Angel City is up against it now.
Capping off a long NWSL road trip, Angel City looked to play the role of spoiler on Saturday night, as its rivals’ San Diego Wave FC, played its first match in the brand new Snapdragon Stadium, and played to a near-capacity Crowd, as Wave FC opened in front of an NWSL record 32,000 fans. Jayden Shaw and keeper Kailen Sheridan sent the majority of those fans home happy, as Shaw’s first half goal, as well as a saved penalty from Sheridan, carried San Diego Wave FC to a 1-0 win.
“It was a pretty incredible experience and one that I expect to see across the league as the norm,” Angel City defender Megan Reid said of the atmosphere at Snapdragon Stadium. “These are exciting matches that people want to see, and so much fun and inspirational to young kids and adults alike.”
The win was important for San Diego, not just from a first-impression standpoint, but more so in the standings, as Wave FC is back in first place in the league standings. Angel City (7-6-5, 31 points) remains one spot out, but four points behind the Chicago Red Stars with three matches left to play.
“Do you know what? I am excited for everything coming up,” Coombe said. “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.”
San Diego got the capacity crowd on its feet in the 30th minute. San Diego held the ball deep inside Angel City’s side of the field, Sofia Jakobsson sent a left-footed cross into the penalty area, Jayden Shaw sent a header towards goal and the ball skipped past a scrambling Didi Haracic into the back net to put Wave FC in the lead.
Angel City did have its chances to score throughout the match. Its first chance came in the 15th minute, as Jun Endo forced a turnover and quickly dribbled towards the penalty area. Endo played a ball into the penalty area to Savannah McCaskill, who sent a dangerous shot towards goal, but just a bit high. The scenario repeated itself in the 22nd minute, as Endo held the ball on the left side, passed to McCaskill inside the penalty area, and McCaskill again fired towards the far post, but this time, Naomi Girma blocked the shot, sending the ball out of the penalty area to end that threat.
Angel City thought for sure they were going to find the back net and thus play the role of party pooper. It started in the 72nd minute, as Angel City’s Claire Emslie dribbled inside the penalty area, San Diego’s Christie Westphal marked Emslie and stuck her right foot out hoping to dispossess Emslie, but the end result was Westphal clipping Emslie from behind just inside the box, and the referee signaled for the penalty spot, giving Angel City a golden chance to level the match. McCaskill, who had not missed from the penalty spot this season, stepped up to the spot, McCaskill sent the shot left, but Sheridan guessed right, parrying away McCaskill’s penalty, then saving a rebound chance by Clarisse Le Bihan to preserve the Wave lead.
“That was by far one of our most complete performances from start to finish,” Reid said. “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.”
