A tale of two halves unfolded for Angel City FC on Sunday evening.
The first half saw Angel City take the game to the Kansas City Current, particularly in the last 15 minutes. Angel City found space through Kansas City’s three-player back line and exploited it to the tune of first half goals from Alyssa Thompson, Claire Emslie and Jun Endo, giving Angel City a 3-0 halftime lead.
The second half saw the Current flip the script. Kansas City got second half goals from Isabel Rodriguez and Cece Kizer to cut Angel City’s lead to just a goal. Despite the scare, Angel City dug down, and wilted away the remainder of the match, and got its first home win of the season with a 3-2 win at BMO Stadium.
“The performances have been good the last couple games, but we just haven’t got the results,” Emslie said. “The main thing today was even if it was ugly, which it ended up being very ugly, we got the three points and that’s really all we needed.”
Angel City first struck in the 30th minute. Emslie took Keeper Haracic’s throw-in and broke for goal, dribbling down the left side of the field, then played a ball into the box. Thompson timed her run perfectly to get past Addisyn Merrick, Thompson took the ball towards the end line, made a juke move to further evade Merrick, then fired a shot that got past Keeper Cassie Miller, hit off the far post, then the near post before it finally crossed the goal line for Thompson’s third goal of the season that gave Angel City the lead.
Kansas City had one chance to equalize in the 35th minute. Debhina dummied a ball from Gabrielle Robinson, which free up Kizer for a run into the penalty area, Kizer made a cutting move to evade defender Megan Reid and fired the shot, but Haracic got enough of the ball to allow Reid to recover and clear the ball out of the penalty area. Angel City then went back on the offensive, doubling its lead in the 43rd minute, as Dani Weatherholt sprung Endo down the left side, Endo touched into the penalty area, then crossed into the six-yard box and Emslie fired the sliding shot that Miller actually got to, but the ball was well past the goal line. Endo found the back net herself just before the half, as she she took a ball from Madison Hammond, split two defenders and fired the shot past Miller far post, and Angel City was up by three goals.
“It was a moment of the opposition where we felt we could take advantage,” Angel City head coach Freya Coombe said. “Looking at the space that we were able to create, we knew their wing backs were able to jump out causing them to shift, and then the spaces appeared for us to get in behind them. Overall, the quality of the finishes were awesome.”
Looking to stem the tide, Kansas City went back to a four-player backline, but it wasn’t until the 57th minute that Kansas City got back into the match, as Kizer played a ball backwards to Rodriguez, who charged into the penalty area and fired a rocket past Haracic far post to get the Current on the board. Kansas City really made things interesting in the 61st minute, as Debinha had the ball inside the penalty area and despite four Angel City defenders guarding her managed to find a sightline, firing a shot that was stopped by Haracic, but she left a rebound inside the six, and Kizer quickly came in and buried the rebound chance past a scrambling Haracic, and suddenly, Kansas City was within a goal of leveling the match. Angel City however collected themselves and successfully withstood any last minute charges by the Current.
“we just have to be consistent over 90 minutes. We’ve talked about consistency from game to game to be consistent during a complete match. This time we’re able to hold on. We have to be able to celebrate tonight. Then of course, everyone on this team, the staff, the players, we all look at ourselves after every game and say, ‘What can we do better?’ That’s why I love being a part of this team.”
Angel City now prepares for another huge test, as they welcome the third-place Washington Spirit to Los Angeles on Saturday night.
