Angel City drew the Kansas City Current 1–1 on the road tonight, with goals by ACFC midfielder Cari Roccaro and Current midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta.
Kansas City found the first good chance of the game in the 16th minute, when midfielder Lo’eau LaBonta played a through ball to defender Alex Loera. Loera sent a cross in to forward Kristen Hamilton, who one-timed the ball from close range, but keeper DiDi Haračić dove left and smothered the shot.
For the first 20 minutes, the Current kept Angel City largely pinned inside their own half, making repeated attacks, but Haračić and the ACFC defense held strong and kept the home team off the board. As the half progressed, LA found their way into the attacking half more often, finding a few looks on goal, but didn’t manage to put any shots on frame.
'We didn't really keep the ball that much, to be honest,' said Roccaro. 'I think we couldn't really get a rhythm. We weren't playing quick enough, especially in the first half. We were going for the long ball route, but we weren't winning the second balls. I think we were kind of on the back foot chasing more and wore ourselves out running box to box, so then when we did get the ball, we weren't really keeping it because we were a little bit tired.'
The Current, meanwhile, continued to knock; in the 30th minute, midfielder Claire Lavogez ran onto a pass by defender Hailie Mace, then made a diagonal run across the box and turned to shoot with her left. Haračić jumped and just parried the shot over the crossbar.
Haračić had an excellent half, ending it with six saves. Her last stop before the break happened in stoppage time, when a free kick by Loera fell to defender Elizabeth Ball. She tapped the ball down to midfielder CeCe Kizer, who took a hard shot that forced Haračić to dive.
'We all had to look at ourselves at halftime because we knew that that performance in the first half wasn't good enough,' said Head Coach Freya Coombe. 'It's relief to be able to get in at halftime and still be nil-nil... But also knowing that that gave us a chance in a game and that we had to do better in the second half.'
Angel City had another close call in the 54th minute, when midfielder Desiree Scott played a one-two pass with defender Kristen Edmonds to find space out wide on the right, and sent a well-placed cross toward Lavogez. LA defender Megan Reid turned her back into the ball to block it off the goal line and out for a corner kick.
Much of the second half was back-and-forth, with the majority of the action taking place in the middle third. The visitors mounted more attacks than they had in the first half, putting up six shots to Kansas City’s seven.
In the 78th minute, midfielder Cari Roccaro put one away for Angel City. Endo made a run up the left wing, then passed back to defender Ali Riley near the corner of the 18-yard box. Riley popped the ball up and over the Kansas City defense, where Roccaro caught Franch off her line and headed the ball into the back of the net.
'I thought Ali was going to hit it first time,' said Roccaro after the game. 'I was going in, but she took a touch, and I think I rerouted and I just was like, 'Get this on frame!'... Good things happen when you get in the box.'
Just a few minutes later, the Current tied the game back up. In the 80th minute, defender Paige Nielsen fouled LaBonta in the box. LaBonta stepped up to the spot and buried her shot to the right, with Haračić diving left.
Coombe was blunt about the team not performing at their best.
'I think the comfort here is that we haven't played well,' she said. 'And we have come out of here with a point against a team that's in form and is playing really well... If we can compete with a team that's in the top three when we're not playing well, then I think that gives us a lot of hope for the final run that we've got in the playoffs.'
Roccaro echoed Coombe, saying, 'they definitely took it to us and we were kind of on the back foot, but we fought hard. We had heart and grit. We finished out the game with the tie and honestly, I'm really proud of the team for doing that because finishing our games is really important right now for our push to the playoffs.'
The draw means that Angel City remains in seventh place, one point out of playoff position. They play again next Sunday, August 28, on the road against NJ/NY Gotham FC.