Bay FC continued a troubling early season trend of conceding goals early and late in matches to lose another tight game, 3-2, against the Portland Thorns on Wednesday night at PayPal Park. The home club did show their fighting spirit to tie the match in the 60th minute, but a strike by Portland’s Sophia Smith earned the visitors the full three points.
Here is what we learned from the game:
Giving up early/late goals plaguing Bay FC
Throughout the first two months of the season, Bay FC has played some spectacular attacking offense. However the all-out attack has led to some quickly conceded goals that have put the team in a hole.
For the second time in three games, Bay FC faced a 2-0 deficit within the first seven minutes of the match.
Ninety seconds into the match, Bay FC’s left back, Alyssa Malonson, was caught pushing up into the attack and turned the ball over to Portland’s Janine Beckie. Beckie quickly passed it to Sophia Smith in the middle of the field and passed it to Payton Linnehan, who powered her shot past Bay FC keeper Lysianne Proulx.
The Thorns players once again combined for a goal in the seventh minute. This time, Linnehan returned the favor by picking off a pass intended for Bay FC’s Maddie Moreau at the midline and then slotting it through the defensive backline to Smith, who rounded Proulx to double Portland’s lead.
Undeterred by another early deficit, Bay FC fought back thanks to two goals, one from Racheal Kundananji just before the break and another from Deyna Castellanos in the 60th minute to even the score.
It marked the fourth time in five games that Bay FC and its powerful attack have overcome a deficit to tie the match. But in three of those games they have conceded late goals to lose the match. This time, the Thorns’ Sophia Smith found herself unmarked just outside the box in the 78th minute and powered the shot past Proulx for the lead.
Despite pushing hard for the equalizer, Bay FC was unable to score and ended up with their third loss in a row.
Bay FC has now scored in all seven of its league games and has four players, Deyna Castellanos, Racheal Kundananji, Kayla Sharples, and Asisat Oshoala, with multiple goals. However, Bay’s shaky defense has given up seventeen goals so far, the most of any club in the league.
Racheal Kundananji is a special talent
Despite falling behind early in the game, Bay FC’s players didn’t seem concerned by the deficit, most likely because of forward Racheal Kundananji’s offensive firepower. Every moment Rachael is on the pitch, it’s best not to turn away your attention, or you may miss a moment of pure football magic.
“She’s very dynamic. She’s super fast and strong,” Castellanos said after the game. “You guys can see.”
After proving to be a pest to the Thorns’ defensive line throughout the first half, Kundananji converted a goal right before the half thanks to a quick Bay FC counterattack assisted by Joelle Anderson.
However, in the 60th minute, her skills on the ball was on full display.
Kundananji was sprung open in the midfield, and with the ball at her feet, she immediately sent the Thorns’ defense scrambling back. She carried the ball just to the top of the box and faked a cut inside before deftly touching the ball back to the outside that completely wrong-footed Thorns defender Kelli Hubly. Rachael then slotted her pass across the mouth of the goal to her teammate Castellanos, who calmly converted at the back post.
Kundananji is now the first player in Bay FC history to have scored a goal and assisted in a match.
“I asked [Kundananji] after the game if she might be tired. She’s like, I don’t get tired. I was like, I’m tired for you,” said Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya during the postgame press conference. “It’s just her energy. And that’s starting to really rub off the rest of the players. And you can see I mean, we didn’t give up she never gives up.”
Wednesday’s game will only leave Bay FC fans excited to see what is next for the Zambian superstar.
“She’s young, she’s 23 years old, and she’s only going to get better,” Montoya added.
Congested schedule forced Montoya to juggle lineup
With three games in nine days, Bay FC’s head coach was forced to juggle his lineup and start two rookies on Wednesday night. Jamie Shepherd slotted into the midfield, and Maddie Moreau out wide in the defense.
Moreau’s slow pick-up of a pass in the seventh minute was responsible for the Thorns’ second goal of the match. Despite the early setback, she settled into her role as the right back, sometimes venturing forward but playing her position more conservatively than her defensive partner, left-back Alyssa Malonson.
Malonson was out of position on the first Thorns goal but redeemed herself by starting the play that eventually led to Bay FC’s first goal.
Princess also made her first start for Bay FC’s front line and acquitted herself well in the attack. To round out the debuts, Former Stanford standout Maya Doms made her first appearance in the midfield for Bay FC as a second-half substitute.
With their performances, Montoya was happy to see how well her bench performed and hoped that the healthy competition between the starters and bench players would continue going forward.
“I’ve been saying all along, we have a really good group, every single one of them can go out and have an impact in this game,” he noted. “But it’s a long season. And we’re still learning each other. And this is a great opportunity for those players today.”
Bay FC is ‘so close’ to turning losses into victories
After the game, Montoya was asked if the continual late losses were taking a toll on the team, but he countered that he told the team were responding positively to the adversity. He noted it was only the seventh game in the club’s history, and each and every game, the club is continuing to gell and they are almost ready to put their early missteps behind them.
“We can only keep doing the same thing,” noted Montoya. “I keep saying it’s an entertaining game. It’s an entertaining team to watch. But in pro sports, you just have to find a way, and I mean, get rid of the voodoo or whatever’s going on. So yeah, but we’re so close.”
“Every day, every game, we improve, and we show a better football and a better kind of fight,” added Castellanos. “For us it’s just about the point that when he’s going to turn to our favor, and I think that’s, that’s why we’re calm because we’re doing everything that the coaching staff is asking. We know that we’re a very talented team. The way that we play is different and it’s exciting and is and is fresh. So yeah, it will come.”
Despite weekday night, Bay FC fans showed up
For a first-year team just starting to make an impression in the Bay Area sports scene, the big unknown was how many fans would show up for a mid-week game. But the Bay FC fans did show up, with 10,611 in attendance.
At least three times in the last fifteen minutes of the game, with the home side pushing for the equalizing goal, organic, stadium-wide chants of “Bay FC!” sprung up urging on the home side.
The cheers and fan support were not lost on Bay FC’s coach or players after the game.
“We are so happy to see them always coming and supporting us and with their support, you know, they’re motivated us to work extra hard,” noted Kundamanji.
“I’m just a pretty, pretty emotional because it’s starting to be a really special place,” said Montoya about the atmosphere for Bay FC games at PayPal Park. “The energy, that positivity, because sometimes you’re like, ‘Okay, well, we haven’t gotten the points,’ but everyone seems to still be behind the team. Hopefully, it’s because of the type of football we’re playing, because we are exciting.”
Next up for Bay FC is another home game at PayPal Park against the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday at 5 pm.
