Angel City beat the San Diego Wave on the road 2–1 today, coming back from a 1–0 deficit following goals by defender Paige Nielsen and defender M.A. Vignola.
'We needed that one,' said Nielsen after the game. 'We knew that it would take our entire team to grind the game out and I think that's what we did today. We were in it together and it was a team performance.'
The first half saw few scoring opportunities for either side, with the most notable effort coming from the Wave in the 17th minute. On a free kick from the right of the penalty area, defender Naomi Girma sent a low driven ball in for forward Amirah Ali near the goal line. Ali put her shot on target, but keeper DiDi Haračić did well to drop to the ground and make the save.
Defender M.A. Vignola made a good defensive play in the 41st minute to keep San Diego off the board. Midfielder Meggie Dougherty Howard lobbed the ball toward Angel City’s goal from the central third of the field, and Ali looked to be in on goal when she made a run to pick that ball up, but Vignola got back in time to make the save.
The final chance of the half came with a strike by Angel City midfielder Lily Nabet from a few yards outside the penalty area, which she curved just wide of the right post.
San Diego opened the scoring in the 57th minute when they had a throw-in high up the pitch and made a few passes to get the ball to forward Alex Morgan, who played a sideways ball across the edge of the 18-yard box. Defender Kristen McNabb made a run and met the ball just outside the penalty arc, where she took a hard left-footed shot that Haračić had no chance to save.
Angel City kept fighting and forced the momentum their way after the goal. After a handful of forays into the goal area, including a close-range shot by Thompson in the 54th minute that went into the side netting, they finally pulled one back. In the 69th minute, a corner kick by midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan fell to defender Paige Nielsen, who received the ball with her chest, let it drop, and fired off a left-footed rocket that beat keeper Kailen Sheridan and landed in the back of the net.
'I think it was mostly just being cool, calm, and collected,' said Vignola of the comeback. 'Playing our game. We weren’t playing our best soccer in the first half and it was important that we did the dirty work. We were gritty, we were tough. We went one-nil down and I think in those moments we’re used to giving up, but we knew it was coming this game, and in the back of our mind we were like, 'play our game.' We are Angel City and we know what we can do, and we did it.'
In the 84th minute, ACFC defender Jasmyne Spencer came close when she ran onto a lofted ball into the box by midfielder Savannah McCaskill, cut inside, and shot for the far post—but her attempt went wide.
The visitors got the go-ahead goal in the 88th minute after forward Scarlett Camberos picked up a misplayed ball by forward Melanie Barcenas, dribbled toward goal, and sent a short pass to Vignola as the latter made an overlapping run into the box. Vignola struck with her first touch and put the ball inside the near post, where Sheridan got a piece of the ball but failed to stop it.
Vignola praised both Tweed's coaching and the team's effort in training over the last week, saying, 'I think we really fed off [Becki's] energy... she wanted us to play to our potential… she really brought that out of us in the past week of training. It was the most competitive it’s been in the last two to three months.'
The game was Angel City's first with Becki Tweed as interim head coach, and their first win since May 7. 'I think Becki is a great person and an amazing coach and she really stepped into a huge role,' said Nielsen. 'It’s not easy. We really respect her and trust her and realize it’s not going to be perfect at first.'
Tweed said she's already looking ahead to the next game. 'I’m already thinking about next week,' she said. 'How can we continue to be better and how can we push on and grow? We needed this.'
ACFC plays next at home on Sunday, June 25, at 5:00 p.m. against the Houston Dash. The match, which will be the team's Pride game, will be broadcast locally on Bally SoCal and stream online at Paramount+.
