Could things finally be looking up for Angel City FC?
Facing a North Carolina Courage squad currently on top of the league standings and riding a five-match winning streak, Angel City, even after falling behind, still showed it was not intimidated by the Courage. Angel City cancelled out an opening North Carolina goal from Brianna Pinto with first half strike from Savannah McCaskill, followed by Courage own goal in the second half enabled Angel City to get its biggest win of the season to date with the 2-1 result at BMO Stadium.
“We responded brilliantly in those moments,” Angel City head coach Becki Tweed said about coming from behind against an in-form Courage side. “You can go two ways and our response tonight was really, really good. You can see the group as a collective, pulling each other in and we knew that we weren’t good enough up to that moment. We took our foot off the gas and that punishes you in this league, and that’s what happened. We always have the belief that no matter what, we can come back and you saw that tonight.”
With the win, Angel City now finds itself just four points back of San Diego Wave FC for the sixth and final playoff spot in the league. The win also keeps interim head coach Becki Tweed undefeated in the five games since taking over and allows Angel City to go into the upcoming World Cup break on a high note.
“Going into this game, we knew that three points was the job,” McCaskill said. “It took every single person to get the job done. Going into the break, it’s even better because we feel we earned the break, and now puts us back in a closer playoff spot, which the rest of the season is ours to battle for.”
Tied at one in the 76th minute, Angel City was gifted the lead courtesy of North Carolina themselves. Elizabeth Eddy received a ball from Katie Johnson, Eddy found herself one-on-one with the Courage’s Kiki Pickett, Eddy pulled a deke move to evade Pickett and get free into the penalty area, Eddy sent a cross towards the six-yard box, Courage captain Kaleigh Kurtz initially cut off the cross, but the ball continued forward, and with keeper Katelyn Rowland committed to another direction, the ball went into the back net for a North Carolina own goal that gave Angel City lead.
“They made a cut on the right with the ball and a great pass from a teammate, and then I was going to enter a one-on-one duel and then she kind of overstepped and I got a shot off before the center back slid hard and it wasn’t even on target,” Eddy said of the sequence leading to the goal. “In soccer, if you get it hard across the center of the goal, sometimes it will go.”
It looked like it would be business as usual for the Courage in the 15th minute. Tyler Lussi played a ball to Millie Farrow, who dribbled into the penalty area while fighting Megan Reid’s challenge, Farrow played a ball to a trailing Pinto and she did not waste any time, one-timing a shot past Haracic near post to give Carolina the lead.
Giving up the lead to an in-form Courage could very well be considered a death knell situation, but Angel City was not phased, and responded four minutes later. A Clarise Le Bihan corner was initially headed out by Kiki Pickett, but Scarlett Camberos maintained possession for Angel City, Camberos took the ball back into the penalty area, played a shot cross into the six-yard box and McCaskill deflected the ball well enough for the ball to get past keeper Katelyn Rowland into the back net to level the match. Angel City was looking for more, and nearly took the lead in the 40th minute, as Le Bihan sent another corner into the penalty area, Gorden came in unmarked and fired a shot for the back, but the ball bounced off said post, the ball however fell to McCaskill, who quickly head a ball at goal, but was saved by Rowland.
“There were some really good improvements in areas that we hadn’t had in prior games,” McCaskill said. “There’s areas that we can continue to improve on. That’s the most shots we’ve had ever this season, the most shots on target that we’ve had this season, and the way that we saw out the last 15 minutes of the game was absolutely a master class.”
Both teams kept the pressure on in the second half. Le Bihan crossed into the penalty area in the 49th minute, the ball bounced and found a wide open Jasmyne Spencer, who took a touch and and fired the shot, but Pickett recovered just in time and blocked the shot. The momentum then shifted to North Carolina, as they got its first chance in the 58th minute when Pinto sprung Brittany Ratcliffe with a ball down the left side, Ratcliffe took the shot before Spencer could get in front of her, but Haracic parried the shot away from goal. Carolina’s second chance actually found the back net, as Lussi chased down a long ball from Malia Berkley and sent the shot past Haracic, only for the goal to be called back, as Lussi was offside when Berkley sent the ball forward. More chances came for both sides, as McCaskill in the 65th minute sent a long-range volley from about 26 yards out, but Rowland dived and parried the ball over goal, and a Courage counter in the 69th minute saw Ratcliffe play a ball to a sprinting Olivia Wingate, who took a touch into the penalty and fire the left-footed shot, but Haracic made the save.
Angel City FC
North Carolina Courage
