{"id":331950,"date":"2026-05-25T19:32:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/331950\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T19:32:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T19:32:21","slug":"bay-fc-loses-to-chicago-stars-fc-after-two-players-given-red-cards-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/331950\/","title":{"rendered":"Bay FC loses to Chicago Stars FC after two players given red cards"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 Bay FC coach Emma Coates had never experienced it as a player or coach,<\/a> and hopes she never will again.<\/p>\n

Reduced to nine players after two direct red cards, including one to starting goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz, Bay FC eventually fell 1-0<\/a> to Chicago Stars FC on Sunday at PayPal Park, wasting a chance to build momentum in its last home game in eight weeks before the international break.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mallory Swanson<\/a> \u2014 the 2019 World Cup champion and 2024 Olympic gold medalist \u2014 scored the winning goal in the 70th minute for Chicago as Bay FC\u2019s winless skid reached four games (0-2-2).\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, it\u2019s a difficult circumstance when you end the game with nine players, and I thought the heart that the players (demonstrated) showed their toughness,\u201d the 35-year-old Coates said. \u201cWe kept creating chances, we hit the crossbar, I thought we might have been able to (score) one towards the end of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they had hearts of lions out there today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay FC became the first NWSL team in seven years to receive two straight red cards in the same match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our strategy was good. Maybe we\u2019ll use that again,\u201d Coates said, before catching herself. \u201cHopefully I never experience that again in my career, if I\u2019m honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chaos began in the 12th minute when Bay\u00a0centerback\u00a0and Argentina captain Aldana Cometti was shown a straight red card for denying a clear goal-scoring opportunity. A back pass from fullback Maddie Moreau skipped past Joelle Anderson, springing Chicago forward Jordyn Huitema on a 1-on-1 before Cometti tripped her just outside the penalty area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful game, it\u2019s an ugly game, it\u2019s a hard game,\u201d Bay captain Claire Hutton said. \u201cWe\u2019re out here grinding every day, and we\u2019re going to back each other up. It\u2019s a game of love, and we\u2019re just going to keep competing every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even down to 10 players, Bay controlled stretches of the match.<\/p>\n

The hosts outshot Chicago 8-4 and thought they had taken the lead when Taylor Huff found the net, only for the goal to be overturned after review because Cristiana Girelli was ruled offside in the buildup.<\/p>\n

But the match unraveled for Bay in the 65th minute. Silkowitz raced off her line and swatted away a ball outside the penalty area to stop a breakaway, leaving the club with nine players for the first time in its three-year history.<\/p>\n

Chicago needed only five minutes to capitalize, with Swanson scoring her first goal since July 6, 2024. The American forward, who entered at halftime, was making just her second appearance since giving birth in November.<\/p>\n

The scoreline fit a match between the league\u2019s two lowest-scoring teams. Chicago (3-8-0, 9 points) entered having been shut out in seven of its previous eight matches, while Bay FC (3-5-2, 11 points) had scored only twice in its last six games.<\/p>\n

Bay kept pressing despite the two-player disadvantage, generating late chances but failing to find an equalizer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved the energy that we brought even though we were two players down,\u201d said midfielder Hannah Bebar, who hit the crossbar with the team\u2019s final shot. \u201cYou have to be ready for any scenario in this league, even one as crazy as today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bay FC, in 13th place in the 16-team NWSL<\/a>, travels to Orlando on Friday before pausing league play until July. Coates hopes the resilience her team showed Sunday can carry forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we saw a real edge from the players at the end of the game,\u201d Coates said. \u201cWhatever got them through that game off the back of a three-game week \u2014 and we were still pushing for goals \u2014 bottle that up. That\u2019s what\u00a0we take\u00a0over to Orlando.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 Bay FC coach Emma Coates had never experienced it as a player or coach, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[126542,10708,9677,88,90,89],"class_list":["post-331950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-aldana-cometti","tag-bay-fc","tag-chicago-stars","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}