Bay Cities FC To Host Community Appreciation Day On Saturday

REDWOOD CITY, CA—Bay Cities FC, a first-year minor league soccer club, will host its first Community Appreciation Day in Redwood City this weekend.

The event will take place from 12 noon to 3 p.m. Saturday at Sequoia High School's Terremere Field, 1201 Brewster Ave., which is the team's home stadium.

The event is free, open to all ages and will feature: soccer clinics, a Kids Zone, arts and crafts, food vendors, entertainment, merchandise sales, a raffle and a chance to meet members of the BCFC team.

"Redwood City and surrounding areas have begun to go through a re-opening phase post the COVID-19 pandemic," the club wrote on its Facebook page. "At Bay Cities FC, we recognize it is more important than ever that we provide accessible, inclusive and unifying family entertainment that is rooted in soccer and community opportunity and pride. Please join us for a day of coming back together as one, we are excited to see you all."

Bay Cities FC formed in April, and it's men's team is scheduled to begin play in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) in 2022. The league is considered the third tier in the American soccer pyramid, behind Major League Soccer (first) and USL Championship (second).

This summer, the club's men's and women's teams are playing their "Summer '21 Tour," a series of friendlies against local professional and semi-professional teams.

The BCFC men's and women's teams played a doubleheader Sunday at Sequoia High School. The BCFC women lost 2-1 to De Anza Force U19s, with Jillienne Aguilera scoring the BCFC goal off an assist from captain Sam Tran in the fifth minute.

"I thought it was a lot of fun!" Tran told the club website. "It was really the group's first real game together with a good three weeks of practice under our belt. Ultimately we just went out there and tried our hardest and controlled what we could. At the end of the day, the result is only because of things we need to work on. If we were to play them again, I know we would give them a good match."

On the same night, the BCFC men's tied Cal Victory F.C. 1-1. The visitors opened the scoring in the 39th minute. But BCFC equalized seconds after halftime on a Moises Vieyra goal.

"We started off slow and definitely got into it more in the second half, especially getting the goal within the first few seconds," BCFC's Miguel Guerrero told the club website. "So, we just have to keep pressing on every defense and we have to continue to have our players who come off the bench play with that same high energy and bring more tempo."

BCFC and Cal Victory, which plays in the UPSL and is based in Rohnert Park, could see each other again. The teams were drawn into the same group for the NISA-sanctioned Independent Cup, which begins in July.

The other teams in their group are: PDX FC, a USL League Two team based in Portland, Oregon, and Space United FC, out of Tuckwila, Washington.