NWSL match at baseball’s Oracle Park draws record crowd
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The National Women’s Soccer League match between Bay FC and the Washington Spirit at San Francisco’s Oracle Park on Saturday set an attendance record for a U.S. women’s professional sports league with a sellout crowd of 40,091.
The crowd bested the previous record for a standalone NWSL match set last season when 35,038 watched Bay FC play the Chicago Stars at Wrigley Field.
Saturday’s game at the home of baseball’s San Francisco Giants was dubbed “The Show at Oracle Park.”
The Spirit won 3-2.
“The atmosphere was fantastic,” Spirit coach Adrián González said. “The setup, the fans, and having the opportunity to have an experience like this, I think, is just something unique for the players, for the staff, for the soccer community, for the fans. So grateful to be part of this.”
Former Giants left fielder and baseball’s career home run leader Barry Bonds was at the game.
Bay FC trailed 3-0 early but came back to close the gap.
“The players deserve it. They’ve worked so hard and this league has come such a long way,” Bay FC coach Albertin Montoya said about the crowd. “When you get football like that, I think ever single person that watched that game can leave and say ‘Hey, I’d do this again,’ because it was entertaining. It was good quality football all around.”
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