Photo courtesy of Angel City FC.
Christen Press relied on Kansas City’s defense to get Angel City another three points on Saturday night.
Coming off a massive result in Washington DC last week, Angel City looked to carry the momentum over back into Banc of California Stadium against the Kansas City Current.
Kansas City did not make things easy for Angel City. The Current relied on a combination of physicality and timely possession to try to stifle Angel City. In the end however, Angel City endured, as the lone goal of the match came on a Kansas City own goal, but Angel City nevertheless will gladly take the three points following the 1-0 result.
“It was a battle, it was pretty back and forth in the first half,” Angel City midfielder Cari Roccaro said. “They had a lot of set pieces and we had to weather the storm a little bit. That is something we have improved on since the beginning of the season, ” “We’ve learned to weather storms and stay steady, and by the second half we started to get our groove and got the goal. Once we scored, we totally settled in and took complete control of the game.”
The win gives Angel City its first winning streak, as they maintained the momentum gained from traveling 3,000 miles to the East Coast and getting three points against the defending champion Washington Spirit. The win also vaults Angel City into a tie for first place with fellow California expansion side San Diego Wave FC, who will play the North Carolina Courage on Sunday.
“It was a bit of a momentum,” Angel City keeper Didi Haracic said of the win in Washington last week. “We’re confident every game we’re coming into. We want to win. We want to keep clean sheets. That’s our game plan.”
Angel City edged ahead in the 70th minute. Savannah McCaskill sent a long ball from the right side, Press raced past in between Kansas City’s Leach and Elizabeth Ball, Press touched a ball into the penalty area and chased the ball towards the end line despite being pressured from behind by Ball, Press slid to maintain possession, then managed to get back to the ball just before it went out of bounds, Press shot a ball into the six-yard box, the ball skipped keeper Adrianna Franch, Leach got a touch on the ball, but it continued forward and eventually crossed the goal line.
Aside from its defensive efforts for the first 69 minutes of the match, Kansas City had one chance to get on the board first in the first half. Kristen Hamilton drew a foul on Jasmyne Spencer just outside of the Angel City penalty area, Kristen Edmonds and Alex Loera stepped up for the set piece, and Loera sent the free kick over the Angel City wall and right at goal, but keeper Didi Haracic got her right hand on the shot and sent the ball over the goal.
“It was tricky,” Haracic said of the events leading up to the save. “It’s difficult trying to see behind five of my players. That’s the worst part – when you have the five tallest players on the team as blockers. I’m doing my job and they did theirs. We kept it simple, kept it clean.”
Angel City eventually settled into the match and started to generate some chances of their own. Simone Charley had two great chances, the first coming in the 15th minute, as she beat Leach to a ball and fought off her challenge, but the efforts of Ball prevented Charley from having a great chance, as Charley took the shot, but was easily saved by Franch. Charley had another chance in the 31st minute, as Spencer sprung Charley towards the penalty area, Charley beat Ball to the ball inside the box and again found herself one-on-one with Franch, Charley took the shot, but Franch made herself big, sending Charley’s shot over the end line.
“I think it was a solid performance,” said Angel City head coach Freya Coombe. “We’ve been asking to see consistency in our previous games and I think we’re starting to get it. You can see how difficult we are to break down and how we support each other off of the ball. On the ball there were great moments, but our team is still hungry and we’re going to keep pushing to be even better.”
Angel City will look to make it three in a row next Sunday as they host Gotham FC.
