Photo courtesy of Bay FC
On an unusually busy Wednesday game night in the National Women’s Soccer League, two players made their returns to the field after long-term absences — Abby Dahlkemper from maternity leave and Taryn Torres from an ACL injury.
Though Bay FC fell 1-0 to visiting Gotham FC, Dahlkemper earned an ovation from her hometown crowd in the 84th minute as she entered off the bench for defender Joelle Anderson. Activated from maternity leave earlier in the day after welcoming her first child in February, the substitution marked the defender’s first NWSL appearance since June 2025. The two-time NWSL champion and 2019 World Cup winner became the fifth NWSL player to return from maternity leave this season, and could be key to more on-field success for Bay.
“I feel like just an immense amount of gratitude,” Dahlkemper said postgame. “I feel like when you have a child, your whole life kind of changes, and soccer isn’t everything, but I’m just appreciative to be able to come back and step back out on the field with this amazing group of girls. The club’s been so so supportive in whatever I need, and that’s helped me get back along the way, and I’m just taking it day to day, and just hopefully, you know, one day I can look back with my son Eli and just hopefully make him proud.”
Dahlkemper steps into a different team than last season, but expressed excitement for the young talent surrounding her like Claire Hutton (20 years old), Kennedy Fuller (19), Alex Pfeiffer (18), Heather Gilchrist (22) and Karlie Lema (23). She also acknowledged the important contributions of more veteran players like Italian international Cristiana Girelli.
“I think just getting key players and building for now [and] for the future, but I think [also] players that want the ball, that are brave,” Dahlkemper said of the shift in the team. “I think this team’s grown … from the beginning of the season till now, you know, we’re able to go toe to toe with teams. And I think just being able to continue building off of performances and getting results and being hard to beat and taking pride in clean sheets, I think is going to be important too.”
On the other side of the pitch, Gotham got Torres back. The 27-year-old midfielder made her first appearance since September 7, 2025, after recovering from an ACL injury suffered in her left knee during a training session. Since joining Gotham in 2022, Torres has made 48 appearances, including 22 starts, across all competitions for Gotham. She was on the Gotham FC rosters that won the NWSL Championship in 2023 and 2025, but missed the entire 2023 season with a different ACL injury and last season’s playoffs with the injury that kept her out until Wednesday night.
