As an expansion club, Boston Legacy FC faces more pressure in the 2026 preseason than most other clubs in the National Women’s Soccer League.
The players don’t have years of experience together, almost none have played for their head coach Filipa Patão, and most have never played against NWSL competition.
If that weren’t hard enough, the club has just eight weeks between the start of preseason and its inaugural match. That meant that the first three weeks together in Bradenton, Florida had to be just as much about camaraderie building as it was about tactics and actual training.
“It’s crazy because I’ve always thought about that. A lot of teams have a pretty similar group with a few new signings versus a team that’s literally from scratch,” Legacy defender Laurel Ansbrow said. “It’s crazy to say it’s been two and a half weeks because of the relationships, I feel like I’ve known these girls for a year now, you know? I think that’s been kind of the amazing part of bringing us all to Florida and being in one place is that we bonded.
“We eat breakfast together, lunch together, we go to the field, we have dinner together. We’ve all been able to really get to know each other. I think the coaching staff has done such a great job. They have their game plan, we have our pre-session meetings, we know exactly what we’re going to get after, the goals for that practice. I feel like each week has just been building off the last. We’ll do one drill Wednesday and Thursday do the same drill, and you can already see the growth from one day to the next, which is really cool.”
Patão, just 36 years old but a five-time league winner as the manager of Benfica, embraces the challenge that her first preseason with Boston presents.
“I think it’s an opportunity, because we are building something from the ground. We have our standards, and our standards will be high, and the players know this,” Patão said. “It’s building connections. We need to build connections, fast. We know that we are running against time, but that’s part of the process.
“But this is a good thing, because, again, we can build in our own way. We can build our culture, our identity, our DNA, in our own way. And this is the opportunity, and we are seeing the players being very open to that, and they want to get better every day, and they want to build with us this special football that we want to bring to our league.”
For her players, the preparation from Patão and her staff have been crucial to putting things together in the first few weeks.
“One of the things Filipa has emphasized is communication because we’re not going to learn about each other on and off the field without talking to one another,” forward Sammy Smith said. “So we’ve been working on communication a lot and learning by playing with each other.
“It’s been very exciting, and, honestly, you’re learning so much on a daily basis. It’s so exciting, we’re growing as people and players and I just know I’m going to learn so much this season.”
According to Ansbrow, her coach’s energy has instantly left an impression. That, and her encouragement of mistakes has been invaluable for the 22-year-old in her first NWSL camp.
“Filipa is truly one of the most passionate people I’ve ever met, and it’s been so great,” Ansbrow said. “I think every single girl is having so much fun in her presence because of what she brings to the game, and it’s so refreshing to have someone encourage mistakes and encourage you to make mistakes if it means that you’re taking a risk.
“I just think that’s really helped me to play with a certain freedom and I’m really excited for me and the team moving forward. Her coaching style and her philosophy and what she brings to the game, I think it’s going to bring the best out of all of us.”
While Patão and the new staff have had to emphasize team building, they’ve also made sure to establish their own style of play within the camp.
“It’s definitely more physical than I’ve been used to,” Smith said. “(Filipa)’s all about contact. Make sure that you have contact on the other team because that helps you deal with whatever comes your way, if you know where the other person is.
“She’s emphasizing fitness as well. We’re going to be a very fit and physical team and I’m just excited to see how this fits into how other teams play in the NWSL.”
Before the Legacy see how they fare in the NWSL regular season, they will face off with some league opponents in the preseason.
After facing the Washington Spirit on Saturday, Feb. 7 to wrap up their Florida training, the team will head to Spain for three more scrimmages, including one against Chicago.
Though it’ll be beneficial to see how the new club stacks up to other competition, Ansbrow knows the team has to keep their attention on their own work moving forward.
“Filipa is competitive, we’re all competitive, we want to win,” Ansbrow said. “But right now our focus is development and seeing progress as a group between each scrimmage, and just playing our style.
“We’ve been training three weeks together, focusing on our game so yeah we’re playing different opponents and it can get easy to be caught up on their record and how well they did last year and what that means going forward, but I think it’s really just focusing on ourselves and what we can get out of it as a group.”
