Bay FC fall short in 2-1 loss to Wave

SAN JOSE — It was a night of missed chances for Bay FC. Missed opportunities to score inside the box and a missed opportunity to close the gap on the two teams they are chasing for the eighth and final playoff spot in the NWSL standings.

The San Diego Wave scored two goals in the second half to defeat their in-state rivals 2-1 before a paid crowd of 11,848 at PayPal Park on a muggy Saturday evening in the South Bay.

With the victory, the Wave jumped up to second place in the NWSL standing with 29 points as they leaped ahead of Orlando, Washington and Portland after starting out the evening in fifth place. Bay FC failed to get closer to both Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage who are currently tied for the eighth spot with 20 points. Bay FC remained in 10th place with 17 points.

It was a tough night for the home team as San Diego made it tough for Bay FC to get things going offensively in the first half. The Wave controlled possession by a two-thirds to one margin. Bay FC is usually successful when they maintain possession and are able to impliment their high press style of offense.

“In the first half we limited their chances on goal but unfortunately, we went down in the second half. Credit to everyone who came in off the bench, they had a positive impact on the game,” said Bay FC head coach Albertin Montoya.

Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz was the reason Bay FC had a chance for at least a point toward the end of the match with her brillant play between the posts. Silkowitz made five saves and received some help from her best friend, the crossbar at the 10-minute mark. Kenza Dali's free kick from 30 yards out hit off of the crossbar just past the outstretched reach of Silkowitz.

San Diego frustrated Bay FC in the opening 45 minutes by keeping them off of the ball, frustrating Montoya's side whenever they possessed the ball. To Bay FC's credit they kept the Wave off of the scoreboard in the first half by having the midfield support the backline whenever San Diego tried to create chances inside the box.

There's highs and lows to it," said midfielder Caroline Conti. "But you have to respect the style of play the other team does. When we do win the ball back, it's important to to play how we want to play and execute what we talked about in the pregame. So it's important to remember that and understand that if we've been defending for an ex-amount of minutes that we need to keep it and just play our (style of) football."

The Wave tallied the match's first goal in the 52nd minute. Adriana Leon crossed the ball into the middle of the box that deflected off of Perle Morroni as Caprice Dydasco slipped and fell down on the play. Kimmie Ascanio crashed in from the left side and buried the ball into the back of the net. The 17-year-old midfielder scored her fourth goal of the season.

San Diego kept the pressure on as they had Bay FC back on its heels. The Wave had back-to-back scoring chances a minute apart starting in the 56th minute only to have Silkowitz rob them of adding to their lead. An attempt by Leon was thwarted away with a leaping one-handed save by Silkowitz. Then in the 57th minute Silkowitz knocked away a chance by Morroni.

Dali scored what proved to be an insurance goal for San Diego in the 63rd minute. After a give and go with Leon, Dali drilled a shot to the upper right corner from the center of box for her third goal of the season as the Wave put themselves in a good position going up 2-0.

Montoya immediately made changes as he inserted Dorian Bailey, Kiki Pickett and Tess Boade to shake up his squad and change the energy to try to regain the momentum that San Diego earned and put Bay FC behind the eight ball.

The subs helped Bay FC regain possession and pressed forward with chances as San Diego went into a prevent defense mode. Racheal Kundananji set up Boade inside the box, but her shot was easily saved by Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan in the 69th minute. Sheridan kept Bay FC at Bay with her aggressive play inside the box as she gobbled up that came close to her as Bay FC were inches off from getting scoring chances off of balls they played into the middle.

Bay FC finally got a huge break late in the match. Boade dribbled inside the box from the right side. Her shot attempt was blocked by midfielder Kristen McNabb's arm. Referee Joshua Encarancion ruled the play a hand ball and awarded a penalty to Bay FC and a yellow card to McNabb.

In the 75th minute, after a review of the hand ball was confirmed, Conti cashed in the penalty kick with a shot to the upper left corner of the net for her third goal of the season as Bay FC cut the deficit to one goal. Out of the three goals Conti has scored, two have been by the way of the penalty kick.

However, that would be as close as Bay would get to a comeback and earning at least one point as they weren't able to score the equalizer despite 10 minutes of stoppage time added at the end of the second half. Sheridan finished with three saves to earn the win.

Bay FC has 10 matches left to improve their offense and to tighten up the defense if they want to make the playoffs for a second consecutive year. Their schedule doesn't get any easier as their next match comes next Saturday when they host Trinity Rodman and the Washington Spirit at 1:00pm. The match will be a historical one as it will be played at Oracle Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants. It will be the first time a women's sporting event will be played inside the ballpark of the three-time World Series champions.

"As I told them team now, we're right back at it. We got to get ready for the Spirit in a game next weekend at Oracle Park. So we don't have time to put our head down. (There was) a lot good from this game and we just got to build on that," Montoya said.