Bay FC is in a very unique position. Head coach Albertin Montoya has previously said that he has over 20 players who could start on any given night. Although only one goalkeeper takes the pitch every match, Bay FC has a goalkeeper group of four players, all of whom have the potential to play at a high level.

Melissa Lowder was reportedly slated to be the team’s first-choice goalkeeper during their inaugural season, but missed the entirety of the season due to an ACL tear. She was slated to return this season, but before she could take the pitch for a regular season game, she was once again placed on the season-ending injury list due to residual issues with her previous injury. 

Despite the injury, Lowder remains in good spirits. “I think it’s a choice that you have to make, because there’s not a whole lot that can make you feel better when you’re in a situation where you’re injured, regardless of what kind of injury it is or how long it is, ” she said. “You just have to make a choice to see the silver lining and to take the good things from it, trust that something good will come from it, and that you will learn lessons from it, that you can still grow, be a good athlete and be a better player at the end of it.” 

Although Lowder was born in San Diego, she played collegiate soccer for the Santa Clara Broncos so she was excited when she got the opportunity to come back to the Bay Area as part of Bay FC’s inaugural season. “It was really exciting knowing that I was going to come back into the league, because I was coming from Iceland, and to be in an area that I was familiar with and that I kind of felt like was my second home,” she said “It was kind of a long process, but I’m happy it worked out in the end. I was really grateful to come back to this place that I feel like is home.”

Importantly, Lowder knows her chance to show the Bay Area what she can do will come, even if it may take a while. “It feels quite far away at this point, but I know it’ll come. I’m definitely looking forward to being back on the field. I feel like I just got a little baby taste of it. I’m obviously, really wanting to continue to get to that point at the end of it. I’m definitely excited.”

Jordan Silkowitz wants to be the best in the world. She’s stated that multiple times, and considering how quickly she’s adapted to being Montoya’s first-choice goalkeeper, she seems to be on the right track. 

“Throughout your career, you set milestones and set goals based on where you were. Going into this year, my goal was I wanted to be a starter in the NWSL and I wanted to get called into a national team camp, Silkowitz said. “After a few games, I was like, ‘I want to dream bigger, and I want to be the best in the world,’ and I know I have all the tools to be able to do that.”

Bay FC put a lot of trust in Silkowitz from the moment they acquired her. They acquired her in a trade with the Kansas City Current which sent one of their early standout defenders, Kayla Sharples, the other way.

“I think the whole trade process was pretty crazy for me”, Silkowitz said. “I got a call Monday night at 8pm that I’ve been traded to the Bay. I actually went to practice in Kansas City the next day, and then got told that night that I had a flight at noon the next day, so I had to throw all my stuff in boxes, and I didn’t really ever have time to process it.”

Despite the chaotic nature of her arrival, Silkowitz has been enjoying her time in the Bay Area. “I didn’t really know what to expect. I had never been up here before, but I love adventuring, hiking and finding new places, and so I absolutely love how much this area has to offer,” she said. “The team has been incredible. The people here… I’m a firm believer that the people make the place. It’s been really cool to get to see what the Bay is about.”

Emmie Allen signed with Bay FC after she took a gamble on herself. She left the University of North Carolina and entered the NWSL Draft following her junior season. Although she went undrafted, she said Bay FC called her almost immediately afterwards and invited her for a trial.

“It was a huge risk,” Allen said. ”I remember as soon as I put my name in the draft and signed an agent, I was so scared. I was like, ‘what if this doesn’t all work out?’ But it did end up working out, it’s better than I could’ve imagined.”

When Silkowitz was out with illness earlier this season, Allen got the nod to make her regular season debut against the Orlando Pride. When she got the news she had been waiting her entire life for, it was just the start of a big weekend.

“I found out that Thursday at three that I was playing,” she said. “I texted my mom, called her and told her that I was supposed to play but didn’t really ask her to come, because I knew it was a big ordeal to fly across the country in less than a day’s notice. I woke up the next day and she told me, ‘can you come pick me up from the airport at 12?’ So she flew in to surprise me for my first start, just because she just knows how much that moment in my career meant to me.”

Although Bay FC didn’t get the result they were hoping for in that match, Allen did well, only conceding a single goal to one of the NWSL’s most dangerous teams and she made sure to enjoy the moment.

“The game itself was such a cool experience,” said Allen.  “Growing up as soccer players, your goal is to be a professional soccer player, and then once you’re here, you know how hard it is to get a start, especially as a goalkeeper. That was one of the most fun moments of my life playing soccer.”

Both Silkowitz and Allen credited the veterans they’ve played with throughout their professional careers for getting them to this point. “I don’t know if I would have survived last year without Katelyn [Rowland],” said Allen. “She was my goalkeeper trainer when I was in high school. It was pretty cool for me to be her teammate. She really taught me to know who I am as a person and as a goalkeeper.”

“I remember texting Katelyn before I started my first game and just getting to talk with her, ” Silkowitz added. “I’ve been fortunate in Kansas City, I had some great role models, Cassie Miller, I’ve talked to her every day too. She’s just been incredible.”

Last but not least, Leah Freeman is the newest member of Bay FC’s goalkeeping group. The former Goalkeeper of the Year in both the PAC-12 with the Oregon Ducks and the ACC with the Duke Blue Devils has quite a few accolades under her belt as she joins her hometown team. 

”It’s really exciting. I think that, it’s everything that I could have dreamed of actually in the situation,“ Freeman said. ”To be able to step into this, be closer to home, and be surrounded by just a great group of three really strong and good women, just in general. [Also,] to be in a place where they really do put that energy into empowering women, pushing us to be what we want to be, and get into our best form. I really couldn’t ask for anything more.

Even though she’s new to the team, Freeman knows quite a few of her teammates already. She said she’ll be rooming with her collegiate teammate at Duke, Hannah Bebar. But it goes beyond just that. “Emmie and I trained together two years ago during the summer, when we were at UNC and Duke. Jordan and I have a bunch of mutual friends. I played with Caprice’s sister, True Dydasco, at Oregon. You think the soccer world is some big network, it’s a lot smaller, and everybody knows everybody.”

While all four goalkeepers had a massively different path to Bay FC, and they all have their own story, one thing brings them together. Despite the obvious, they’re competing for the same spot in the starting eleven, they all want each other to succeed and want the best for one another.

“Something that’s super important to me in a goalkeeper group is to be super competitive but also supportive at the same time,” said Silkowitz. ”We spend so much time just the four of us, so being able to get along, but also to continue pushing each other. We all celebrate each other’s successes so incredibly well, and are there for each other.”

“I think that the best kind of competition you can have in a goalkeeper group is when you genuinely care about each other,” Freeman added. “Because we’re gonna make each other’s reps better by doing that.“

Allen echoed that sentiment, “I really love and enjoy how talented and competitive our group is. It’s so fun, knowing you’re gonna go out there each day and just be challenged in so many different ways. We’re always joking together, laughing together. I haven’t been a part of a goalkeeper union that generally wants the best for each other [before].”

“We’re all different goalkeepers with different styles and different strengths. We get to help each other learn, and we get to learn ourselves,” added Lowder. “That will always make us better goalkeepers. No matter what situation you’re in, whether you’re playing or not playing, or injured, or whatever it is, you’re constantly learning. You can learn from each other, and we support that in each other.”

Bay FC have a few exciting games coming up, as they’ll host the Urawa Red Diamonds of the Japanese WE League this weekend, then of course they’ll have their matchup against the Washington Spirit at Oracle Park in just under a month.

Allen played a half against FC Barcelona when they came to town last season and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As a result, she’s looking forward to a similar experience against the Red Diamonds. “It’s really exciting. I had never played a team that could play like Barcelona. Getting the experience of playing against teams from other countries is so cool and really good for our development.”

“I think it’s gonna be a challenge like we haven’t been faced with before,” Allen said of the Red Diamond. “I think they’re gonna like to possess the ball the way that we do, so I think that we’re gonna have to be ready to defend more than we are used to defending in a game. But, yeah, it should be a really fun experience.”

Looking forward to the game at Oracle Park, the game will have significant personal meaning for Freeman in particular. “I grew up in that stadium. I went to my first game in PAC Bell Park, when it was called that, when I was about a month old, and was a season ticket holder my entire life with my grandparents,” she said. “It’s a big thing for women’s sports in general, on a personal [level] that stadium means a lot to me, and I’m super excited.

Allen was with Bay FC last season when they traveled to Wrigley Field to play against the then Chicago Red Stars. ”It was a pretty cool experience. I was there, but I wasn’t rostered, so I was up in the stands,” she said. I remember sitting in the stands just being like, I wish I was down there on the field. So hopefully having the opportunity to be rostered and to be a part of the game day squad this year would be pretty cool.”

“I’m just super excited. Our fans always show up. It’s just gonna be a special moment in such an iconic place, and it’s gonna be really cool,” added Silkowitz.

Overall, the goalkeeping group for Bay FC seem to be ready to succeed, together. They have a mindset, and a high level of talent, that should quickly establish them as one of the top goalkeeping teams in the NWSL.

Photo Credit: Bay FC