SAN JOSE — Thousands of people were in line to get into PayPal Park hours before Bay FC was scheduled to play its first home game on Saturday night.
When they got in, little girls wearing their hometown jerseys sprinted to the large grassy area and started playing soccer tennis. They kicked and screamed and laughed, then soon wrapped themselves in blue and red Bay FC scarves and found their seats.
There were 18,000 people in total, the stadium filling with joyful anticipation until finally, at 7 p.m., it happened.
After a 14-year hiatus, women’s professional soccer returned to the Bay Area.
Bay FC lost, 3-2, to the Houston Dash, after 100 minutes of nonstop action and two stoppage time goals that tilted the energy back and forth until finally, disappointingly, the referee blew his whistle.
The Bay FC players hung their heads, but only for a moment. They were soon greeted by applause, then walked off the field as screaming children, their eyes wide and jaws on the ground as if they had just seen Taylor Swift, reached over a fence for high-fives.
It was a loss, but it hardly felt like one.
“It felt like a win before the game, during the game, because of the fans,” said coach Albertin Montoya, the longtime MVLA club director who also coached the last rendition of women’s professional soccer here, the FC Gold Pride.
That was in 2010, when 2,000 or 3,000 people showed up, he said.
“I haven’t seen this in the Bay Area, ever,” Montoya said. “It’s just a little bit surreal. The energy, the excitement, all these young players watching some of their stars.
“And these players are going to be pretty special. This is going to be a fun team to watch evolve. I think you’ll see a lot of young players be excited about this beautiful game and they’ll aspire to be like their heroes. It’s only going to get better.”
The club’s journey began last April, when former United States Women’s National Team legends Brandi Chastain, Leslie Osborne, Danielle Slaton, and Aly Wagner announced a new expansion team in the National Women’s Soccer Team that was bringing the sport back to the Bay Area.
Less than one year later, Bay FC took the field in front of an energized crowd that packed PayPal Park to the brim and only seemed to get louder as the night went on.
The first 20 minutes were surely better than any of the Founding Four could’ve dreamed of, as Bay FC dominated Houston with 60% of the possession and a smothering style of defense.
In the 12th minute, the crowd was steaming with enough anticipation to boil a tea kettle after Alex Loerra skimmed a shot just over the crossbar.
In the 19th minute, the fans were rewarded when Scarlett Camberos beat her defender on the left wing and played a dangerous cross into the box, where Asisat Oshoala found it and fired a quick shot that was deflected to Deyna Castellanos.
Castellanos, a 24-year-old former Manchester City star, quickly fired it into the top left corner for the first home goal in Bay FC history. She ran towards the corner flag and slid onto both knees.
“For me, it was one of the best moments of my career,” she would say two hours later.
The picture-perfect start for Bay FC continued throughout the first half, as Montoya utilized a high press to create constant turnovers and maintain pressure for a full 45 minutes. Bay FC finished the half with nearly 60% possession while winning in corner kicks, 3-0, crosses, 8-2, and duels, 32-23.
“I thought our football was outstanding in the first half,” Montoya said. “Hopefully our fans enjoyed it.”
Playing a wide-open game in which Montoya used two attacking midfielders and three forwards who pressed high up the field, his team started to fatigue and his players’ legs looked heavy midway through the second half.
And when they allowed a 66th-minute turnover, the midfielders were too tired to recover, as Houston capitalized with a game-tying goal on the counter attack.
Montoya made some substitutions, trying to find fresh legs, but it happened again in the 87th minute, when a cross into the box deflected off the hand of a Bay FC defender for a penalty kick that Houston converted for a 2-1 lead.
Looking back, Montoya said he might’ve made a mistake. Perhaps he could’ve tightened up and settled for a tie.
But he thought about the way he wanted to play: attacking-minded and creative football that would make the fans happy.
“I was actually on the sidelines saying, ‘let’s go try to win this game, let’s get numbers forward,’” he said.
Racheal Kundananji, the 23-year-old who recently set the world record for a transfer fee when Bay FC paid $800,000 to acquire her from Madrid CFF, had been resting a sore knee, but was finally ready for her debut midway through the second half.
As Bay FC searched for a tying goal in stoppage time, Kundananji dribbled around three Houston defenders like they were orange cones and chipped the goalie with a perfect floater that landed in the back corner of the net.
“An amazing goal,” Montoya said.
The crowd erupted and Kundananji sprinted to the sidelines, pointing towards the Bay FC bench when a teammate emerged, handing the hero a flag from her native Zambia. She draped it around her shoulders and the crowd went even wilder.
“I wanted to celebrate with my signature celebration, and I wanted to cry,” she said. “I was so happy I scored in my first game.”
Kundananji said she still doesn’t know some of her teammates’ names, but playing at PayPal Park “felt like I’m at home,” she said. “This is a new family.”
With the score tied, 2-2, Bay FC again went hunting for the game-winner, and again it cost them. A deflected cross landed at the feet of Houston’s Havana Solaun, who slotted it home to put Houston ahead for good.
It’ll go down as a loss, Bay FC’s second last-minute defeat in as many weeks as they dropped to 1-2 on the year. The players need to fix some things, perhaps change their mindset at the end of games, Montoya said. But they were happy with the way with they played.
“It was exciting, right?” Montoya said. “Some would argue, ‘let’s go and defend and tighten up a little bit (and play for a tie).’ But I’m like, ‘let’s entertain the fans.’
“Hopefully, more often than not, we’ll come out on top. Or I might not be around for long.”
Few people remember a tie.
Few will forget Saturday night.