SAN JOSE – Bay FC settled for the first 0-0 draw in the club’s young history on Sunday against the Utah Royals in a Mother’s Day afternoon matchup at PayPal Park.
The result marked Bay FC’s first back-to-back shutouts since last June as goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz has taken center stage through the club’s best defensive stint yet.
Bay is in the midst of one of its toughest stretches of the season, lining up against two of the top teams in the NWSL in consecutive weeks. Sunday afternoon’s draw against the third-place Royals comes a week after Bay FC earned its biggest win of the year with a Racheal Kundanaji-led 1-0 win over the San Diego Wave on the road.
“In this league, it’s hard to keep clean sheets and the fact that we’ve done it twice off the bounce is really promising,” Head coach Emma Coates said after the game, though disappointed that her team did not earn three points on the afternoon. “When you don’t concede, you don’t lose, and every point counts in this league.”
Coates opted to keep the lineup the same heading into the match.
Claire Hutton and Hannah Bebar anchored the center of the midfield, while Kundananji and Taylor Huff worked the wings on either side of Dorian Bailey and Karlie Lema up top.
But noticeably absent from the attack was right winger Alex Pfeiffer, who has now missed three consecutive matches after sustaining a knee injury in training. There is no timetable for her return. Bay FC acquired the 18-year-old forward in a trade with Kansas City in January, and she became an instant boost to the offense of a club with the lowest goal total last season, scoring two goals and adding two assists in four matches.
Bay FC’s Racheal Kundananji (9) fights for the ball against Utah Royals FC’s Narumi Muria (10) in the first half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
After the teams split possession evenly in the first half, neither club registering a shot on goal, the action — and physicality — ramped up through the second 45. Hutton and Bay FC center backs Aldana Cometti and Joelle Anderson were each shown yellow cards on separate sequences in the second half, while Tatumn Milazzo was flagged for a yellow card for Utah.
The Royals began to look dangerous in their attacking third in the final 20 minutes of play, but two big saves from Silkowitz kept Bay FC deadlocked with the visitors.
Silkowitz, already with 31 saves seven games into the season, fended off the Royals’ most threatening chance when she tipped Mina Tanaka’s spin-and-shoot attempt from just inside the box over the goal. But Bay FC, despite shuffling its front line to bring in substitutes Caroline Conti and Onyeka Gamero into the mix in the second half, failed to capitalize on opportunities in the final third.
Gamero had a powerful strike in the 91st minute that sailed just over the bar, and Hutton made the club’s lone on-goal attempt when she sidestepped a defender from just outside the 18-yard box for a launch that landed firmly in Utah keeper Mandy McGlynn’s gloves.
Utah untangled a string of attacking plays in the game’s final 15 minutes, each of which Cometti and Silkowitz shut down.
Bay FC’s Onyeka Gamero (6) controls the ball against the Utah Royals FC in the second half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Bay FC finished with a slight advantage in possession time, though a 52-48 split lent the stalemate a few chaotic bursts. The Royals put two shots on goal, to Bay FC’s one, as each team made eight attempts in total.
“I’m proud of our group to take at least one point away from this team; they are a really good side and have had some really good results,” defender Sydney Collins, who wore the captain’s band, said. “Back-to-back shutouts is huge for us, it’s been a goal of ours and continues to give us momentum forward.”
Silkowitz, who joined Bay FC in August 2024 and started 24 matches in the 2025 season, now holds the franchise record for clean sheets with six.
Now seven games into its third NWSL season, Bay FC sits at No. 13 of 16 teams in the league standings, with 10 points. The club’s seven goals thus far are tied for second-fewest in the league, but in its first season under Coates, Bay is just one win shy of matching last season’s win total of four.
Bay FC will be back in action for the second half of its homestand on Friday to host the Boston Legacy, an expansion team.
Bay FC’s Taylor Huff (7) fights for the ball against Utah Royals FC’s Nuria Rabano (14) in the first half at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, May 10, 2026. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)