Forward Racheal Kundananji (9) gets a kick away for Bay FC against the Orlando Pride at Pay Pal Park in San Jose on Fri Jun 13, 2025 (Bay FC X photo)

By William Espy

SAN JOSE–Bay FC hosted the reigning NWSL champions, the Orlando Pride, on Friday night. The Pride haven’t been as dominant as they were last season, but they were still second in the league entering the matchup, behind only the Kansas City Current. The Pride were good enough to get by Bay FC 1-0.

Emmie Allen made her first ever start in goal for Bay FC, against a very dangerous attack that included Barbra Banda and Ally Watt just to name a couple.

Bay FC Starting XI: Allen, Malonson, Hubly, Dahlkemper, Dydasco, Bebar, Pickett, Huff, Oshoala, Kundananji, Lema

Orlando Starting XI: Morehouse, Dyke, Nadaner, Sams, Pickett, Yates, McCutcheon, Marta, Costantino, Banda, Watt

Taylor Huff got the best chance of the opening minutes, as she forced Anna Morehouse to make a diving save in the 10th minute, denying the Bay FC rookie of her long-awaited first-career goal. Ally Watt was taken down by Rachael Kundananji in the 13th minute in a hard collision, which likely could’ve seen the Bay FC forward given a yellow card, but she escaped with just a foul. Asisat Oshoala was getting called for multiple fouls early in the match as well, as a result, she was given a final warning by referee Muhammed Hassan less than half an hour into the game.

Marta nearly got the Pride on the board with a great run into the box in the 26th minute, but her shot went wide of the goal. Karlie Lema was shown a yellow card in the 30th minute when she pulled down a Pride player. Allen made her first save on a shot from point-blank range in the 31st minute. It would remain a deadlock heading into half-time, tied at 0-0.

Banda went down in the 51st minute with an apparent ankle injury after getting tangled up with two Bay FC defenders. After a couple of minutes, she ended up remaining in the game. Caprice Dydasco hit the crossbar in the 57th minute right after a corner kick, nearly giving the home side a go-ahead goal. After the referee called a foul, Orlando played a quick free kick, allowing Banda to get behind the defense, and she scored, making it 1-0.

Bay started bringing pressure late in the second half, getting shots through to Morehouse consistently, but with just 15 minutes remaining, they still trailed by a goal. Morehouse dropped the ball off of a corner in the 78th minute after being bumped by her own defender; however, the shot by Penelope Hocking was blocked, and the follow-up chance by Kundananji went over the goal. Caroline Conti nearly got an equalizer in the 82nd minute, but Morehouse was able to tip it over the bar.

Bay FC brought a lot of fight to the end of the game, but ultimately they weren’t able to get an equalizer and ended up falling to Orlando with a final score of 1-0.