Nervous.
That’s how Golden State Valkyries fan Raina Mast said she’s feeling about Wednesday’s WNBA playoff game against the Minnesota Lynx in San José.
“I imagine I’m going to be crying whether they lose or win,” Mast said. “ We never thought that an expansion team would go this far.”
After losing by 29 points to the top-seeded Lynx in Sunday’s Game 1 of the best-of-three quarterfinals, the Valkyries must win Wednesday to keep their underdog playoff run alive.
Although a scheduling issue is forcing the expansion team to play its first playoff “home game” at San José’s SAP Center instead of San Francisco’s Chase Center, fans are getting pumped to see their team’s first playoff appearance in the Bay.
“Getting into the playoffs proves what we already knew. The Valks are magic,” fan Vanessa Hutchinson-Szekely said.
Wednesday night also marks a historic moment for Bay Area sports: the first WNBA playoff game in the region.
The Valkyries have been nothing short of a cultural phenomenon in their inaugural season. The team set the all-time WNBA record for average attendance (18,064) and for total fans (397,408) during the regular season. They also sold out all 22 regular-season home games. Mast said she’s enjoyed seeing the Bay Area create its own basketball culture around the team from scratch.
“ Everyone’s stitching their own sweaters, pulling out purple and white and mixing them together, putting on makeup and creating their own Valkyrie crowns and just putting whatever they have out there to express their support for this amazing team and this awesome organization,” Mast said.
The Valkyries faithful will be denied a true home court advantage, however. Chase Center booked the Laver Cup, an international tennis tournament, for Sept. 18-21 before Golden State was awarded the WNBA expansion team. Team officials were unable to find a way to accommodate both the Valkyries’ playoff game and the preparation needed to hold the tennis tournament.
Diehard Valkyries fans who live in San Francisco said the fact that they are willing to trek down to San José to cheer on their team is a testament to how much they appreciate them.
“I’m just really excited to be able to support the team, and see them go as far as they can,” Alejandra Niebla said.
Fans traveling by Caltrain will have the opportunity to celebrate on the trip down. The southbound #416 will run as a Valkyries-themed train with giveaways on Wednesday as it heads down to SAP Center, according to Caltrain public information officer Dan Lieberman.
The Valkyries have put the Bay Area at the center of a rapidly expanding WNBA, which is set to add five more teams over the next five years. New franchises slated to come to Toronto, Portland, Oregon, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia will bring the total number of teams in the league to 18.
Mast said she’s stitched a message into her cardigan: “We are Ballhalla.” It’s a reference to the Valkyries’ nickname for Chase Center, but also a nod to the fans that make a Valkyries game unique.
“ The fans are going to show up,” Mast said, “and we’re going to play our hardest against a really amazing team.”
Game 2 between the Minnesota Lynx and the Golden State Valkyries tips off at 7 p.m. at SAP Center in San José.
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