Angel City lost 0–2 tonight to Seattle Reign FC in their first game back from the NWSL summer break. Midfielder Jess Fishlock scored for Seattle, with an ACFC own goal closing out the game.
The first half was largely a midfield battle with few chances on goal for either side.
Angel City had the first look, in the ninth minute, when forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir sent a diagonal pass from the corner of the 18 yard box back towards the center of the field for midfielder Kennedy Fuller as she made a forward run. Fuller dribbled a few steps and shot from the penalty arc, but Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey made the save.
The visitors had another opportunity in the 17th minute after Seattle attempted to clear a corner kick by forward Jun Endo. After taking the kick, Endo scooped up the recycled ball inside the penalty area, created space in front of her mark, and curled a left-footed shot on frame inside the far post—which Dickey again collected.
Jónsdóttir had an attempt of her own in the 34th minute. Endo threaded a through ball into the box for the Iceland international, who uncorked an angled left-footed shot that Dickey stopped.
Seattle had their first attempt of the game in the 37th minute when defender Sofia Huerta served a long ball into the six-yard box. The ball bounced off the torso of forward Maddie Dahlien near the goal line, where goalkeeper Angelina Anderson collected it.
ACFC had a look shortly after the break, when a 49th-minute corner kick by Endo fell to defender Alanna Kennedy just outside the six-yard box; Kennedy headed it toward goal, but Dickey saved.
Anderson had a clutch save less than a minute later, when forward Emeri Adames dribbled into the box and tapped a short pass to Dahlien, who sent the ball across the face of goal. Defender Sofia Huerta took a sharply angled shot from the opposite post, which Anderson dove on to stop.
In the 66th minute, the Reign broke through. Huerta sent a cross from the right to the far corner of the six-yard box for midfielder Jess Fishlock. Anderson blocked Fishlock’s initial headed shot, but the ball bounced back into the path of the Wales international, who sent a volley into the back of the net.
Seattle doubled their lead in the 86th minute when a corner kick by Huerta skipped into the penalty area, where Fishlock dummied the ball near the six-yard line. No Reign players found the end of the service, but Kennedy was unluckily in its path and conceded an own goal to close out the scoring.
Angel City's next match is set for Saturday, August 9 on the road at San Diego at 7:00 p.m. Pacific. The game will be broadcast on Ion.
On the progress the team made in tonight’s match:
“The last six to eight weeks have been a second preseason for us. Alex came in and taught us a lot of new things in terms of where we want to be now and where we want to be in a couple of years. It's been a lot of information, but I think that we've been able to take a lot of those concepts and have been able to apply them in a way that's meaningful.
“You can feel it in the way that we're playing, it looks and feels completely different on the field. A lot of that has to do with our spacing.”
On the responsibility and detail of playing in the middle as a six:
“Playing the six makes our job a little bit more fluid, but it also increases the responsibility that we have in the middle. Playing alongside Ken [Fuller] today, it felt like we had a pretty good balance in terms of our distances and our movement. It just requires everyone to kind of be on the same page. It's definitely a work in progress, but I feel like we saw a lot of those positive moments today, and that is reflected by how we're able to get into the attack.
“We have really powerful forwards, and they're really talented. The more that we're able as midfielders to allow them to exploit the things that they're good at, the better we feel about our jobs.”
On returning to Seattle to play against her old club:
“Coming back here is always really fun. I really get amped up for the games and always want to beat them. They're a really good team and always had a good foundation of leadership and style of play. They want to keep the ball, but there's a little bit more dynamic movement from them now. It just makes them a little bit more threatening.
“For me personally, I just feel like we were able to put, for the most part, a really good performance together here, and that's what I always carry pride in. I get to see some of my friends, go for a coffee, and those are always the greatest parts of playing the sport, the people you meet along the way. It's like a mini homecoming, but at the same time, I've been in LA a lot longer than I've been in Seattle now.”
Overall thoughts on the match :
“We played the best game for big periods since I came here. We saw the things that we've been working on, where we have great switches of play. We got to the final third and were one pass away from creating big chances today.
“We showed more control, good build, and had the better team. We gave them problems, we got a lot of set pieces and corner kicks. A little bit more untidy, but still not far off. However, we continue to give away very simple goals. It’s hard to win football matches with the goals we let in today.”
On fixing the team’s mistakes while continuing to build their model of play:
“We are sorting out quite a bit of the other parts of our game, but there are puzzle pieces that we need to get into the right places, so we can adjust and fix our mistakes one way or another.
“We will win a lot of football matches, but that's what I've said from the start. We don't want this to be an open thing that is uncontrolled, where sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I want us to build the model that we have before in other places. It's always been rocky and then when you arrive, you don't win one or two, you win eight, ten, or 43 like I did with Bayern.”
Angel City hits the road for back-to-back away matches against San Diego Wave and Utah Royals before returning home to BMO Stadium on Thursday, August 21 to defend La Fortaleza against Orlando Pride at 7:30 PM PT. 🎟️ Get tickets here.