There was plenty of hype going into Sunday’s match between Angel City FC and San Diego Wave FC.
Aside from it being a rivalry match between the two Southern California Rivals that drew another sellout crowd of 22,000, Sunday’s match also marked the debut of midfielder Julie Ertz in the Angel City Midfield. Ertz got the start at her usual No. 6 position and went 70 minutes in the match.
“I’m so grateful to be here,” Ertz said of her day leading up to the match. “The second I walked out of seeing all these fans, being one of the first players in the NWSL, even in the time I’ve been out, to come back here and just see the growth of the NWSL is just absolutely incredible.”
The match however belonged to San Diego, as second half goals from Sofia Jakobsson and Makenzy Doniak were all Wave FC needed to get the win at BMO Stadium.
“I hate losing, but I don’t think the score reflected the way we played tonight,” Angel City defender Ali Riley said. “I hope that people are excited about this team off the back of this performance,”
Both teams played to a standstill for the first 69 minutes, but San Diego finally broke through in the 70th minute. It started when Danielle Colaprico played a ball to Christie Westphal, who then dribbled down the length of the field and found Jakobsson on the right side. Jakobsson touched a ball into the penalty area, made a cutting move to evade M.A. Vignolia, then fired the shot past keeper Didi Haracic into the back net to give Wave FC the lead. San Diego then doubled its lead on the luck of a bounce five minutes later, as Doniak pressured Vignolia into a turnover, Doniak sidestepped a defender, then took a shot that deflected off Sarah Gorden, but it turned out to be a fortunate bounce, as the shot snuck in over Haracic at the near post.
Despite the loss, Angel City showed plenty of promise with Ertz in the starting 11. Ertz’s calming presence on the ball, such as her ability to maintain possession under pressure and joining in the attack was key to slowing down Wave FC’s attack during stretches while Angel City’s offense buzzed around San Diego’s side of the field a lot during the match.
“She had a really good presence on the ball and looked calm under pressure, which translated to the rest of the team,” Angel City head coach Freya Coombe said. “They were a lot calmer on the ball, so even when pressed she was able to deal with pressure really well and play out of it calmly. Having her leadership in the center to direct is huge for us.”
Angel City will be spending the next week and a half in the Pacific Northwest, first with a Saturday night league match against the league-leading Portland Thorns, then a NWSL Challenge Cup match against OL Reign on May 3.
