Just as Tierna Davidson is putting down roots in New Jersey, she’s going to play a homecoming game in the Bay Area.
Davidson, a Menlo Park, Calif., native and Stanford alum, returns to her old stomping grounds Friday night when Gotham FC — unbeaten in their past five matches to improve to 4-2-3 and climb into playoff position in the NWSL table — visits expansion Bay FC (10 p.m. ET, Amazon Prime Video).
“It feels really nice to always play in a familiar place, both having played at that stadium [PayPal Park in San Jose] but also just generally in this area,” Davidson said Thursday. “I’ve watched so many soccer games here growing up … so to be able to be the person on the field that the kids are excited to see and to be able to bring that to the Bay Area I think is really exciting.”
The 25-year-old Davidson signed a three-year contract as part of Gotham’s offseason free-agency bonanza, and quickly emerged as the linchpin of the defending champions’ league-best defense (seven goals allowed, 0.78 per game).
She returned last weekend from a nearly month-long absence due to a strained hamstring.
While she was on the shelf, she closed on and moved into a new home in New Jersey with her partner — “to feel like we’ve really made New Jersey our home has been so nice, to feel that sense of permanence,” she said.
Davidson also was able to observe how Gotham’s defense — with her friend Sam Hiatt filling in at center back and new arrival Ann-Katrin Berger assuming the goalie job — barely skipped a beat.
“Seeing how our back line is starting to transform into a really good unit,” Davidson said. “Especially with Ann coming in as a new player while I was injured, seeing her tendencies … and seeing just kind of how the back five and the back six, including our defensive midfielder, work together and understanding those tendencies has been really insightful.”
Bay FC (3-7-0) is on the other end of the spectrum, having allowed a league-high 21 goals.
Davidson’s job is to brace for the first-year squad’s array of talented attackers, including NWSL newcomers Asisat Oshoala, Racheal Kundananji and Deyna Castellanos with three goals apiece.
“They have some fantastic offensive talent on their team and a lot of players that we haven’t seen in this league before,” Davidson said. “That’s always kind of a mystery factor that you have to really pay attention to.”
Davidson is also an essential part of the fabric of the United States women’s national team, which will play its first games under new head coach Emma Hayes on June 1 and June 4.
The pair of friendlies against South Korea are tune-ups for the Olympics tournament that begins in late July — Davidson said she was trying not to look ahead to making that 22-player roster — as well as the first chance for Hayes, the decorated former boss of the Chelsea women’s team in England, to put her imprint on the team.
“Between everything that I’ve heard from players as well as just seeing her success with Chelsea,” Davidson said, “I’m so excited to see what she’s like as a manager and as a coach, and I’m really excited to learn from her and her staff.”