Bay FC midway through 2026 season: What loss to Gotham says about the team

It took just two minutes for reigning champion Gotham FC to deliver its opening statement Wednesday night at PayPal Park. That early strike was enough to send Bay FC to the midpoint of the season with a second straight loss.

Just six minutes after Midge Purce’s close-range lefty tap-in to the top left corner gave the visitors the early advantage, Kennedy Fuller appeared to find an equalizer off Karlie Lema left-side service. After video review, though, referee Servando Berna Rico overturned the goal for offside — a decision that, even postgame, left Bay coach Emma Coates puzzled.

From there, and with a great showing from Bay FC goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz, neither side could break through again, as the final 80 minutes passed without another goal.

Bay found just three shots on goal, to Gotham’s 10, were out-possessed 59% to 41%, as what once was a three-game unbeaten streak out of the month-long NWSL break for the men’s World Cup has become a two-game skid.

In Wednesday’s loss, Bay FC (5-8-3, 18 points) eclipsed the halfway point of the season, now 14th in a 16-team field with 14 matches remaining in the club’s third year. They won’t have to wait long for an opportunity to rebound from the two-game losing streak, as Bay will close out a busy three-game, eight-day stretch hosting Seattle Reign FC on Saturday evening.

Looking ahead, the race for a playoff spot is narrow — just five points separate the seventh and 14th seed in the standings. Though a similar scoring-touch issue is not fully resolved, Bay FC is certainly unrecognizable from its forgettable four-win 2025 season. Halfway through, there have been a few key developments:

Silkowitz can’t overcome D breakdowns

The 26-year-old keeper, enjoying a breakout second NWSL season, has been the anchor for Bay FC. Through 16 regular-season games, she’s made a league-high 69 saves — just ahead of Houston’s Jane Campbell, a former Stanford Cardinal standout and USWNT goalie — and has kept four clean sheets. If not for her acrobatics and instincts, the club’s minus-five goal differential could be buried much deeper.

“She keeps us in games,” Coates said after the loss. “I’m frustrated for her as well, the fact that we conceded from a set play, and she’s made all those great saves.”

Silkowitz’s nine saves ended up as Bay FC’s brightest moments on Wednesday after Fuller’s early equalizer was overturned. But the goals the club has conceded over its last two matches were indeed frustrating from a defensive standpoint in front of Silkowitz. In last Friday’s stoppage-time loss to Houston, Bay FC had numbers behind the ball when Linda Ullmark’s low strike from just inside the 18-yard box still found the back of the net for the win. Against Gotham, seven Bay FC players collapsed around the attack, yet Purce found a way through.

The bigger picture, however, is much brighter for Silkowitz, who earned her first call-up to the USWNT senior squad in January as part of the active roster for a friendly against Paraguay. She’s also garnered two call-ups to the U-23 national team since late 2025.

Dahlkemper’s return

A mere 404 days after her last appearance, Abby Dahlkemper was back on the sideline with butterflies in her stomach, preparing to step onto the field in front of her hometown crowd after welcoming her first child in February. When the 84th minute arrived, the Menlo Park native checked into the match. While she admitted it wasn’t quite as easy as riding a bike, she felt ready for those 10 minutes chasing a goal and is approaching her comeback one day at a time. The moment became the loudest of the night, as fans erupted to celebrate the return of the defender, a 12-year NWSL veteran.

“It was a really special monet for Abby tonight. You could see how much she’s meant to the club,” Coates said. “Having a child myself, that’s not easy and obviously she’s put herself in this position, so that was great to see.”

Dahlkemper reflected postgame on her appreciation for the club’s support and the warm welcome back from Bay FC fans.

“I feel an immense amount of gratitude. When you have a child, your whole life changes and soccer isn’t everything anymore,” she said. “I’m just appreciative to be able to come back and step back out on the field with this amazing group of girls … hopefully, one day I can look back with my son Eli and just hopefully make him proud.”

Dahlkemper’s comeback adds another chapter to a decorated career that includes two NWSL championships, four NWSL Shields, a 2027 Defender of the Year award and a World Cup title with the USWNT in 2019. Since joining Bay FC in August 2024, Dahlkemper has been a stabilizing presence, playing heavy minutes in the back in the first half of 2025. She joins five other mothers across the NWSL who have returned from maternity leave this season.

Young and connected midfield

Bay FC entered its third season after an offseason of change with a clear new direction: investing in young talent. The club made a big splash in landing 20-year-old Claire Hutton, already with 20 senior team caps, and 18-year-old Alex Pfeiffer ahead of the season, and then doubled down during the June World Cup break by adding 19-year-old Fuller from Angel City. With nearly half of Coates’ roster under the age of 24, Bay FC has leaned fully into building a young core with the potential to grow together.

The results have not translated into a winning record just yet, but the foundation and development are beginning to show. The midfield, which struggled to find consistency and keep possession in coach Albertin Montoya’s system last season, has become one of the club’s biggest strengths. Fuller, Hutton and Hannah Bebar now occupy the zone as a technically sound, creative and connected trio of young players.

“I love our midfield. Claire and Hannah, in particular, developed a really nice relationship and are able to bounce off of each other, and Kennedy’s been a player who came in and stitched those units together,” Coates said of her midfield group and its evolution. “I think other teams have recognized that our midfield is strong, and now we’ve added different threats in our front line. We’re not just a team that can play central, now we’re a team that can go around opposition.”

Youngsters keep the pressure up on the frontline, too. Pfeiffer and 23-year-old former Cal striker Karlie Lema have been making strides in their development this season as well. Lema now has four goals in her sophomore season — and as Coates has pointed out, has grown in her tactical awareness and timely decision-making to consistently create opportunities to charge at goal.

Pfeiffer also has scored two goals and recorded three assists this year. Last season, scoring was hard to come by for Bay, which finished with a league-low 26 goals. But in the Coates era, despite only 16 goals through 16 games, there have certainly been flashes of what could become of this group’s attack as it develops.