SEASIDE, California (Saturday, September 28, 2024) – Monterey Bay F.C. (7-14-9, 30 points) fell 2-0 to Eastern Conference side Detroit City FC (13-8-9, 48 points) in James Murphy’s return to Cardinale Stadium, presented by Montage Health. Monterey Bay continues to battle through a string of injuries down the final stretch, and will now head to Phoenix for a fixture against Rising FC next Friday.
Monterey Bay had their foot on the gas to start the match, resulting in a lot of pressure on the visitors early on. In the 8th minute, the Union looked to score on the end of a corner kick, but the goal was called back for a foul committed in the box. A few minutes later, the ball pinged around the box before falling perfectly for Walmer Martínez as he stepped up. Martínez smashed the ball with his left foot, but missed over the top of the crossbar. Xavi Gnaulati earned his first chance of the match with a right-footed ripper in the 22nd minute, but his shot missed just to the left of the post. Detroit City found their first opportunity of the match a minute later, but Carlos Herrera was there to clean it up. Detroit City looked likely to score again in the 25th minute, but a sliding challenge inside the box by Morey Doner stopped the chance in its tracks. As the visitors continued to turn the tide in the match, Herrea was forced to make another save in the 30th minute, this time with an impressive kick save. Then, in the 37th minute, Ben Morris’ shot for Detroit City evaded Herrera’s outstretched hand and found the back of the net to give the visitors the 1-0 lead at the half…