Angel City drew the Chicago Stars 2–2 at home tonight following goals by midfielder Kennedy Fuller and defender MA Vignola. Forwards Nádia Gomes and Ally Schlegel scored for the visitors.
The first chance of the game was a first-minute look by Chicago. Forward Ally Schlegel played a long through ball into the box for midfielder Manaka Hayashi, who took a close-range shot. Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson blocked the effort for a corner kick.
After that attempt, the early minutes of the game were a midfield battle, with neither side threatening on goal, but things started to pick up around the 20-minute mark. In the 23rd minute, forward Riley Tiernan played a dangerous ball across the face of goal, which a Chicago defender headed out over the endline; on the resulting corner kick, forward Alyssa Thompson connected with her head but sent her shot wide.
Tiernan had a look of her own in the 25th minute, cutting sideways past several defenders near the penalty arc to take a long-range shot, but it also went wide.
Angel City broke through in the 30th minute when defender Sarah Gorden sent a line-breaking ball to forward Julie Dufour, who played a quick one-two pass with defender Miyabi Moriya on the right wing. Dufour then sent a cross into the six-yard box, which midfielder Kennedy Fuller hammered into the back of the net.
In the 58th minute, Chicago pulled one back when forward Nádia Gomes attempted a cross from the right, with Angel City defender MA Vignola marking her tightly. The ball deflected off Vignola’s foot and looped high into the air, coming down at a challenging angle for Anderson and landing unluckily inside the back post.
Fuller had another look in the 62nd minute, picking up a sideways pass from Thompson at the top of the 18, but her attempt went wide.
Chicago pulled ahead in the 66th minute when forward Ally Schlegel capitalized on a turnover in midfield, drove toward goal, and unleashed a hard shot from 25 yards. Anderson dove and got a hand on the ball, but couldn’t stop it from landing in the back of the net.
In the 77th minute, Vignola had a near miss, hitting the crossbar with an angled shot from the left side of the penalty area. Vignola made up for it when she got a second chance just three minutes later. She pounced on a deflected shot by Tiernan that had fallen to the corner of the six-yard box and hammered it into the top of the net with her left foot to level the score in the 80th minute.
The visitors had a chance to pull ahead again in stoppage time, taking an angled shot from inside the 18-yard-box, but hit the back post.
Angel City is at home again next Saturday, June 14, at 7:00 p.m., against the North Carolina Courage. Tickets are on sale here.
