SAN JOSE — Bay FC just can’t seem to finish off a season-changing win.
The second-year NWSL club has shown flashes of brilliance in its sophomore season, integrating rookies Taylor Huff, Hannah Bebar and Karlie Lema into a strong core of players that has been supplemented with key veteran additions.
But Bay FC just can’t seem to break through. The latest example came on Saturday night at PayPal Park, when Bay FC blew two different one-goal leads to squander a golden chance to start the second half of the NWSL season with a feel-good win over bottom-of-the-table Houston.
Ultimately, Bay FC had to swallow the bitter pill of a 2-2 tie, one where it led expected goals by nearly a full tally (2.58 to 1.71) and forward Racheal Kundananji missed point-blank shots off both posts in the second half.
“Absolutely,” coach Albertin Montoya said when asked if Bay FC gave the game away. “When we create so many quality chances, it hurts. But at the same time, there are so many positives. I wasn’t happy just because the team played well. They deserved more. We need to tighten up a couple of things defensively. So it’s one that you just want more for them, because they played their hearts out and they created opportunities.”
Bay FC (4-6-4) entered Saturday in 10th place in the NWSL standings and had the opportunity to move up to ninth and one point out of a playoff spot with a win. But after forward Taylor Huff scored her first career goal in the 74th minute to give Bay FC a 2-1 lead, Houston (3-8-3) answered with a set-piece score by Sophie Schmidt in the 88th minute.
Bay FC couldn’t quite put the game away, and the cost was a diminished result and a diminished moment for the 22-year-old rookie out of Florida State.
“That’s just sport and soccer in general, how it goes up and down,” Huff said. “It speaks to our character going up, and then we have to do a better job of closing out a game.
“It’s unfortunate how it happened. From here, you can’t go back, so it’s just (about) looking forward and learning from our mistakes. We’re going to do that going forward, and it’s not going to happen again.”
Bay FC was in position to win initially when forward Penelope Hocking finished a pinpoint pass from Kundananji across the 18-yard box in the 16th minute, giving the home team an early 1-0 cushion. That margin held until midway through the second half, when Kiki Van Zanten finished a similar pass from Avery Patterson in the 72nd minute to tie the game 1-1 in almost the exact same spot on the pitch.
Van Zanten’s volley took the shine of another chapter in what has been a prolific run of form for Hocking. The 25-year-old forward, a trade acquisition from Chicago ahead of last year’s deadline, has now scored a goal in seven of Bay FC’s last nine matches across all competitions.
If you add in her assist in a 1-0 win over Portland on June 7, she has made a scoring contribution in eight of nine games.
“We’ve been playing a lot of good soccer, and my teammates have been putting me in really good spots,” Hocking told the Bay Area News Group about her recent run of form. “I’ve been feeling really confident, comfortable on the ball and just in and around the net. It’s been good. I’ve been trying to enjoy this and enjoy the time with the team. But winning comes first, and I’m bummed about this one.”
Bummed was a good way to sum up the vibe of Bay FC’s players after the game. Everything seems to be there for Bay to make a run to the playoffs.
The team continues to acquit itself well against both the best teams in the NWSL and its bottom-feeders. The results just haven’t been befitting a playoff team – at least not yet. Bay FC is still locked into 10th place, three points back of Gotham FC for the final playoff spot.
But Bay FC, in a similar position last season, suddenly began getting the results it needed and made a late run down the stretch to secure the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. Bay then took eventual NWSL runner-up Washington to the brink, losing 2-1 in extra time after holding a 1-0 lead late in the second half.
The right players seem to be in place for a second-half renaissance. Now it’s time to see if this version of Bay FC has what it takes to make it happen.
“We’ve got all of our pieces that we need,” Hocking told BANG. “We’ve got some great people, and we’ve got a great coach. Our whole organization believes in us, and our supporters believe in us, and it’s just a matter of getting it done. And it sucks to not get it done on days like this when we have them. But we believe in ourselves and we know that we can make a playoff push.”
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