OL Reign 4
Angel City FC 1
May 27, 2023
Lumen Field – Seattle, WA
NWSL Regular Season
Angel City FC journeyed up the West Coast and paid a visit on Saturday afternoon to Seattle to take on the OL Reign in NWSL Regular Season action.
OL Reign came into the match having dropped points in successive matches, including a rare drubbing at home last Saturday from Gotham FC. Although the past two matches were disappointing, the opportunity to push back up to at or near the top of the table was there for the taking. What kind of response would the club have after two rough weekends was a story line to watch.
Angel City had drawn at home last weekend against North Carolina. The LA club started the day in the lower tier of the table, but is also struggling to get healthy and getting Julie Ertz worked into the system. Ertz would not be in the line up.
The visitors would come out on the front foot, taking the majority of the early possession and putting the Reign defense on their toes with several early chances. Alyssa Thompson showed a flash of speed and touch, taking an early chance to run at and into the Reign box.
The Reign got their footing and countered the Angel City press with some high press in return, creating a number of dangerous opportunities as the middle of the half approached. Seattle had tweaked the starting eleven to include Elyse Bennett, who became a regular target of the Reign service into the box.
Claire Emslie would open the scoring, grabbing a near post Olimpico in the 27th minute. The corner would float into the near post up high, curling into the goal just under the crossbar. Angel City was without a number of starters and had come out on the attack and were rewarded off the set piece with a beautiful first goal. Emslie would not claim it was a shot, but the dangerous curve into the near post runners was dangerous from the start.
A wide open first half would continue. Megan Rapinoe drifted over to the right side and sent in a long low near post cross that Bennett would get goal side of. Bennett’s touch would find the net and the match was level in the 34th minute at 1-1. It was Bennett’s first goal with the club since joining from Kansas City in the off-season.
The match would head into the interval level at one. The early wide open play continued throughout the half, as both sides continued to press and stretch the field.
Veronica Latsko would grab the lead for the Reign, blasting a shot from just outside the box to the upper right corner. The wide open play from the first half continued, the Latsko blast coming early in the half in the 53rd.
Moments later and it was 3-1 in the 55th minute. Latsko would grab her brace, once again getting on the end of a Rapinoe pass to change the entire course of the match. The promising start for Angel City had turned. For Rapinoe, it was her third assist of the match, moving to the franchise lead.
Later in the half both sides would utilize fresh legs, bringing on multiple subs to look for some sort of a late spark. Quinn would get their first NWSL goal in the 82nd minute, driving a long blast left to right to the far upper post, making it 4-1 for the home side.
A rough result for Angel City, who took it at the hosts early and grabbed a lead, but were unable to withstand the run of goals the Reign would bring on.
OL Reign coach Laura Harvey was looking for a response from the past two disappointing matches, and the 4-1 score line and steady defense and attack was what she was looking for at the start of a 3 match week with a rivalry match at the end.
The three points would push the Seattle side back up into the mix at the top of the table pending other results.
BOX
Scoring
RGN: Bennett – 34’, Latsko – 52’,55’, Quinn – 82’
ACFC: Emslie – 27’
Discipline
RGN: None
ACFC: Weatherholt (Caution – 22’), Le Bihan (Caution – 61’)
Lineups
RGN: GK Tullis-Joyce, D Huerta, D Cook, D Hiatt, D Barnes ©, M Fishlock, M Sonnett (Quinn 77’), M Balcer (Stanton 69’), F Latsko (Van der Jagt 81’), F Bennett (Huitema 68’), F Rapinoe (King 81’)
Unused substitutes: GK Dickey, M Athens, D Brown, D Holmes
Total Shots: 25 (Latsko – 6)
Shots on Goal: 11 (Latsko – 4)
Fouls: 11 (Latsko – 3)
Offsides: 1
Corner Kicks: 2
Saves: 1 (Tullis-Joyce – 1)
ACFC: GK Haracic, D Spencer (Le Bihan 59’), D Reid, D Gorden, D Endo (Riley 53’), M Hammond, M Weatherholt © (Nabet 59’), M McCaskill, F Thompson, F Johnson (Camberos 69’), F Emslie
Unused substitutes: GK Isenhour, M Anderson, M Pluck, M Ertz, F Leroux
Total Shots: 7 (Camberos, Emslie – 2)
Shots on Goal: 2 (Emslie – 2)
Fouls: 10 (Emslie – 3)
Offsides: 0
Corner Kicks: 8
Saves: 7 (Haracic – 7)
Referee: Thomas Snyder
Assistant Referee 1: Seth Martin
Assistant Referee 2: Melissa Beck
4th Official: Christopher Calderon
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard
AVAR: Kaili Terry
