Angel City Football Club Falls Short in Front of Record-Breaking Crowd
September 18, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Angel City FC News Release
SAN DIEGO, CA – Angel City fell 0-1 on the road tonight against San Diego Wave FC following a goal by forward Jaedyn Shaw in front of over 32,000 fans at Snapdragon Stadium, breaking the NWSL attendance record.
San Diego had a chance in the 10th minute when Shaw sent a cross into the six-yard box. Forward Taylor Kornieck was charging the net and headed the ball on target, but keeper DiDi Haračić made the save.
Angel City got their first real chance of the night in the 16th minute when midfielder Jun Endo beat defender Christen Westphal on the left wing and crossed the ball to forward Savannah McCaskill, who sent a strike toward the far post- but the ball didn’t have enough curve on it, and it went high.
They had another chance in the 22nd minute, when Endo took the ball to the endline and sent it back to McCaskill in the penalty area. McCaskill’s diagonal shot was on target, but keeper Kailen Sheridan dove to block it.
San Diego got on the board in the 30th minute when forward Sofia Jakobsson sent a cross to Shaw at the edge of the six-yard box. Shaw got her head on the ball, flicking it to the far post, beating Haračić’s dive and bringing the score to 1-0.
ACFC had another chance in the 34th minute when Endo had the ball with her back to goal near the edge of the 18. With midfielder Emily Van Egmond marking her, she took a few steps, turned, and fired off a right-footed strike that landed on target; Sheridan did well to block the shot out for a corner kick.
In the 42nd minute, forward Alex Morgan ran onto a through ball by forward Makenzy Doniak. She was one-on-one with Haračić, but the keeper came off her line to claim the ball before Morgan could shoot.
Two minutes later, McCaskill tapped a pass out to defender Ali Riley as she made a run up the right wing. She sent a cross in for Emslie a few yards out from goal, who got her head on the ball, but sent it over the crossbar.
The early part of the second half was quieter. In the 73rd minute, however, Emslie dribbled up the left wing and into the penalty area, and was fouled by Westphal to earn a penalty kick. McCaskill stepped up to the spot and sent her shot to the left; Sheridan also dove right and blocked the initial shot, but didn’t catch it. Midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan was crashing the net and one-timed the rebounded ball on target, which Sheridan also saved.
Angel City plays the Washington Spirit at home this Wednesday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m on CBSSN and Bally Sports SoCal.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
ACFC Head Coach Freya Coombe
On the overall performance:
“Outside of the first 15 minutes, I think we dominated the game. It was the strongest performance we’ve had in a while. We built on our performance from North Carolina. We were better offensively tonight. As the stats show, we completely dominated them in the second half. We had more entries into the final third, which was pleasing for us because we have struggled to create attacking chances [in past games].”
Thoughts on remaining games:
“Do you know what? I am excited for everything coming up. I felt we played well against North Carolina, we played incredibly well tonight despite being fatigued. As far as I’m concerned, keep the games coming, because if we can build off of this momentum, I think we can finish off the season in a strong position, and that is going to take us to the playoffs.”
What a playoff chance looks like:
“A big thing for us now is we have to put ourselves in the drivers’ seat. For us, we have to win out. Whatever happens, if that opens up something else, but we have to put ourselves in control of our own destiny.”
How they can turn their chances into scores:
“We have to take our chances and be a little bit better in that final third in terms of how we are looking to score. It has been difficult because we have identified different ways that we can score goals against these different teams, but we haven’t had any opportunity to train it. We have been on the road and traveling so much that it’s been a case of, ‘this is how we think we are going to do it.’ So I am looking forward to getting back to LA and having two training sessions with the team before our next game.”
ACFC Defender Megan Reid
On thoughts of the overall atmosphere:
“It was a pretty incredible experience and one that I expect to see across the league as the norm. These are exciting matches that people want to see, and so much fun and inspirational to young kids and adults alike.”
On thoughts coming into tonight’s match:
“We knew we came out of a good performance in North Carolina. We lost, but we were playing some of the better soccer we’ve had. We wanted to continue that and keep the ball near us a little bit more. Coming out of a three-game week, that was something we were looking to do. Keep the ball, possess, and work our way up the field to create threats inside the box.”
On this match being more of a complete performance:
“That was by far one of our most complete performances from start to finish. Of course, mistakes come and go and [there are always] some lows to the game. However, at the end of the day that was by far our most complete performance and something we should be proud about. Especially after coming out of a three-game week, playing the best soccer we have, that puts us in a really good spot for these next couple of games.”
ABOUT ANGEL CITY FOOTBALL CLUB
Angel City Football Club (ACFC), the 11th member of the National Women’s Soccer League, is currently in its inaugural season at Banc of California Stadium in downtown Los Angeles. The team is founded by Academy Award-winning actress and activist Natalie Portman, technology venture capitalist Kara Nortman, media and gaming entrepreneur Julie Uhrman, and venture capitalist, 776 founder and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Freya Coombe leads the team as the first-ever head coach and US Women’s National Team star Christen Press was the team’s first playing signing.
Learn more about ACFC at www.angelcity.com and follow the team on social media @weareangelcity. Season tickets for the 2023 season are on sale now with limited quantities. Fans are encouraged to purchase soon at https://angelcity.com/tickets.
• Discuss this story on the National Women’s Soccer League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
