Angel City Football Club (ACFC) earned a 1–1 draw on the road against rival San Diego Wave tonight, following goals by Wave forward Makenzy Robbe and ACFC defender Alanna Kennedy.
The first half was a defensive battle, featuring a handful of scoring opportunities on either side, but just one shot on target by San Diego.
The first of those opportunities—and the only one on frame—came for the Wave in the 12th minute when forward Delphine Cascarino dribbled up the right wing to feed a diagonal pass into the box for forward Adrianna Leon. Leon took a right-footed shot, which goalkeeper Angelina Anderson dove to block out over the goal line.
In the 15th minute, the hosts had another look when midfielder Kenza Dali sent a short pass arcing over the Angel City defense and into the path of Cascarino’s run into the box. The winger fired off a low cross across the six-yard box for defender Trinity Armstrong, whose volley sent the ball back across the face of goal to deflect off an ACFC defender.
Angel City had their first look in the 24th minute. Forward Alyssa Thompson made a solo run up the right half-space and into the box, where she cut inside and beat her mark. Thompson then found forward Riley Tiernan with a sideways pass to the outside; Tiernan took a right-footed shot, but it went wide of the far post.
Thompson had a shot of her own in the 29th minute, sprinting onto a long ball to get one on one with Armstrong. As she dribbled into the box, Kailen Sheridan came off her line and blocked her shot, with defender Kristen McNabb then clearing the ball.
In the 34th minute, Leon had another shot, again picking up a service by Cascarino. Her close-range shot hit defender Sarah Gorden squarely in the face, forcing her to sub out of the game several minutes later.
Thompson had another look in first-half stoppage, running onto a diagonal ball from forward Jun Endo and dribbling around three Wave defenders in a race into the 18-yard box, but her shot hit the side netting.
Wave midfielder Kimmi Ascanio had the final chance of the half, forcing a giveaway in her team’s attacking third and shooting from the top of the box; her attempt also went wide.
As the second half got underway, Angel City found more attacking momentum and began stringing together chances on goal, starting with a 58th minute effort by Tiernan. Midfielder Kennedy Fuller sent a sideways ball into the box to Tiernan, who cut past her mark and put a shot on frame—but Sheridan blocked it for a corner.
A handful of skirmishes in San Diego 18 over the next 15 or so minutes generated no quality shots; that changed in the 76th minute, when Tiernan sent a through ball to Thompson in the box, who beat her defender for a close-range effort—the visitors’ best look so far—which Sheridan again saved.
The Wave broke through in the 85th minute. Midfielder Jordan Fusco sent a diagonal ball to forward Makenzy Robbe, who fired off an angled shot that bounced off a defender. Robbe scooped up the recycled ball and took another crack, this one sailing past Anderson to bring the score to 1–0.
ACFC equalized in the 92nd minute when forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir lofted a cross toward the far post, where defender Alanna Kennedy was lurking. The Australian international had plenty of space and sent a header past Sheridan and into the back of the net.
Angel City completes a three-game road streak on Friday, August 15 away against Utah Royals FC at 7:00 p.m. PT on Paramount+.
ACFC MILESTONES
- Defender Alanna Kennedy earned her ninth NWSL Regular Season goal in tonight’s, first with ACFC since signing with the club.
- Forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir earned her first career NWSL Regular Season assist in tonight’s match.
POST-MATCH QUOTES
ACFC Head Coach, Alex Straus
On the last 15 min of the game where both teams conceded and scored:
“We missed that last week in Seattle. When we went a goal down and didn’t do anything after that. We talked about that because it takes effort and hunger and urgency to get something there.
“We played a great team. San Diego is a great team. [They have] good players and we have a lot of respect for them. We deserved at least one point today. We take it a little bit as a win when we equalize in extra time. We created great chances before they scored and we continued to do that after they took the lead. Good game for our team away against a very good San Diego team.”
On preparing for road games:
“I spoke to Jonas after the game, I know him well. They are eight months ahead of us in the process. He came in eight months before me. Hopefully we can be consistent from where we are today. We want to be a top team as well and we want to get there. We need consistent performances like we had today. We grow a little bit day by day and week by week.”
“Now we go to Utah for another away game. It is also going to be a tight game. When we played away at Kansas, we could have gotten something out of that. Every game is tight. That is maybe the biggest difference between the European league and this league.”
On the value of this point from this win:
“I don’t look at it like that. I know what I signed up for. I came from a team that was one of the best teams in Europe. We won a lot for many years. We are building something here [at Angel City] that is a process. We look at the performances week by week. I don’t look at the table. We know where we are. We need to see progress in our performances and have a growth mindset.
“Today I think we took a big turn. Based on our second half, we should have won it if I am honest. I am more focused on performances than points to be honest. We can control the performances. And the points will come. That is what we are working on.”
ACFC Goalkeeper & Vice Captain, Angelina Anderson
On bouncing back from being a goal down:
“That is something that we have had to put in practice - is the overall resilience in mindset. It starts at training. This week was a way better week for us in terms of how much does it matter to you when you give up a goal in training and how do you bounce back from that? It showed on the weekend how we were able to bounce back from that. I am super proud of the group for being able to flip the switch on that. I think going forward that is going to be a staple of who we are.”
On the defensive strength of the team:
“We definitely knew we needed an overall team performance improvement. Knowing San Diego and their quality, we knew defensively we would have to be sharp…They have a lot of talented players in the attack. We had to put that extra emphasis and intention into training. We still have some things to clean up, but I think we put in a really great defensive performance tonight.”
On Evelyn Shores’ performance:
As a team in our huddle we gave Evelyn Shores a big shout out because she went toe-to-toe with one of the best players in the world and shut her down. Super proud of her, I am excited to see her grow. She has taken every challenge in stride and just continues to have a great growth mindset. I am really proud of her performance tonight and I think that will do a lot for her performance knowing she is here to play in this league.
On being vice captain of ACFC:
“Getting the captain’s band is one of the proudest things I have done in my career is being named vice captain of this team. It is always an honor when it gets put on and gives me a little weight to carry. I take it with pride and it means a lot to me for sure.”
