This Wednesday, April 19, at 7:00 p.m., Angel City plays their first game in the 2023 Challenge Cup at home against OL Reign. The game will stream live in the US on CBSSN and internationally on NWSLSoccer.com; an English-language radio broadcast will be available on iHeart. For more information on broadcasts, click here.
For the first time this year, the Challenge Cup is taking place concurrently with the regular NWSL season. For the two years following its inception in 2020, when it was held in an isolated 'bubble' in Sandy, Utah, it became a preseason competition. The new format mirrors that of many other cup competitions globally, including the men's US Open Cup and the English FA Cup.
Also new this year is a $1 million prize pool, the biggest ever in US women's club soccer.
Like in 2022, the league is split into three groups of four teams, West, Central, and East; within each group, all four teams will play the other three teams twice each, home and away. ACFC is in the West region with Portland, Seattle, and San Diego.
'It's definitely going to be different,' said forward Katie Johnson of the new schedule after Saturday's game. 'It’s in the middle of the season, and the games will have a different look and feel. At the beginning of the season, you're still trying to form bonds and relationships with players. Now that it's going to be mixed in, depth will be important for us, too.'
Midfielder Savannah McCaskill added that the team is serious about getting results in the Challenge Cup. 'We really want to make a good run,' she said. 'We don't want to just put it aside and be like, 'Oh, well, it's an extra tournament.' We really want to get results out of [the Challenge Cup] and I think it'll be a good test.'
You can see Angel City's full schedule for the tournament here.
Angel City has played OL Reign four times in total, twice in last year's Challenge Cup and twice in the regular season, losing all four games. In those matchups, ACFC scored four total goals while conceding nine; all but one was decided by one goal.
The Reign, who won the shield in 2022, are currently 2–1–0 (W–L–D) in the regular season, putting them in fourth place. Their one loss was on opening weekend away at Washington, a game that ended 1–0. ACFC are 1–1–2 so far in the regular season.
Their most recent result was a 1–0 win at home against San Diego. That game was decided by an Olivia Van der Jagt goal late in second-half stoppage time.
Angel City's last game was a 2–2 come-from-behind draw at Racing Louisville FC at home. Johnson and McCaskill each scored a goal for the home side.
The Reign are a stacked team, with a laundry list of creating and scoring threats in players like Rose Lavelle, Jess Fishlock, Jordyn Huitema, Bethany Balcer, and Sofia Huerta. They are a perennially strong team with the most roster continuity of any NWSL club; three of their players, Fishlock, defender Lauren Barnes, and forward Megan Rapinoe, have been on the roster since 2013. Their head coach, Laura Harvey, began her current stint with the team midway through 2021, having previously coached in Seattle from 2013–2017.
Seattle's lineup has only seen a few changes since 2022, with their biggest roster addition being USWNT defender Emily Sonnett, who they acquired in a trade with the Washington Spirit. Sonnett is a World Cup winner, two-time NWSL champion (with Portland in 2017 and Washington in 2021), and NWSL Shield winner with Portland in 2016. Though she has played center back for most of her NWSL career, Harvey has deployed her as a defensive midfielder so far this season.
OL also added forward Elyse Bennett, who had an impressive rookie season with the Kansas City Current in 2022. At 5'10, Bennett poses a significant aerial threat, but she's much more than a target forward. In the minutes she got in 2022, she demonstrated significant skill as a creator, recording stats in the 90th percentile or above among forwards in the categories of progressive carries and progressive passes received per 90; she was in the 84th percentile among forwards in assists per 90.