Bay Fc fought and battled but came up short for their fifth straight loss at Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando City on Sat May 11, 2024 (Bay FC X photo)

By William Espy

Bay FC continued their inaugural season with a road trip to Florida to take on the undefeated Orlando Pride and their star players, Barbra Banda and Marta. However, Marta was out of the starting eleven so if she was going to make an appearance it would be as a substitute.

Meanwhile, the visiting team got two key attackers back in this match as both Rachael Kundananji and Asisat Oshoala were available after missing the previous game due to injury. Maya Doms, who was celebrating her 23rd birthday was unavailable due to injury.

If Bay FC was going to end their losing streak, they’d have to overcome one of the most difficult opponents in the NWSL. Despite not being at the very top of the goal-scoring and not conceding the fewest goals in the league, the Pride were top five in both categories which is a big part of the reason they find themselves joint-top of the table alongside the Kansas City Current. The Pride got by 1-0 shutting out Bay at Inter & Co Stadium in Orlando City. It was Bay FC’s fifth straight loss.

Bay FC Starting XI:

Rowland, King, Menges, Sharples, Malonson, Pickett, Boade, Castellanos, Kundananji, Oshoala, Camberos

Orlando Starting XI: Moorhouse, Sams, Rafaelle, Strom, Abello, McCutcheon, Gautrat, Yates, Adriana, Doyle, Banda

The first five minutes were mainly spent in Bay FC’s defensive third and the Pride were getting quite a few scoring opportunities. Alyssa Malonson got booked in the sixth minute for a challenge from behind which would be followed up by Orlando’s first booking on Emily Sams.

Malonson’s yellow card would be very dangerous for Bay, as a defender on a card that early against a team with a very effective attack could easily lead to a second yellow. The first 15 minutes were all Orlando, they were leading in possession, had all the shots, and were thoroughly outplaying Bay FC but the score still didn’t reflect that as it remained a 0-0 tie.

This was a very strange situation for Bay who pride themselves on a possession style of play and to that point, they’d been unable to establish that in this game. When Bay did have the ball though, it was no surprise that

Tess Boade was one of the players most commonly on the ball. She was playing a physical game and had quite a few early collisions leading to free kicks for her team. Bay got their first shot on target of the night in the 23rd minute when Kundananji forced Anna Moorhouse to make the save.

Orlando was bringing heavy offense pressure when Deyna Castellanos fouled Banda inside of the box, giving the Pride a penalty kick in the 29th minute. Adriana took the penalty and scored her first of the season beating Katelyn Rowland low to the left side of the goal.

Over the next few minutes Banda made two similarly dangerous run into the box but Emily Menges broke up the first and Kayla Sharples perfectly defended the second while avoiding fouling her. Scarlett Camberos had a very rough challenge on Kylie Strom but somehow avoided a card despite Strom flipping over her in a dangerous manner.

At the half, Orlando led 1-0 while also controlling possession with 60% and 12 shots on target, 17 shots total. Rowland had played very well for Bay despite the lack of a clean sheet and the defense was doing their best to prevent any high-quality scoring chances despite being stuck in their own box for a big portion of the half.

In the second half, Marta came on for Orlando as did Dydasco for Bay. Oshoala drew a yellow card in the 53rd minute when Rafaelle essentially wrapped around her. Bay started the second half much better, however it was still clear that Orlando was the better team up to that point.

Bay was making progress though, and they were desperately trying to find an equalizer. Bay’s first corner of the night didn’t come until the 61st minute, which was also out of character for them. Castellanos is usually taking corners all night long, but that wasn’t the case this time out.

All Bay needed to do was find a way to score and none of that would matter though, the fact that they had been drastically outplayed on paper would become irrelevant if they could find a way to get a result.

In the 66th minute, Kundananji got a yellow card following appeals from Orlando’s coaching staff following a hard collision with Strom, who did receive some medical attention after the play. Boade and Castellanos would be substituted off after the delay with Joelle Anderson and Dorian Bailey taking their place in an attempt to help maintain possession in midfield.

By the 75th minute, things had evened out a bit with Bay having 43% of the possession at that point. They needed to play with more desperation, however, it also seemed like the Pride were letting off of the gas pedal a bit. Camberos didn’t fully escape a yellow card in the match, picking one up in the 80th minute.

Sharples and Menges certainly had their work cut out for them over the course of the game and it became clear that fatigue was starting to set in, but they were still playing very well. With a final push ahead of them, Princess came on for Camberos in the 88th minute.

Moments later Ally Lemos came on for Banda who had played a great game for Orlando, as you’d expect from her at this point. Savy King would end up coming out late in stoppage time with Maddie Moreau coming into the game for her.

Despite Bay FC’s attempts, they were unable to tie it up and lost 1-0. Although they were statistically outplayed, this game could’ve easily been a 0-0 draw thanks to the defense if it weren’t for the penalty. They’ll look to end their growing losing streak next week at home against San Diego.