Houston Gets Their First Win of the Season While Bay FC Creates History

In what was an exciting back and forth game, the Houston Dash come back in stoppage time to win their first game of the season causing Bay FC to lose their Inaugural Home Opener. 

According to head coach Albertin Montoya the main goal of their home opener was to get a win for the sold out crowd of 18,000 fans. That was starting to look possible after Denya Castellanos scored not only the first goal of her NWSL career, but also the first goal at home for Bay FC 19 minutes into the game. “For me it was one of the best moments of my career…” Castellanos later said about her goal. 

Bay FC was able to hold onto that lead for more than half the game before Houston started to come back. It started in the 66th minute when Diana Ordóñez scored her first goal of the night, tying the score. The go-ahead goal came by Ordóñez about 20 minutes later off of a rebounded penalty kick save. 

Down by a goal, Bay FC made NWSL history with Forward Racheal Kundananji three minutes into stoppage time. The first Zambian player in the league, Kundananji scored the equalizing goal in her debut with the league. After the goal, Kundananji said that she had mixed feelings about the final outcome,

“I wanted to celebrate… I wanted to cry. I was so happy that I scored in my first game with the team.”

Even before stepping on the pitch Kundananji was already making history with the team by having the largest transfer fee in NWSL history. 

The match ended about 10 minutes into stoppage time with Houston Midfielder Havana Solaun scoring the game winning goal, her first this season. 

Despite the loss, there seems to be many positives for Bay FC heading into future matches. “We are still a new team, we are still getting to know each other…” Castellanos said regarding the team, “Every game we look better, every game we feel better with each other and that's the positive side”