Here’s an Election Distraction: Bay FC Is Playoff-Bound

The Bay Area’s professional women’s soccer team, Bay FC, is preparing this week for their first playoff game after an exciting win to clinch their spot in the postseason.

Bay FC is only the second expansion team of the National Women’s Soccer League to make the playoffs in their first season.

It typically takes new teams about a year to perfect the alchemy on the pitch and off, but head coach Albertin Montoya said the club took about half that time to get “in sync.”

“When you have all these players believing and playing for the cause, it’s going to change things around. And the fact that we’ve been able to do this six months into it has been very impressive,” Montoya said.

After clinching their postseason berth in their final game Saturday — a 3–2 win in Houston — Bay FC is clicking at the right time.

“It’s not easy starting up a new team, like, it was so difficult for us just to win a game,” striker Racheal Kundananji said at the post-game press conference. “As time goes on, we started knowing one another, knowing our strength and supporting one another, trying to lift one another. I think that’s why we had a powerful ending.”

Kundananji scored twice, including the goal that won the game in the second half for Bay FC (11-14-1).

The team also benefited from an uncharacteristic own goal from Houston Dash defender Paige Nielsen.

The win set the team up for another record among NWSL expansion teams, with the most wins for any team in their inaugural season.

And Kansas City’s victory against Chicago this weekend finalized standings going into playoffs, meaning Bay FC, seventh in the league, will play number two seed Washington Spirit.

“We’ve got a very good opponent that we’re playing against,” Montoya said. “We lost both games of the season with them, but we played both of those games the first half of the season. I think we’re a very different team in the second half of the season than we were in the first half.”

Part of that change is due to the acquisition of national team veteran Abby Dahlkemper. Raised in Menlo Park, Dahlkemper came to the Bay from San Diego Wave FC in August.

“The addition of Abby Dahlkemper — someone that has so much experience. National team experience, she’s won championships,” Montoya said. “She brings this kind of sense of belief and a winning mentality has really helped us. It’s like a perfect storm in our favor.”

According to forward Rachel Hill, the team’s success in the second half of the season is also due to Montoya’s unique approach to coaching a fresh group.

“I think a lot of teams would come in and say we’re going to focus on our defensive shape and how we’re going to defend, and he really came in from day one and said, ‘We’re going to possess the ball,’” Hill said at the press conference. “At the end of the day, we all just have to buy in, and we have to believe in that.”

In the days before the quarterfinals, there will be no big celebrations, just business as usual, Montoya said — analyzing last week’s game, improving what needs improving and focusing on the fresh start the playoffs bring.

“Even when we’re away, we talk about our fans and how we want to play for them and just the support that they’ve had for us,” Montoya said. “It means the world to our players and our staff. It’s only going to get better.”

Bay FC plays the Washington Spirit at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., on Sunday at 9:30 a.m.