This Saturday, April 15, at 7:00 p.m., Angel City start a three-game home stand by hosting Racing Louisville FC. The game will stream live in the US on CBSSN and internationally on NWSLSoccer.com; English- and Spanish-language radio broadcasts will be available on iHeart and KWKW, respectively. For more information on broadcasts, click here.
Angel City has played Louisville twice, earning one win and one loss.
In June last year, ACFC beat Racing 3–2 on the road at Lynn Family Stadium, with forward Christen Press notching one goal and midfielder Savannah McCaskill scoring two, one in the run of play and one penalty.
In September, Louisville paid Angel City back in kind, beating them 3–1 at home in LA. McCaskill scored the only goal for the home team in the first 15 minutes of that game, before conceding two goals late in the first half and one in the 90th minute.
This season, Louisville is 0–0–2 (W–L–D). Their most recent result was a 2–2 draw at home with Washington on April 1.
Angel City have one win and one loss on the season. Most recently, they beat the Orlando Pride 2–1 on the road on April 2.
Louisville made moves for 2023, bringing in both veterans and young talent in multiple areas of the field.
Defensively, they acquired two proven defenders in Abby Erceg and Carson Pickett, both from the North Carolina Courage. ACFC Head Coach Freya Coombe says those two players provide a major boost for the team.
'I thought last year they played a really great brand of soccer,' she told media. 'I really enjoyed watching them play. I thought they were good on the ball. I think just defensively, especially in moments of transition, they looked very vulnerable, and I think they firm that a lot with bringing in Abby and bringing in Carson in order to just firm up that back line.'
In the midfield—though she's listed as a defender—is Finnish international Elli Pikkujämsä, who has played a holding defensive mid role in Racing's first two matches. She joins Savannah DeMelo, the USC graduate who was one of Louisville's most consistent players last season, and Brazilian international Ary Borges.
The 22-year-old Borges has made a major impact for Brazil in her 22 caps, including scoring the game-winner against Paraguay in the semifinal of last summer's Copa America, which her team would go on to win. In Louisville's last match, against Washington, Borges scored an eye-popping equalizing goal, one-timing a loose ball from the top of the goal area into the upper 90.
On the front line, the club acquired Nigerian international Uchenna Kanu from Tigres, where she notched 23 goals in 38 appearances en route to the team winning the 2022 Apertura tournament. Internationally, she scored her country's lone goal in their match against the US last September.
After a weekend off from NWSL play during the FIFA break, Angel City has a busy week ahead, playing three games in the eight-day stretch between Saturday and the following Sunday, April 23. After Louisville, they will host OL Reign in a Challenge Cup game next Wednesday, then San Diego for a league game on Sunday.
The weekend off provided both a challenge and an opportunity. On one hand, 'it's always hard, I think, to to see a lot of your team go [due to national team duty] this early in the season,' says Coombe. 'It's great for the club to have so many players representing their countries at the international level, but we [also] want to be able to look forward to our next game.'
At the same time, she said, the break 'gave us a good opportunity to focus on some of our basics and some of our standards, so that's been our focus during this two-week period—and now the games are coming thick and fast.'
For the week ahead, the key will be rotating the squad in a way that both keeps the team competitive and manages load for individual players.
According to defender Megan Reid, another key will be the team's attitude on the field. 'Not every day is going to be your best day,' she told the media. 'You might not be on tactically, you might not be seeing everything tactically, but at the end of the day, you can always give attitude and effort.'
The ability to dig deep and get a result in tough moments is something Angel City demonstrated in their last match, as forward Katie Johnson scored the latest game-winner—and goal, period—in league history ten minutes into stoppage time. 'I think that's something that you can expect from us on any given day,' said Reid, 'regardless of how tired we are.'