SAN JOSE — It’s been more than two months since Albertin Montoya’s side have tasted a victory. During that time, Bay FC have shown stretches of solidity and fight, but against the NWSL’s best sides, they continue to show that they are still a level below.
The San Diego Wave came into PayPal Park on Saturday and controlled the ball for large portions of the game until they struck twice in a 10 minute span in the second half, with goals coming from 17-year-old Kimmi Ascanio and veteran Kenza Dali.
Only then did Montoya throw caution into the wind with some attack-minded substitutions to try and get his side back into the game. One of those players, Tess Boade, drew a penalty in the 71st minute that midfielder Caroline Conti — who has emerged as a consistent starter this season — triumphantly converted to cut the deficit in half.
Bay FC huffed and puffed until the 99th minute to try and find an equalizer, but were ultimately never really close to threatening.
“The [penalty] goal have us a lot of energy and belief,” Montoya said. “They have that belief. So as long as we have that mentality to continue going forward, and the work rate, which they always have, those goals are bound to come. Because we are right there.”
His optimism is juxtaposed to the fact that Bay FC sit 10th in the standings with only tougher tests to come. Next week, they take on Trinity Rodman and the Washington Spirit at Oracle Park (on Saturday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m. PT) before running through a gauntlet of Angel City FC, KC Current, Orlando Pride and Gotham FC.
By the end of September, they could be closer to the bottom of the table than in the playoff picture.
“We’ve been the highest [expected goals] team in the last four or five games,” Montoya said. “Outside of Kansas City, which is up there on their own, everyone else is on a really fine line.”
While Bay FC took more initiative to chase the game after falling behind, the team wasn’t initially set up that way. Montoya said he anticipated San Diego to have more possession, so he countered by deploying a more direct 4-4-2 formation to make sure the hosts were hard to break down. In doing so, the Wave were indeed scoreless in the first half, but the hosts struggled too.
Racheal Kundananji and rookie Karlie Lema started up together up top but were seldom provided any easy scoring looks outside of a few hopeful long balls. Conti and rookie Hannah Bebar defended well, but struggled to link the play to the forward line since they were outnumbered in the midfield three-to-two.
“I think that when we have the ball, we’re at our best,” Rachel Hill told me after the game. “But you know, not every game allows us to do that. I think that we also have a good balance of taking whoever we’re going against that weekend into consideration and set up a game plan. Defensively, we executed it pretty well. Like, they didn’t have a ton of great chances.”
But the few that San Diego did manage to get, they buried. Jonas Eidevall’s team look completely transformed from the squad last year, which fired its previous coach Casey Stoney midseason and saw star players Alex Morgan, Naomi Girma, Abby Dahlkemper and Jaedyn Shaw all depart.
Under a new ownership group and front office, the Wave have retooled their team around three veterans who have all plied their trade in Europe before coming to North America. Delphine Cascarino, a mainstay on the French national team, has eight goal contributions already this year, while Canadian striker Adriana Leon, formerly of West Ham and Aston Villa in the WSL, has six.
Ascanio, who was the youngest player on the field, looked explosive and has five total contributions herself — which would make her second best on Bay FC behind Penelope Hocking, who is out injured.
In less than one year, San Diego has gone from a bottom dweller to second best in the league. They did it by nailing their signings and playing uncompromising soccer.
Bay FC on the other hand, are still searching for their identity. One week, they want to play on the ball. Another week, they’re sitting off of it. Being tactically flexible is great, but eventually, you need to excel at something.
About the Author: Kevin V. Nguyen is a business and sports journalist based in the Bay Area. Follow him on X/Twitter @KevinNguyen_89 or on Bluesky @kevinvnguyen.bsky.social
