It was a bad news good news scenario for Angel City following its final group stage match with San Diego Wave FC on Saturday evening.
The bad news was that its 1-1 draw with Wave FC at Snapdragon Stadium was not enough to see them through to the knockout stages of the tournament in spite of a second place finish, as the eight points it earned in the West Division was three short of the total amount of points accumulated by Racing Louisville, who advanced based on rankings.
The good news was that it stretched its unbeaten streak across all competitions to seven matches. Scarlett Camberos’ 16th minute goal canceled out Jaeydn Shaw’s opening goal, and Angel City, in the same stadium where its current run began, once again leave San Diego with points.
“Today’s performance is a long way from where we want it to be,” Angel City head coach Becki Tweed said. “We’re in a space as a team where we can be really honest with each other. We know we have a ton of space to grow. This performance was scrappy. It was a little ugly, but it’s a point. We’re not happy with just a point, but if we can raise the level, it’s actually a good learning point for us to take away.”
San Diego took advantage of a miscue in the 11th minute to grab the lead. Angel City’s Paige Nielsen played a ball into her own penalty area, Haracic came off her line to play the ball, then played a ball out of the box for Megan Reid, but Shaw intercepted the ball, touched into the penalty area and fired the shot past Haracic far post to give Wave FC the lead.
Angel City eventually had its say in the match. Nielsen sprung Savannah McCaskill with a long ball, San Diego keeper Shae Yanez came out and beat McCaskill to the ball, with the two briefly colliding. The ball however went to Camberos, and despite being marked by Christen Westphal, managed to touch forward, then sent a ball that looked like a cross, but it sailed over Yanez into the far post net for the equalizer.
“I’m super happy to get my first score, especially in front of friends and family, a place where I’ve grown up,” Camberos said. “Unfortunately we didn’t get the win, which is always what we want as a team. Hopefully, I start knocking in some more goals.”
San Diego had two chances inside the 39th minute. The first chance came in when Rachel Hill crossed into the penalty area, Haracic cut off the cross, but left a rebound inside the penalty area, Makenzy Doniak tried to put home the rebound chance, but Haracic made herself big, stopping the shot with her body before Sarah Gorden eventually cleared the ball out of the penalty area. Seconds later, Shaw curled a dangerous ball into the penalty area but it just sailed over the crossbar.
San Diego continued to be aggressive in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Shaw sent a ball forward, Doniak outraced several Angel City defenders to get to the ball inside the penalty area, then fired a one-timer off her right foot, but Haracic parried the ball over the end line. Then on the ensuing corner, Shaw sent the set piece into the penalty area at the back post, Madison Pogarch sent a header right at goal, but Haracic didn’t flinch, parrying the ball away from goal, Melanie Barcenas kept the play alive for San Diego, but her shot was also saved by Haracic and Gorden eventually cleared the ball.
