Signs of a turnaround? Angel City sure hopes so.
Having earned points in consecutive league matches, Angel City turned its attention to the UKG Challenge Cup, with its rivals, San Diego Wave FC, making the two-hour trip to Los Angeles for the mid-week showdown.
However, Angel City turned out to be rude guests. Carried by goals from Madison Hammond and Clarisse Le Bihan, Angel City defeated its regional rivals for the second time in two weeks 2-1 win at BMO Stadium.
“We didn’t know how San Diego was going to come out, and we knew that it could be different,” said Angel City interim coach Becki Tweed said. “They did end up coming out differently from what we expected. We needed to adjust to that, but if you get a goal early, that helps to give you more time and more confidence moving into the next 20-minute portion where you can figure out what their objective is and how we can counter that.”
“The confidence comes from our belief in each other and we have been consistent in performing in training for the past couple of weeks,” Hammond said. “You have to develop that level of consistency, competitiveness, and challenge each other to be better. Then you have moments like today where players get opportunities and they’re ready to meet the moment.”
The win is Angel City’s first in this year’s Challenge Cup. The three points earned in this match enabled Angel City to jump into second place in the tournament’s Western Division standings, though advancement is still far from guaranteed.
Angel City got going just two minutes win. Le Bihan sent a corner kick into the penalty area, the ball was headed by San Diego’s Taylor Kornieck, but went to Paige Nielsen, who then chipped a ball into the six-yard box and Hammond beat Shae Yanez to the ball and sent a header into the back net.
Angel City then doubled its advantage in the 18th minute. Megan Reid sent a long ball that bounced all the way into the Wave FC penalty area, Savannah McCaskill chased down the ball, sent a cross into the six-yard box that headed towards the end line, but Scarlett Camberos kept the play alive, played a ball back into the six and Le Bihan sent the shot past a scrambling San Diego defense and Angel City was up 2-0.
Angel City wasn’t done, and had several chances to add to its lead. In the 26th minute, Jasmyne Spencer received a ball from Hammond, raced past Madison Pogarch into the penalty area, Spencer took the ball to the end line, played a ball to McCaskill, who took the shot just outside the six, the ball did beat Yanez, but did not beat the near post, as the ball hit off said post and over the end line. Angel City thought for sure they were going up by three goals in the 36th minute, as McCaskill played a perfectly weight ball to the feet of Le Bihan, who then took a few touches to evade defender Mia Gyau, Le Bihan fire the shot, which Yanez initially saved, but the ball still continued towards goal, but Gyau quickly raced back and managed to clear the ball at the goal line. Angel City had one more chance later in the 38th minute, as Ali Riley crossed into the penalty area and Hammond headed a ball towards the far post, only for the ball to bounce off the crossbar. The framework foiled Angel City one last time in the 57th minute, as Katie Johnson played Spencer into the penalty area, Spencer took the shot, but the ball went off the crossbar.
San Diego looked like they would eventually make Angel City pay for those missed chances in the 63rd minute. Jadyn Shaw sent a corner kick into the penalty area, Kaleigh Riehl headed a ball, Danielle Colaprico brought the ball down with her right foot, then fired a left-footed shot that beat keeper Brittany Isenhour into the back net to cut Angel City’s lead to a goal. Angel City however did not let Wave FC get any further.
