Ten-Player Boston Legacy Hold Bay FC to 1-1 Draw as Casey Murphy Makes Eight Saves

Bay FC had 20 shots, nine of them on target, and an extra player for the entire second half. It still could not beat Casey Murphy enough times.

The Boston Legacy FC goalkeeper made eight saves, Amanda Gutierres converted a VAR-awarded penalty, and 10-player Boston left PayPal Park with a 1-1 draw on Friday night. For Boston, playing its third match in seven days, it was a gutsy point. For Bay, it was the one that got away.

Murphy vs. Everybody

The first half was a shooting gallery, and Murphy was the only one standing in front of the targets. Racheal Kundananji tested her in the third minute. Caroline Conti forced another save with a header in the seventh, and Karlie Lema tried from distance in the 11th.

The busiest stretch came in the 25th minute, when Murphy stopped Lema and then Dorian Bailey in quick succession, both shots aimed at the middle of the goal. She stopped Kundananji again in the 31st. By halftime she had six saves, per both ESPN's play-by-play and Boston's recap, and Bay had nothing to show for it.

Boston was not just hanging on, though. Alba Caño forced Jordan Silkowitz into a save in the 21st minute, Gutierres sent a shot from distance just wide in the 30th, and in the 40th minute the Legacy came within a crossbar of taking the lead. Nichelle Prince sent a cross through the Bay back line on the break, and Gutierres hammered it off the bar.

Two minutes later, Boston's night got much harder. Bianca St-Georges was shown a straight red card in the 42nd minute. Bay's recap said the Canadian defender lunged to recover a loose ball and caught Claire Hutton with a raised boot.

Bailey Breaks Through, Then VAR Steps In

Boston reorganized at the break, sending on Aïssata Traoré for Chloe Ricketts, and Bay needed six minutes to take advantage of the extra player. In the 51st minute Hutton found Bailey amid a crowd of defenders, Bailey swapped passes with Lema and finished with her left foot from the left side of the six-yard box. Bay said it was Bailey's second goal of the season and her first since March 28 at North Carolina.

Murphy kept the deficit at one with a save on Lema in the 56th minute, and that save became important almost immediately.

In the 59th minute, Traoré got on the end of a Prince delivery and collided with Silkowitz inside the box. After a VAR review, Boston was awarded a penalty, and Silkowitz picked up a yellow card. Bay's recap described the decision as controversial and noted the home fans' disapproval. Gutierres did not care about any of that. In the 64th minute she placed her penalty into the bottom left corner, which Boston said was her second penalty goal of the season.

That kick was the turning point. It also ended what Bay called the club's all-time best shutout streak, at 289 minutes.

Bay's Siege Comes Up Short

Bay coach Emma Coates threw on her bench. Cristiana Girelli and Taylor Huff arrived in the 65th and 66th minutes, and Tess Boade and Maddie Moreau followed in the 82nd. The pressure was relentless and mostly fruitless. Huff forced Murphy into another save in the 68th. Hutton, Huff, Conti and Hannah Bebar all had shots blocked between the 73rd and 79th minutes. Girelli headed high and wide in the 81st.

The best late chances came at the death. Joelle Anderson sent a shot just wide in the 90th minute, and Hutton headed wide off a corner in the 97th. Boston, which had already taken Gutierres off for Jorelyn Carabalí, nearly stole it at the other end when Carabalí sent a free kick just past the top right corner in the 88th.

"Obviously frustrated we didn't get three points tonight, especially when they went down to 10 players," Coates said. "We never won, but we found a way not to lose, and sometimes getting a point on the board in this league is really important."

The Standouts

Casey Murphy: Eight saves on nine shots on target. This was the kind of performance goalkeepers frame and hang on the wall.

Amanda Gutierres: Five shots, the crossbar, a free kick that slid wide and the penalty that saved the point. Boston's attack ran through her until she came off in the 66th minute.

Dorian Bailey: Two shots, two on target, one goal. The give-and-go with Lema was the prettiest sequence of the night.

Karlie Lema: Four shots, three on target. On another night she leaves with two goals; on this night she met Murphy.

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Bay 20, Boston eight. On target: nine to two.
• Saves: Murphy eight, Silkowitz one.
• Corners: Bay nine, Boston three.
• Clearances: Boston made 32 to Bay's 14, a tidy summary of how the second half felt.
• Possession: Bay held 57.6 percent of the ball.

What It Means

Bay moves to 3-2-3 with 11 points and, as the club pointed out, is unbeaten in three straight after a win at San Diego and back-to-back draws. But this one will sting. The Bay Area side had a man advantage, a lead and the run of play, and still dropped two points at home.

Boston, now 2-3-5 with nine points, stretched its unbeaten run to five matches, according to the club. For a club in its inaugural season that lost its first five games, that is real progress. The Legacy did it on short rest, too: Friday's match was its third in seven days, after a draw at Gotham and a home win over Orlando in the days before.

Bay heads to Portland for a Wednesday match before returning home to host Chicago on May 24. Boston plays the Seattle Reign on May 22 at Centreville Bank Stadium in Rhode Island, its first match at that venue.

Final Whistle

Boston played the final 48 minutes and stoppage time like the last contestant standing on a reality show, short on numbers and long on stubbornness. Bay played them like a team pressing the elevator button over and over. The doors never opened, and Murphy is the reason.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by Bay FC; additional match details from Boston Legacy FC.