thacker (7 – 2026)

Historical Performance

2025: 6-4 (+48) – 32pts: 3rd
2026: 8-2 (+203) – 41pts: 2nd (Runner-Up)

Overall Regular Season Record: 14-6
Overall Legacy Cup Record: 0-1
Legacy Cup Appearances: 1 (2026)

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Head Coach & Captain

Head Coach:

• Hannah Stolba (2025-2026)

Captain:

• Roxelle Thomas / Jade McGrath (2025)
• Ari Jurkowski / Nyah Cordero (2026)

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Logo

All of the WER logos and branding for the league’s inaugural season were co-designed by the league and British advertising agency MATTA. The Bay Breakers’ crest features a breaking wave and a trident at the top with a ‘Sunset Purple’ California sun. The wave ties the logo to the Bay Area, representing the crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean and the ‘power and unpredictability of ocean waves’.

VEnue

During their inaugural season, the Bay Breakers played their home games to the northeast of San Francisco at the Grape Bowl in Lodi, California. The 3,500 seater synthetic turf field was the venue of a postseason college football game that shares the stadium name from 1947-48. While attendance to these games was over 10,000, the capacity of the stadium has been reduced in the nearly 80 years since then. The Bay Breakers shared this venue with the Lodi High School Football Team. For the 2nd season of WER in 2026, the Bay Breakers moved from Lodi to Sacramento, playing out of Heart Health Park on the grounds of Cal Expo. This soccer-specific stadium boasts a capacity of just over 11,500 and was the home of the short-lived PRO Rugby franchise the Sacramento Express in 2016. It has hosted a number of international test matches including the USA Men’s 2025 Pacific Nations Cup clash with Japan, and was the venue of a Major League Rugby game in 2026 when the California Legion faced Old Glory DC on 24th May, 2026.