For the first time in the club’s young life, Bay FC has some problems to address.
After a storybook first chapter last weekend, when the expansion team pulled off a stunning 1-0 win over Angel City FC in the franchise’s first game, Bay FC ran into trouble before ever touching a soccer ball on Saturday afternoon.
In front of a record crowd of 11,734 at Audi Field, home of the Washington Spirit, it was announced that 24-year-old Alex Loera, who was named Bay’s captain last week, would be missing the game due to “an internal club matter.”
Head coach Albertin Montoya wouldn’t comment on the issue, but he took the captain’s armband from Loera and handed it to Emily Menges, a 31-year-old veteran center back.
It worked out just fine for most of Saturday’s game, when Bay FC put together an organized and impressive performance until the very end, when it conceded the game-winning goal in the final minute of stoppage time to suffer a heartbreaking 2-1 loss.
With less than 60 seconds to go, the Spirit played a long ball from the back that landed at the top of the penalty area. It seemed to catch Bay FC’s defense off guard, as Menges lunged forward to win the ball but it snuck past her and landed at the feet of two Spirit attackers.
Croix Bethune took one touch to burst by Savy King, then guided a low shot past goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx to send the Spirit home with a last-second win.
Montoya said there’s a mentality required to get to the ball first and his team needed to apply more pressure to avoid conceding at the very end.
“It’s just unfortunate,” said Montoya. “That’s another thing teams always have to work on. We’re a little bit new and we have to work on final moments and game management so we can see (the game) out. A point in Washington would’ve been a great result.
“But we played a very good game today, as far as the brand of football we want to play. That’s a huge positive for us.”
The momentary breakdown spoiled what was an otherwise successful game for Bay FC.
A thrilling end to a tough battle!
Spirit vs. Bay highlights presented by @Nationwide pic.twitter.com/XE5ZYPCfsV
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 24, 2024
Without Loera, a budding star in the National Women’s Soccer League and perhaps the most important person on the field as the club’s center defensive midfielder, Montoya turned to Dorian Bailey, 27-year-old who was facing her former team for the first time since the Spirit traded her last December.
Bailey needed only 11 minutes to make an impact, as she made a perfect run into the penalty area and connected on a pass from Asisat Oshoala. Oshoala had dragged the defense to the end line before cutting back and playing a smooth pass to Bailey, who one-timed the shot to give Bay FC an early lead.
Oshoala nearly scored a highlight reel goal shortly thereafter when she picked the pocket of a Washington defender and tried to chip the goalie from about 25 yards out, but clipped it just over the crossbar.
On defense, Bay FC nearly achieved its top goal: limit the damage from United States Women’s National Team star winger Trinity Rodman.
To do that, Bay relied on King, the rookie left back and No. 2 overall pick out of the University of North Carolina who rarely gets beat one-on-one. But Rodman finally got her chance midway through the first half, when she left the wing to cut inside, drew two defenders with her and made a perfect pass to a wide-open Hal Hershfelt.
With Proulx off her line, Hershfelt fired a magical strike to lift it over the diving keeper and into the top-left corner of the net.
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After a hectic first half, Bay settled down in the second half, controlling possession throughout but lacking the creativity through the midfield to create scoring chances.
On the defensive side, Montoya thought his club won the battle against Rodman, saying that Rodman and King “canceled each other out.”
“Trinity is one of the best forwards in the world,” Montoya said. “Savy did a great job.”
Rodman ran out of gas in the 86th minute and had to be substituted out before the Spirit scored the game-winner.
Despite the disappointing result, Montoya was pleased with the way his team was able to maintain possession (55%) and move the ball on Saturday, saying “they played their hearts out.”
Defender Caprice Dydasco summed it up: “Last week we got lucky with the result, this time we got the football. Next week we’ll try to combine both of them: get the result and play great football.”