Chattanooga FC reaffirmed its position at the top of NISA’s East Division by cruising to a 3-0 victory over Bay Cities FC on Saturday night in Redwood City.
Bay Cities came into the match missing two key offensive players. Josiah Romero was suspended because he received a red card in the club’s previous match at Albion San Diego and Anthony Orendain was once again unavailable due to injury.
It took less than 3 minutes for Chattanooga’s Brett Jones to score the first goal. Tate Robertson’s throw-in from midfield found Markus Naglestad as he made his run down the right sideline. Naglestad tapped the ball to Jones who was making an overlapping run into the penalty area. Goalkeeper Alan Cruz-Gomez rushed off his line, but Jones slipped his shot underneath him.
The visitors nearly added another in the 15th minute, when Taylor Gray’s header bounced high off the turf. Cruz Gomez was able to push it out before it crossed the goal line, but Nagelstad was there for the rebound and his header hit the post.
The second goal came 3 minutes later. A sloppy pass by Bay Cities’ Ivan Valencia went straight to Gray, as Alex McGrath and Nagelstad made dual runs into the penalty area. Gray’s pass went to McGrath, who tapped it over to Nagelstad, who slammed the ball past a helpless Cruz Gomez.
Chattanooga’s third goal was scored in the 36th minute. Cruz Gomez had trouble handling a backpass from his teammate Danny Turgeon. The Bay Cities goalkeeper tried to dribble his way out of trouble, but Chattanooga’s Ian Cerro pressured him, forcing him to kick the ball over the end line.
The subsequent corner kick was redirected by a Bay Cities defender to Colin Stripling, who pushed the ball across the goal mouth, setting up a lethal volley from Travis Ward.
Alonso Lara replaced Cruz Gomez as Bay Cities’ goalkeeper in the second half. Lara faced fewer tough chances, as the visitors seemed to be content with their three-goal advantage.
Kevin Gonzalez started in goal for Chattanooga. Gonzalez is a Bay Area native who got his start with Oakland-based CD Aguiluchos USA and the Oakland Roots.
Gonzalez was mostly untested by the Bay Cities offense, except for two chances from Edson Cardona, who previously competed against Gonzalez in 2018 when he played for El Farolito.
In the 44th minute Gonzalez made a diving stop on a Cardona free kick. In the 58th minute, Marco Silveira’s pass set up Cardona on the breakaway, but Gonzalez fully extended himself to get a hand on the ball and preserve the clean sheet.
Tempers flared in the last few minutes of the match, as Cardona received a yellow card for kicking Travis Ward in the 87th minute and Jacob Penner was red carded 30 seconds later for tripping McGrath.
Bay Cities has plenty of time to regroup, since their match vs. Valley United that was originally scheduled for July 1 has been postponed indefinitely. They return to action at home on July 9 vs. the LA Force.
Chattanooga concludes its western road trip with a match vs. the LA Force on Wednesday.
