Angel City Football Club Suffers Loss on the Road against NorCal Rival Bay FC

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NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club Suffers Loss on the Road against NorCal Rival Bay FC

May 17, 2025 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


SAN JOSE, CA - Angel City Football Club took a 2-0 loss on the road tonight against NorCal rival Bay FC, with goals by Bay forward Penelope Hocking and midfielder Caroline Conti.

Bay opened up the scoring tab in the 23rd minute with a goal by forward Hocking following a sharp through-ball across the box from midfielder Taylor Huff, giving Hocking the perfect angle to shoot the ball back across the box to the right side of the net.

Following a foul in the box committed by ACFC goalkeeper Angelina Anderson after coming out of her position to fight for the ball from Huff, who had a dangerous opportunity to score, Bay midfielder Conti hit the penalty kick attempt to put the home team up 2-0 in the 28th minute.

Although ACFC went into the half down 2-0 at PayPal Park, they played a scrappy 45+6' minutes with nine total shots, 65.1% possession, two corners won and 39 touches in the final third.

In the first minute of the second half, ACFC came out attacking immediately. Forward Alyssa Thompson took a huge shot on target after jetting down the center of the pitch directly towards Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz who was able to get in front of the ball.

Another opportunity for ACFC came in the 54th minute when forward Riley Tiernan received the perfect pass from forward Christen Press, leaving her 1-v-1 with Bay defender Maddie Moreau, taking a right footed shot that landed in the hands of Silkowitz.

Bay took an attempt that could've given them a three-goal lead four minutes later in the 58th minute, as forward Racheal Kundananji took a shot towards the upper end of the goal, hitting the crossbar.

In the 77th minute ACFC created another potential threat to score as ACFC midfielder Madison Hammond lobbed the ball in the box perfectly to midfielder Kennedy Fuller who lost traction while running in, barely getting a foot on the ball. However, they were able to hold their NorCal rival scoreless in the second half with their relentless defensive efforts.

Despite tonight's loss, Angel City out shot their opponent with 17 total shots and four on goal, with 11 of those 17 shots taken inside the box.

Angel City is back at home next week, taking on Racing Louisville FC on Saturday, May 24 at 7:00 p.m. live on ION.

ACFC MILESTONES

Defender Sophia Mattice made her NWSL Regular Season debut in tonight's match.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

ACFC Team Captain and Defender, Sarah Gorden

Overall thoughts on tonight's match:

"Going into the game, we put some pressure on ourselves as players, regardless if we say we want to put pressure on ourselves or not. With us not having Savy [King] tonight, knowing how important this game was to her, we really wanted to bring something special to this game. It's really disappointing how it turned out.

"We're pretty emotionally tired. The group did a great job this week showing up to practice and tuning in and getting ready. Tactically, Bay did really well with us in possession and made it difficult for us. When they put those two goals on us, it was difficult to come back emotionally. I know the group is exhausted. It's been a really long week and we're really disappointed that we couldn't get three points for our girl Savy."

On what she saw tonight from Bay FC:

"From our end we were a little flat, and in possession we were a little slow to move off the ball. From their end, tactically, they did a really good job with their wingers and defensively dropping with Gisele and Alyssa [Thompson], our winger. They made it hard to find them in wide spaces, which we love to do."

On her message to the team as they look forward to the next match:

"We need a day or so off to emotionally just get away from everything. It's been a really tough week with everything that happened and trying to move forward and pretend like last week didn't happen isn't possible. It kind of all hits you at one time. I'm still really proud of the group.

"We've put everything into this week. Even though we fell short today, it doesn't represent who we are and what we'll do the rest of the season. The girls have all been through so much this season. We started off preseason with the LA fires, people evacuating and then last week with Savy going down. This is a really strong group, so definitely expect us to regroup and come back stronger from this.

"This isn't who we are, but like I said, there is a lot of emotion from this game. We really wanted the result. We have an emotional drive to get back in it and I don't think it's indicative of who we are. I do think we're a tired group, so we need to take a day away and come back."

ACFC Interim Head Coach, Sam Laity

Overall thoughts :

"It's been an incredibly difficult week. Probably the most difficult week that any of us will experience in our career. I think two things were going to happen. Either we were going to come out and steamroll somebody, or we were going to have a bit of a performance like tonight, certainly the first half performance. There's so much context this week, but what you saw, especially in the first half. Everyone was a little bit drained, which was obvious from what we saw.

"I must say this, I'm extremely proud of the players. They've been focused this week, but that's been pretty obvious from what we've seen this week. I'm proud of them for turning up today and fighting right until the end. While that's not a surprise, I have so much admiration for the group. Having experienced what they've just experienced this last week.

"Congratulations to Bay FC as well. They did a great job tonight, I thought the game plan was perfect and they won a good game."

On looking forward to next week:

"As I said earlier, we were either going to come out today and be absolutely on fire, be 100 miles an hour and everything that we hit was going to go in. Or, it was going to be a little bit like today. If we'd been on fire this week, maybe next week might have been the game where it'd hit us a little bit.

"We can draw a line in the sand a little bit for this week and give the players a couple of days off now, which will be very much needed. We can start ramping up preparations for Louisville when the players and staff get back in."

Box Score - May 17, 2025 (PayPal Park)

Goals:

BAY - Hocking 23' (A: Huff)

BAY - Conti 28' (PKG)

Shots Saves Fouls Offsides Corners

BAY 11 4 6 3 2

LA 17 2 17 1 5

LA Starting XI: Anderson, Angelina; Gorden, Sarah; Reid, Megan; Vignola, M.A.; Thompson, Gisele; Kennedy, Alanna; Fuller, Kennedy; Zelem, Katie; Press, Christen; Thompson, Alyssa; Tiernan, Riley

Subs: Dufour, Julie; Hammond, Madison; Hodge, Macey; Mattice, Sophia; Miyabi; Phair, Casey

DNP: Stambaugh, Hannah; Nabet, Lily; Niehues, Maiara

BAY Starting XI: Silkowitz, Jordan; Dydasco, Caprice; Dahlkemper, Abby (C); Menges, Emily; Moreau, Maddie; Conti, Caroline; Bailey, Dorian; Huff, Taylor; Hill, Rachel; Kundananji, Racheal; Hocking, Penelope

Subs: Anderson, Joelle; Boade, Tess; Malonson, Alyssa; Oshoala, Asisat; Shepherd, Jamie

DNP: Lowder, Melissa; Lema, Karlie; Hubly, Kelli; Pickett, Kiki

Check out the Angel City FC Statistics



National Women's Soccer League Stories from May 17, 2025


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