Angel City earned a 3–2 win, their first at home, against the Kansas City Current tonight, following goals by forward Alyssa Thompson, forward Claire Emslie, and forward Jun Endo.
Kansas City forward Michelle Cooper had the first chance of the night in the ninth minute when she dribbled up the center of the pitch on a transition play. She put her shot on target, but keeper DiDi Haračić easily saved it.
Angel City continued to threaten as the half went on, finally breaking through in the 31st minute. After receiving the ball from forward Claire Emslie, Thompson drove into the box from the left, made a clever cut to wrong-foot her defender, and sent an angled shot past Miller. It hit the far post and ricocheted into the goal to put Angel City up 1–0.
The Current came close in the 35th minute when forward CeCe Kizer beat defender Megan Reid on a transition play and sent her shot over Haračić as she came off her line, but Reid recovered and cleared the ball from the area before it crossed the goal line.
LA’s attacking group continued to combine, creating a handful of scoring chances and doubled their lead in the 42nd minute. Forward Jun Endo sent a cross from the left side of the area to the far post, where Emslie was crashing the net. Emslie slid to get her foot on the ball and redirect it past Miller and into the back of the net.
In the 45th minute, Endo nearly put one away herself when Thompson found her in a pocket of space centrally, but her shot was just wide of the left post. The Japanese international made up for the miss in the second minute of stoppage time when Hammond headed an attempted clearance to her feet as she was facing away from goal. She spun and muscled past two defenders and sent a one-time finish to the far post.
The Current pulled one back in the 57th minute when Kizer tapped a recycled ball to defender Izzy Rodriguez as she made a late run toward goal. Rodriguez hit a gorgeous long-range shot from the left corner of the 18 into the far netting, and Haračić had no chance of stopping it.
In the 61st minute Kansas City notched a second when Haračić blocked a close-range shot by Debinha. The rebound fell to Kizer, who tapped it over the line for an easy finish.
Angel City put together a gritty defensive performance over the next 30 minutes as Kansas City continued to knock. The visitors would have one more near miss, in the second minute of stoppage time when Haračić blocked a shot by Debinha and the ball fell to forward Alex Spaanstra, who took a shot from inside the 18, but it went just wide.
The win was Angel City’s first home win of the 2023 season. The team is at home again next Saturday, May 13, at 7:00 p.m. against the Washington Spirit.
