Gotham FC and Bay FC share the points in California | OneFootball

NJ/NY Gotham FC ended their road trip on the West Coast with a 1-1 draw against Bay FC. This draw sees the team retain their third place in the table, but they failed to separate themselves from the chasing pack or make ground on the Washington Spirit in second, who also drew this weekend.

Gotham FC will likely be happy to see that four of their next five games in all competitions will be at home. Including these past three games on the West Coast, five of their past six matches have been on the road. And truthfully, them coming through this stretch with five wins and one draw is truly commendable and has set them up very well for the remainder of the season.

Plus, Gotham extended Bay's winless streak to ten matches. However, it might not feel like that for the home side since they can walk away from this match feeling pretty good about themselves. They did well to compete with the Bats, and their overall game plan seemed to work well. Their center-backs were also strong, considering the inexperienced partnership of Sydney Collins and Brooklyn Courtnall, who had five and zero previous NWSL starts, respectively.

As mentioned earlier, this draw meant Gotham retained third place in the standings, but the race behind them has gotten extremely tight. They sit just three points ahead of the eighth-place North Carolina Courage, who have won their last two matches. Every point matters at this point of the season, with just five games to go in the NWSL, and one or two bad results could be the difference between third and maybe not even making the playoffs.

Gotham FC remains unbeaten in September

Early in the first half, it became somewhat apparent that Gotham FC looked tired. It would be hard to blame them, though, given their schedule over the past threeish weeks.

Over that period of time, they've gone from New Jersey to Orlando to El Salvador before coming back home to New Jersey. They then went on this most recent three-game road trip, which saw them start in San Diego, head to Vancouver midweek, and finish it off in San Jose before one last cross-country flight back home. To their credit, though, in the first 45 minutes, they seemed to have been heavily affected by it.

This fatigue, combined with an opponent in Bay who is struggling, meant it was not a shock that a pretty low event first half was what both teams produced. Even more so, given the California team left their most dangerous attacker, Racheal Kundananji, on the bench to start this one. The teams combined for just 0.35 xG and two total shots on target.

Gotham made that one shot count, though, as it resulted in the opening goal of the match. It came in the 36th minute when an initial pass from Midge Purce found Esther González, who got her first assist of the season when she found Rose Lavelle. The midfielder slotted her shot to Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz's far post.

The pass from González was perfectly weighted, but the pass from Purce should not go unnoticed. Not only did she get the pass off quickly, but she also got it to González with pinpoint accuracy. It had just enough pace to get to her without it being too hot to handle. That goal arguably would not have happened if not for Purce's accuracy in getting the initial ball to González.

Meanwhile, the second half began with Bay looking much more threatening. They spent much more time in their attacking third and looked more likely to score in the first 15 minutes of the second half than they did in the entirety of the first half. The game then flipped in the 63rd minute though when Kundananji came on for Tess Boade and then scored the equalizer just five minutes later.

Kundananji had the ball bounce to her on the edge of the box, and she very quickly turned and shot a great curling ball that left Ann-Katrin Berger with zero chance of making a save. Bay's plan of waiting to introduce Kundananji so she could take advantage of Gotham's tired legs in the second half worked to perfection as she was already causing problems in the short period of time she was on the field before scoring.

The Bats then seemingly found a bit of a second wind following this goal, as they began to adventure forward once again. But they didn't quite have that killer pass or move that could have opened things up for them. They did survive a late scare when deep into stoppage time. Bay sent a free kick into the Gotham box. The ball then pinballed around before dropping to a wide-open Maddie Moreau, who caught the ball on the half-volley but shanked the ball high and wide of the goal.

Once the final whistle blew, the performance from Gotham was somewhat reminiscent of the early-season team, where they would score early, back off and play more defensively, concede later in the game, and then not be able to come up with the winning goal.

That being said, fatigue most likely played a role in this one, which is something one really could not say earlier this season. While it is fair to be disappointed with a draw, any worries about this team possibly regressing to their early-season ways should not creep back into fans' minds after just one game.

Next, there is a big week coming up with NWSL matches at home against Portland Thorns FC and Seattle Reign FC, sandwiching their CONCACAF W Champions Cup Group B finale in Chester, Pennsylvania, against the Washington Spirit. Gotham FC is currently tied on 31 points with the Thorns, while they sit just one point above the Reign. Hence, the upcoming fixtures will be tough.