Angel City’s third home opener marked the beginning of a new regional rivalry for the Los Angeles-based franchise.
Sunday’s season-opener saw Angel City welcome Bay FC, the newest franchise currently based in San Jose, to BMO Stadium for a Sunday evening tilt to start the 2024 season. If Sunday’s result was any indication, Bay FC gave every indication that this newest in-state rivalry will be just as competitive as Dodgers-Giants, Rams-49ers and so forth. Asisat Oshoala’s early first half goal, combined with clutch goalkeeping from Lysianne Prouix allowed Bay FC to start its inaugural season on the right foot, as they earned the 1-0 upset Angel City.
“It sucks to lose your home opener,” Angel City defender Sarah Gorden said. “It’s not how you want to start the season, but there were definitely a lot of positive takeaways. In the second half, we created a lot of good chances and moved the ball well. Ultimately, it didn’t go our way today. This is NWSL, that’s how it goes sometimes. We are proud of where we can take this season. We have room to grow, but there are a lot of positive takeaways from tonight.”
Bay FC stumbled onto a golden scoring opportunity in the 16th minute and made the most of it. A back pass by M.A. Vignolia instead went to the foot of Tess Boade, and she quickly played Oshoala into the penalty area, and Oshoala, who scored 85 goals in 101 matches playing for FC Barcelona over five seasons, did not hesitate, one-timing a right-footed shot past keeper Angelina Anderson into the upper back net for the first-ever goal in the Northern California franchise’s history and more importantly, a 1-0 lead.
Angel City did its best to respond. Angel City had its first real look at a potential equalizer in the 35th minute, as Kennedy Fuller dribbled towards Bay FC end line, and the 17-year old sent a cross to the penalty spot and Meggie Daugherty-Howard charged in and blasted a right-footed one-timer towards the left post, but Prouix came up big, diving to parry the ball over the end line.
Angel City intensified its efforts at an equalizer in the second half. Daugherty-Howard created sightlines on two sperate occasions inside the first two minutes of the half, but both times were saved by Prouix. However, it was the chance in between her two attempts that had Angel City scratching its heads, as Claire Emslie sent a corner kick into the penalty area, Amandine Henry headed a ball into the six-yard box, Fuller shot a ball that deflected off Prouix but stayed inside the six, Daugherty-Howard and Paige Neilsen both charged to the ball, but neither could get a clear shot, and Bay FC eventually sent the ball over the end line.
“It was the most NWSL football game I’ve seen, and that happens,” Angel City head coach Becki Tweed said. “We knew the longer the half went on, the harder it was going to be, but we believed in ourselves the entire time. You could see that all the way to the final whistle.”
Angel City again missed potential equalizers by a mere inches. The first came as the match was heading into stoppage time, as Messiah Bright dribbled through the Bay FC defense and into the penalty area, Bright shot a ball that was initially stopped by Prouix, the ball deflected off Sydney Leroux and continued forward, but Bay FC defender Caprice Dydasco managed to clear the ball just short of the goal line. Angel City’s last shot to salvage a point in the match came when Vignolia blasted a shot inside the penalty area that bounced off the crossbar.
