The North Carolina Courage spoiled Bay FC’s last home game of the season Friday night as Manaka Matsukubo’s hat trick led to a resounding 4-1 win, matching the most lopsided home loss in Bay’s two-year history.
Bay FC (4-13-8) also played its 14th consecutive winless match, equaling the last-place Chicago Stars FC for the longest winless streak in the NWSL this season.
Bay, which sits in 13th place, right ahead of Chicago, has one more shot at achieving a victory when it closes its season in Louisville on Sunday, Nov. 2.
Regardless of Friday’s outcome, and despite Bay FC’s last victory coming 4 ½ months ago, outgoing Bay FC coach Albertin Montoya found reason to put a positive spin on another unfortunate result for his club.
“Regardless of the score, they never gave up. And that’s something we’ve seen from them,” Montoya said in a postgame news conference. “They’ve got so much character, they play with a lot of pride and joy.”
North Carolina came into PayPal as a desperate squad, sitting just outside the playoff line in the league standings, a point below Racing Louisville in the eighth and final spot, with one game left in the regular season. The victory snapped a three-game winless streak for the Courage and kept its postseason hopes alive.
Matsukubo scored her first goal in the third minute that Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz tried to stop but the ball rolled into the goal. She added a second in the eighth.
Bay’s Penelope Hocking, still playing on a minutes restriction after returning from a left foot injury that sidelined her for a month, scored her team’s lone goal. With Montoya limiting her to roughly 45 minutes of play, Hocking pulled a goal back in first-half stoppage time to make it 2-1. The daughter of former Major League Baseball player Denny Hocking was then rested during the second half.
Shinomi Koyama made it 3-1 for the Courage (8-8-9) in the 74th before Matsukubo’s final goal in the 80th.
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The four goals allowed by Bay tied for the most it has given up this season but were the most goals an opponent has ever scored at PayPal. The three-goal margin was the most lopsided loss since Bay lost 3-0 at home to Washington last July.
Nonetheless, Bay FC kept pushing Carolina all match long. Racheal Kundananji was denied on a couple of solid scoring opportunities in the second half. She nearly evened the score within moments of the second-half kickoff, but her effort was saved by Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy.
Two minutes after Bay’s Tess Boade unleashed a long-distance shot at goal in the 65th minute, only to be denied by Murphy’s diving save, Kundananji again nearly scored. She came inches from leveling the match in the 67th minute, but her try rattled off the woodwork.