Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji (9) celebrates scoring a goal against Seattle Reign FC in the first half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Saturday, April 26, 2025. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)
By William Espy
SAN JOSE–Bay FC hosted the Seattle Reign on Saturday night in a contest between two teams fighting for seventh in the standings.
Early in the match, Bay FC was sustaining heavy offensive pressure and getting the ball toward Seattle’s net on a fairly regular basis. In the 18th minute, Maddie Dahlien of the Reign was shown a yellow card for a challenge on Kiki Pickett in the midfield.
13 minutes later, Rachael Kundananji finally got on the scoresheet with her first goal of the season for Bay FC, giving them a 1-0 lead in the 31st minute. Jordan Silkowitz was critical for Bay FC staying in the game, as she made some incredible saves including a 1-on-1 opportunity in the first half. Over the course of the night, the 25-year-old goalkeeper made a season-high four saves.
Bay would carry their 1-0 lead into halftime, and after 45 minutes, the momentum seemed heavily in their favor. Things would change quickly in the second half though, as Jordyn Huitema would score in the 49th minute, making it 1-1.
From there, momentum slowly started to shift in favor of Seattle. As the game progressed, they maintained more possession in their attacking third of the pitch, putting pressure on the Bay FC defense.
Despite more pressure, the chances the Reign generated weren’t as high quality as the ones they had in the first half. It would take until the 69th minute for Albertin Montoya to make some changes for Bay, bringing in Asisat Oshoala and Rachel Hill for Karlie Lema and Caroline Conti.
After the substations, momentum seemed to even out for both sides. Bay FC had a few opportunities that nearly led to a second goal, however they were unable to convert.
After 90 minutes, the score remained 1-1 and the two evenly-matched sides would walk away with a single point each. Bay FC will head on the road for their next two games, visiting the San Diego Wave and Kansas City Current over the next two weeks before returning home on May 17 to face Angel City.
Sports Radio Service 