Bay FC’s Maddie Moreau (24) fights for then ball against Chicago Stars FC’s Aaliyah Farmer (25) in the first half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, May 24, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
By William Espy
SAN JOSE–Bay FC were back at PayPal Park on Sunday afternoon as they hosted Mallory Swanson and Chicago Stars FC. Bay FC needed to find a way to solve their recent goal scoring woes against the team at the bottom of the table. Mallory spoiled her hosts match with a goal in the 70th minute the only goal of the contest as the Stars defeated Bay FC 1-0.
In the seventh minute, Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz was forced to make her first big save of the afternoon as she denied a difficult shot from Ryan Gareis. At the other end of the pitch, Stars goalkeeper Katie Atkinson was forced to do the same two minutes later.
Joelle Anderson nearly set up Caroline Conti for the afternoon’s first goal in the 10th minute, but Conti was unable to get a shot off. Aldana Cometti took down Jordyn Huitema right outside of the 18-yard box in the 11th minute and the Argentina international was shown a straight red card, putting Bay FC shorthanded for the rest of the night.
Despite being a player down, Bay applied considerable offensive pressure in the following minutes.
There would be a short delay in the 29th minute after Conti took some contact to the eye, but after getting a bit of medical attention, she remained in the game. Claire Hutton was shown a yellow card for a dangerous high kick in the 32nd minute.
Taylor Huff seemingly opened the scoring in the 39th minute, running past the defense and putting it into the net, but it was ruled that Cristiana Girelli was offside prior to the goal and it was disallowed.
The game would remain a 0-0 draw heading into halftime.
Jordan Silkowitz collided hard with Huitema in the 51st minute. While Huitema quickly got to her feet and returned to the Chicago sideline, Silkowitz took a bit longer to return to her feet but she remained in the game.
Girelli had a scoring opportunity in the 60th minute, but a late slide tackle by the Chicago defender was able to dispossess her of the ball, as it went out for a corner.
Jordan Silkowitz was shown a red card in the 63rd minute for handling the ball outside of the box, leaving Bay with nine players and Emmie Allen took over in the net.
Chicago took the lead in the 70th minute with a goal from Mallory Swanson, her first since 2024 as she just recently returned from maternity leave.
Allen was tested in the 85th minute, but was able to make a difficult diving save.
Manaka Hayashi was shown a yellow card in the 88th minute for a challenge from behind on Claire Hutton. Bay FC had a couple of opportunities to tie things up during stoppage time, but they were unable to do so. As a result, Chicago walked away with a 1-0 victory.
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