Bay FC struggled to get the ball over the goal crease against Gotham FC at Pay Pal Park in San Jose on Fri May 24, 2024 (Bay FC X photo)
By William Espy
SAN JOSE–Bay FC looked to follow up their win against the San Diego Wave with one over the defending NWSL champions, Gotham FC on Friday night. After this game, Bay will have roughly two weeks off before their next game against the Chicago Red Stars at Wrigley Field.
As a result, it was crucial for them to walk away with some points against one of the top teams in the league to build some confidence heading into their break. It wouldn’t be easy though, as Gotham had won three of their last five games entering the night and had gotten at least a single point in each of those matchups. Gotham had a strong defense and Bay couldn’t get offense going in a 2-0 shutout loss at Pay Pal Park. It was Bay’s fifth loss in their last six games.
Bay Starting XI: Rowland, King, Sharples, Menges, Dydasco, Blade, Pickett, Anderson, Kundananji, Camberos, Oshoala
Gotham Starting XI: Berger, NIghswonger, Hiatt, Sonnett, Bell, Sheehan, Martin, Lavelle, Stevens, Ryan, Gonzalez
Bay got an attacking opportunity immediately after kick-off when a breakout pass from their defensive third split through the defense and found Rachael Kundananji.
If she had taken a shot, she may have scored a goal but she stopped and attempted a pass which was broken up. She’s a great team player, there’s no doubt about that but it’s likely Albertin Montoya would’ve preferred her to be a little more selfish in that situation.
Asisat Oshoala was pulled out of the game momentarily for causing an injury delay in the 5th minute but quickly rejoined her team on the pitch. Rose Lavelle had a bit of an injury scare for Gotham in the 12th minute, however, she was able to get up and remain in the game despite some clear discomfort.
Bay was still bringing offensive pressure at this point but had been unable to capitalize despite a few great opportunities. In the 14th minute, Tess Boade and Joelle Anderson tried to pull off a sneaky passing play off of a corner, despite it working pretty well they were unable to get the ball into the goal.
Moments later, Kundananji almost scored off of another corner play when a cross from Emily Menges found her head but it went just wide of the goal post. There was a review initiated by the video assistant referee in the 20th minute for a possible Gotham penalty, it was decided that no foul had occurred though, and play resumed.
Despite playing a standard 4-4-2 formation, Bay FC was rotating players positionally fairly consistently up front. Kundadnanji would occasionally slip from striker to playing the left side of midfield while Boade moved up front and then minutes later they’d swap back.
It left the defense guessing, which is part of the reason it seemed they were able to generate so many chances early in the match. In the 28th, Boade ran out of space when trying to gather a Savy King cross inside the box giving Gotham a goal kick.
If there had just been a couple of more feet, Boade may have been able to get a quality shot off. Early in the 31st minute, Gotham got their best chance of the night when a shot got past Katelyn Rowland but hit the inside of the goalpost.
Moments later though, they’d get an even better one that this time found mesh rather than metal. Ella Stevens slipped through the defense and deflected a centering pass into the goal, although there were initially some concerns of offside from Bay’s defense, the goal didn’t trigger a review.
Less than two minutes later, Rowland was carrying the ball inside the box when she got it taken away from her by an attacking Stevens, who scored her second of the night with an assist to Esther Gonzalez. Despite a strong first 30 minutes for the home team, it just took two strong minutes from Gotham to change the game drastically.
Ann-Katrin Berger required some medical attention in the 36th minute, giving Bay an opportunity to try to recuperate with a sideline talk from Montoya. The home team’s play got a lot sloppier following the two goals against, they weren’t connecting on their passes the same and although they were still working hard, it was clear that the confidence that they started the night with was gone, or at least significantly lessened. They wouldn’t be able to respond before the end of the half, and Gotham went into the break with a 2-0 lead.
Kundananji collided hard with Berger inside the box, the ball was deflected up high and Kundananji was trying to get her team on the board while Berger jumped up to grab the ball. Berger went down hard, and needed medical attention, as a result, Kundananji was shown a yellow card and truthfully may have been lucky that was all that she was given.
Meanwhile, Berger remained down in serious pain and struggled to walk when she got up. In a great show of sportsmanship though, Kundananji walked over and checked on her once Berger got to her feet. Gotham’s goalkeeper remained in the game, although with how much difficulty she was having, it’s a bit surprising that they left her in as we saw earlier in the night, it just takes a few mistakes to change the trajectory of the match.
The first substitutions of the night came in the 61st minute when Tierna Davidson and Crystal Dunn entered the match for Gotham. In the 68th minute, Anderson, King, and Oshoala came out for Dorian Bailey, Deyna Castellanos, and Alyssa Malonson. More changes came for both sides in the 75th minute, Montoya was looking for some help in the attack, bringing in Rachel Hill for Scarlett Camberos.
Boade got a great opportunity with a run through the defense in the 80th minute, but she was denied by Berger, who appeared to aggravate her injury from the collision with Kundananji earlier in the half and once again needed attention. Castellanos had a great chance to add a goal for Bay in the 86th minute, but her strike went just wide of the goal.
At the end of the 90th minute, Bailey was pulled down inside of the box however Bay wasn’t awarded a penalty to the dismay of the crowd in attendance. Montoya was shown a yellow when a few moments later Bay was called for a foul.
Throughout the night, it seemed like nothing was going their way in that regard and it was clear frustration had set in. As it always does, time would eventually run out. Bay FC wasn’t able to break up Berger’s clean sheet and despite a rough night at the office for Gotham’s goalkeeper, she got the best result she could’ve hoped for when all was said and done.
Whenever facing off against the defending champions, you can’t even give them an inch or they’ll take a mile and that’s exactly what happened on this occasion.
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