SAN JOSE — With every magical strike, just as with every aggressive tactical decision that leads to a late-game mistake, Bay FC keeps telling the soccer world exactly what kind of team it plans to be.
This is a wildly entertaining — if also heart-stopping and occasionally infuriating — expansion franchise in the National Women’s Soccer League.
Ahead or behind, early or late, Bay FC is going for it.
And on Sunday in San Jose, the club put together yet another on-brand performance as it captured a 3-2 victory over Seattle Reign FC in front of 16,719 fans at PayPal Park.
“I told the rest of our coaching staff, ‘if we continue this way, I’m not going to make it to the end of the season,’” said head coach Albertin Montoya. “But it’s entertaining for our fans.”
Bay FC held a 2-1 lead late in the game and it never stopped pushing forward, even when their attacking mindset was costly. And for the third time in as many games, they conceded a late-game goal.
In the 83rd minute, center back Kayla Sharples, who had a busy day while conceding an own-goal and scoring another, whiffed on a clearance attempt and the ball fell right to Seattle’s Bethany Balcer in the 6-yard box. Balcer slid it into the right corner to tie the game, 2-2, and give Bay FC some deja vu.
“I remember us coming into a huddle and being like, ‘we’re going to (expletive) go at them; this is not happening again,’” said midfielder Alex Loera. “It’s that mentality. This team is so driven and motivated to put on a show for the league and our fans, and ourselves.”
In their previous two games, Bay FC has given up a late-game goal that resulted in a pair of losses to the Washington Spirit and Houston Dash.
This time, the club recovered.
Four minutes after conceding, substitute Joelle Anderson fired a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box which was deflected by a Seattle defender and trickled into the net for the eventual game-winning goal.
Even after Bay FC went ahead 3-2, the action didn’t stop there. The referee added 12 minutes of stoppage time, in which both teams had goals called back, Seattles due to an offside call and Bay FC’s due to a handball.
“Those 12 minutes felt like 35 minutes,” Montoya said.
Seattle coach Laura Harvey took an angrier approach, reportedly bringing her cell phone to her postgame press conference to show reporters that the offside call was incorrect. On the replay, it appeared that Balcer was only barely offside while waiting in the 6-yard box for a cross, but Harvey didn’t think so.
Regardless, the final result was finally in Bay FC’s favor, as the club captured its second victory to move to 2-2 on the season.
They’ve now scored seven goals in four games and continue to display a fascinating style of play in which three forwards and two center-attacking midfielders are constantly pushed upfield.
It’s fun, chaotic, and creates some wild results.
“It’s just the way we enjoy playing and it is exciting for the fans,” Montoya said.
Sunday’s game was the first in which Bay FC didn’t score first. Seattle struck in the 27th minute with a cross into the box that defender Alyssa Molonson cut off, but her clearance attempt went off Sharples, who accidentally knocked it into her own goal.
Otherwise, Bay FC dominated the first half, out-shooting Seattle, 9-1, while controlling the pace of the game for most of the half, despite being down, 1-0.
“At halftime we talked about it,” Montoya said. “We’ve been up in all our other games, we started the goal scoring. Well, now we’re down, what are we going to do about it? We showed some character.”
They didn’t score until early in the second half, when a corner kick landed outside the 18-yard box at the feet of center-back Emily Menges, who lobbed it back into the middle. Sharples got some redemption, as she leaped into the air and headed the ball firmly into the bottom corner to even the score.
“That center back to center back connection; there’s nothing sweeter than that,” said Sharples.
About 10 minutes later, Bay FC converted on another corner kick, this time on a magical strike by Alex Loera. The ball bounced to her at the top of the box and she hit a one-time beauty with her left foot. The line drive went straight into the right corner to give Bay FC a 2-1 lead.
Once again they conceded late, but this time they mounted the comeback.
And finally, in the 98th minute, Montoya showed the desire to slow down and play some defense. With just a few minutes remaining, he put in center back Jen Beattie for striker Asisat Oshoala.
Montoya said he might do that more often as the season goes on, particularly when the playoffs come around, but right now, playing conservatively isn’t his preference.
“I’ve chosen to address that later,” he said. “Whether it’s right or wrong, it’s how we like to do it. I like to go forward and create chances. It can be nerve-wracking for almost everyone watching, including the coaching staff. It drives them crazy at times. But that’s just how we are. The defending is a little bit easier to work on. But it’s just this mentality of, ‘we’re going to make it as entertaining as possible and hopefully get more wins than not.’”
Next up: Bay FC plays at Kansas City vs. the Current on Sat., April 20, at CPKC Stadium, the first stadium ever built exclusively for a women’s soccer team.
