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Fans at PayPal Park rode a roller coaster of emotion on Sunday night as they witnessed a true back-and-forth battle between NWSL's newest expansion club, Bay FC, and last year's league finalists, Seattle Reign. With four of the game’s five goals occurring in the second half, both sides conceded own goals and had hairline offsides goals called back. In the end, Bay FC edged out the Reign to capture their first home victory in front of an impressive crowd of 16,719.
While Bay FC dominated the first half in shots, Seattle took the early lead in the 27th minute when outside back Lily Woodham blasted a cross at two trailing Bay FC defenders, bouncing off Kayla Sharples into her own net. Undeterred, Sharples responded with an equalizer in the 48th minute, heading in a lobbed ball played to the far post by fellow centerback Emily Menges.
“I think own goals happen so often,” Bay midfielder Alex Loera said in the post-match conference. “It speaks to her [Kayla Sharples’] character and her value as a player that she was able to not let that go into her head and shut down.”
Bay FC struck again 10 minutes later, when Loera smashed in a left-footed, one-touch shot from outside the box following a cleared corner kick, making it 2-1 for the home team.
Both teams continued to play on the front foot, pushing counter attacks and setting up crowd-agonizing close misses by Bay FC’s Asisat Oshoala and Racheal Kundananji, and the Reign’s Ji So-Yun and Bethany Balcer. Notably, this was the first time Oshoala and Kundananji have started together for the club. The two international attackers bring high football pedigrees and expectations, and have been a central part of the club's early messaging. Post-match, Bay FC manager Albertin Montoya aptly described them as a "handful" to defend, and expressed his excitement for future performances.
The latter pair would even the match to 2-2 with Balcer’s goal in the 83rd minute, after Ji brought the ball down from a lofted cross by substitute Emeri Adames. Less than five minutes later, Bay FC grabbed the lead again when midfielder Joelle Anderson’s shot was deflected into the net, only to be answered within minutes by a goal from Seattle’s Veronica Latsko, which was ruled offside. Reign coach Laura Harvey disagreed with the call, commenting post-match that the disallowed goal was “definitely onside.”
Bay FC held onto their 3-2 lead through 12 minutes of stoppage time and move to a 2-2-0 record in the league. They travel next to play Kansas City Current on April 20, while Seattle Reign FC return home to face the Chicago Red Stars (April 21) after a three-game stretch on the road.