Mexican Women’s National Team Wins Inaugural Copa Angelina
September 6, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Angel City FC News Release
LOS ANGELES, CA – Angel City FC fell 2-0 to the Mexican Women’s National Team tonight in the inaugural Copa Angelina after a goal by Scarlett Camberos and an own goal by Angel City at Banc of California Stadium in downtown Los Angeles.
Mexico had the first chance of the game in the fifth minute when forward María Sánchez dribbled up the left wing, took a touch to cut inside past defender Jasmyne Spencer, and took a shot from 15 yards. Her shot went directly to keeper Brittany Isenhour, who caught it easily.
Much of the first half was a back-and-forth midfield battle, with neither team controlling the game for long stretches. Angel City had a few almost-chances through forward Hope Breslin early on, but the Mexico defense stayed organized.
Mexico had another chance in the 24th minute. Midfielder Scarlett Camberos picked up a pass from forward Carolina Jaramillo, dribbled into the box, and found a through ball to forward Adriana Iturbide, whose shot went straight to Isenhour.
In the 40th minute, Angel City came close when Breslin, making a run into the six-yard-box, jumped and got her head on a corner kick by forward Miri Taylor. She aimed the ball to the far post and put it on frame, but keeper Itzel González dove to block it out over the endline.
Mexico came out swinging in the second half with a chance in the 49th minute. Jaramillo combined with Camberos to find space at the top of the 18 and sent a looping shot over the heads of the Angel City defense and on target, but Isenhour dove and blocked the ball for a corner kick.
As the half went on, the game began to get stretched, but the visitors continued to knock, finally breaking through in the 72nd minute. A free kick intended for defender Greta Espinoza fell to Isenhour’s feet as she stepped forward to claim the ball, which instead bounced off her knee, into defender Megan Reid, and into the goal.
It wasn’t long before Mexico doubled their lead. Midfielder Jacqueline Ovalle drove up the left wing to the endline and cut the ball back toward the middle of the box for Camberos, who cleanly sent the ball past Isenhour inside the near post.
It was the first international goal for Camberos, a San Diego native who attended UC Irvine.
Mexico defended well to close out the match and win the first-ever Copa Angelina 2-0. With support in the stadium almost evenly split between two games, Mexico accepted the freshly engraved Copa Angelina trophy, which they will keep until next year’s iteration of the match.
Tonight also marked the first-ever appearance for Angel City defender M.A. Vignola.
Angel City plays next on the road against the Houston Dash on Sunday, September 11 at 4:00 p.m. PST.
POST MATCH QUOTES
ACFC Head Coach Freya Coombe
On the importance of this match:
“This match was very important for both communities, in terms of bringing together Los Angeles and Mexico, who is an International Federation. Bringing that to LA while building on our partnerships and the community, is really important. It’s something that we value, but we also value all of the players within our team. It gives us a great chance to present players with opportunity, whilst also maintaining our run for playoffs.”
On key takeaways from this game:
“It was a really good opportunity to push a few of our players beyond some of the minutes that they’ve been getting in previous games. We saw Lily Nabet and Clarisse Le Bihan get 90 tonight, as well as Brittany Isenhour. It gives them really good exposure to play while dealing with fatigue.
“Also, it gives us an opportunity to bring some players off the bench. When we consistently start the same people, others don’t get that exposure of being an impact player to come in. So it gives them that opportunity to develop their game in that way. Tonight, we got a lot out of that, while also being able to work on some of our transitional shape issues.”
On overall experience of playing the Mexican Women’s National Team:
“It was great to see the attendance that we got, and also for us to bring the two teams together. It’s an opportunity for many of our players that aren’t playing international football, to get that opportunity to play against an international team, playing at that slightly different game which is a different style to the NWSL. It was a great experience for us in the game tonight. You don’t see many friendlies that are played in front of this big of a crowd with as much confetti covering us at the end.”
ACFC Defender Jasmyne Spencer:
On playing against a national team with a different style and how it helps going forward looking for a spot in the playoffs:
“It makes us more adaptable. You get to see different pictures that we’re not used to seeing and different challenges. We learned a lot today and we’ll be able to go back and dissect and add another layer to our game. Especially with this stack of games coming up where we’re going to need a lot of rotation.”
“It gives everybody extra confidence that they should feel comfortable when they’re called upon in the next couple of weeks to step in and perform to the best of their ability.”
On the environment of the match and overall support for the visiting team:
“You feed off the energy whether they’re there for or against you. It’s just incredible to play in a stadium that’s loud and vibrant like the Banc. It’s been so good to us all season long.”
“Especially when you think about coming up in the playoffs stretch, there’s a good chance that if we do make it, we might be having to go against these big teams like Portland or Seattle and play in their packed houses with the crowd against you. It’s another good learning experience for us to have to deal with that.”
On the upcoming stretch of games and handling that pressure:
“Tonight was a great test. We were able to tap into our depth which has not always been available. We’ve been struck with so many injuries throughout the season, but it’s good that we have a large number of people healthy and able to get substantial minutes tonight. We’ll be able to use that rotation going into that tough stretch of games.”
“We’re excited that we completely control our destiny in terms of being able to close that stretch with two home games and come back and have our supporters on our side to lift us and push us through the tough end of it. To have an international level game, right here at home, it’s big to keep us in form going into the final stretch of the season.”
On her first international game and confidence to play at the international level:
“It was my first-ever international game in my career. In some ways it felt like a club game because it’s our home field. It’s with our club team who we train with every day, but the level of intensity was higher. There were higher stakes with a trophy being on the line as well. The emotional side of it takes it up another notch. It gave me confidence that I can play at that level and I hope it did for all my teammates as well.”
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