Today Angel City lost 0–1 at home in an exciting rivalry match against NJ/NY Gotham FC. Gotham forward Ifeoma Onumonu had the game’s only goal, in the 57th minute. Despite the result, ACFC dominated the match, especially in the second half.
'We led every category other than goals scored and yellow cards,' said Head Coach Freya Coombe after the game. “I think we showed real dominance in the second half. Initially, we were just rushing in the final third and really weren’t converting our chances. I think we showed a little bit more patience towards the end of the second half and that translated into entries into the box and touches in the box.'
Angel City had an excellent scoring chance early on, when in the second minute, forward Tyler Lussi crossed the ball to forward Christen Press inside the six-yard box. Press was one on one with Gotham keeper Ashlyn Harris, but sent her shot to the far post wide.
LA had another near miss in the 28th minute, when Lussi crossed the ball to Press, who put a looping header on target, but it was parried out for a corner kick.
The rest of the first half was fairly slow, without many quality chances on either side. Gotham largely looked to send the ball over the top and beat ACFC’s back line with their speed in behind, but ACFC made some strong defensive plays to keep them limit them to low-quality chances.
Gotham notched the game’s only goal in the 57th minute, when defender Caprice Dydasco found Onumonu to the right of the penalty area. Onumonu initially failed to settle the ball, and it fell between ACFC defender Vanessa Gilles and New Jersey forward Midge Purce. Purce tapped the ball back to Onumonu, who sent a powerful strike to the near post to beat Angel City keeper DiDi Haračić and put her team ahead.
“[Onumonu] is one that we've done our homework on,' said Coombe—who previously was the head coach at Gotham—after the game. 'Obviously, I know her well as a player, and for her she's a real threat in the box, especially being able to just turn and get her shots off. It's something that she does really well and we've highlighted it, but credit to her, we just didn't clear the ball well enough.'
After the goal, Angel City ratcheted up the intensity and found successively more chances on goal as the half went on. They had a very near miss in the 80th minute, when midfielder Savannah McCaskill found Press in the box. Press sent a hard strike to the far post, which Gotham keeper Ashlyn Harris blocked. The ball ricocheted out of her hands and fell to forward Jun Endo, who also put a shot on target, but it was cleared off the line by a Gotham defender.
The final ten minutes of the game were chaotic, with Angel City spending much of their time inside Gotham’s 18. They tallied seven more shots before the final whistle, frequently capitalizing on missed clearances to shoot and pick up corner kicks, but failing to find the back of the net.
Despite the scoreline, the stats were heavily in Angel City’s favor, including 23 shots to Gotham’s seven—18 from inside the box—and 53 touches inside the opposition box, compared to New Jersey’s 11.
'The first half was not the best start,' said Endo through a translator after the game. 'The second half, I wanted to take that energy and start from scratch. But that's a team effort moving forward. We want to go in with that confidence in the first half.”
Next Friday, June 3, Angel City is on the road against the Portland Thorns at 7:30 p.m. PST. The match will be streamed on Paramount+.
