Angel City earned a come-from-behind draw against Racing Louisville FC 2–2 at home tonight in a back-and-forth match that saw goals by forward Katie Johnson and midfielder Savannah McCaskill.
The match got off to a difficult start for Angel City, when defender M.A. Vignola committed a foul in the box and the center official pointed to the spot. Midfielder Savannah DeMelo stepped up to take the penalty and buried it in the upper left-hand corner to open the scoring in the third minute.
Louisville came close to notching a second goal in the 13th minute when DeMelo beat her mark at the top of the 18 to send a shot just inside the left post—but keeper DiDi Haračić dove and just got a hand on the ball to deflect it onto the post itself.
Two minutes later, Angel City nearly got one back. Forward Claire Emslie ran onto a long diagonal pass from midfielder Savannah McCaskill, sprinted into space on the right side of the penalty area, and took a crack from distance, but her shot went just wide of the far post.
The two teams continued to trade attacks as the game went on, with neither side gaining control of the center of the pitch.
In the 32nd minute, Louisville doubled their lead as Kirsten Davis received the ball from DeMelo near the penalty arc, took a touch to beat her mark, and sent her shot into the left side of the net.
On the last play before the halftime whistle, defender Paige Nielsen made a solo effort, dribbling into the box from the right and beating several defenders, but she sent her shot wide.
“You never want to give up a penalty kick that early,” said McCaskill after the game, summarizing the first half. “We wanted to keep the ball and stay compact, but that's not what we did in the first half. Instead, we came out on our back foot, and weren't really prepared for what they were going to throw at us. Going into the second half, we knew we had to be better.”
After the break, Angel City came out on the front foot, producing a handful of chances, but it was Louisville that came close to scoring first. In the 60th minute, DeMelo sent a free kick to the far corner of the six-yard box, where forward Jessica McDonald was making a weak-side run. McDonald got her head on the ball, but sent it wide.
Angel City broke through in the 68th minute after they were awarded a free kick a few yards to the left of the penalty area, near the endline. McCaskill sent the kick to the near post, where forward Katie Johnson redirected the ball with her torso to beat keeper Katie Lund.
ACFC put together a number of chances over the next ten minutes, finally equalizing in the 87th minute. Forward Alyssa Thompson sent a cross into the near side of the penalty area, where an attempted clearance by a Louisville defender landed at the feet of McCaskill, who was lurking near the center of the 18. McCaskill turned to strike a clean half-volley past a diving Lund and into the net.
After the game, Head Coach Freya Coombe praised McCaskill’s performance, saying, “Savannah led the categories in terms of statistics, which included shots on target, crosses attempted, completed passes in the final third, completed passes, successful dribbles and second in chances created, as well as a goal. That’s one hell of a performance.”
In the 90th minute, the home team nearly pulled ahead when Thompson ran onto a short diagonal pass from Johnson and sprinted past the Louisville back line, but her left-footed shot hit the post and bounced out to Lund.
“In the second half we dominated all the categories,” said Coombe after the game. “We were able to win balls, had better shape behind the ball to be able to stop those transitional moments. We were a little bit more patient rather than sending balls into an empty box. We were able to possess the ball a little more and look for those moments to attack and that was key.”
Angel City’s next match is a midweek Challenge Cup game at home against OL Reign FC on Wednesday, April 23 at 7:00 p.m.
