Angel City made club history today when they clinched a playoff berth after beating the Portland Thorns in emphatic fashion. The two-year-old team beat the first-place Thorns by 5–1—both the most goals Angel City has ever scored and the most they have ever won by.
'We were due for a 5–1 win at some point,' said midfielder Savannah McCaskill after the game, 'and it just happened to be today to put us in the playoffs.'
The game was a back-and-forth affair over the first 15 minutes, with Portland maintaining the lion’s share of possession but not putting together many dangerous-looking attacks. Their best look was a shot by forward Morgan Weaver, which she hit from the left edge of the 18 toward the far post. ACFC keeper Angelina Anderson made a full-extension dive to get to the ball, which she blocked out for a corner.
Around the 20-minute mark, the momentum shifted in Angel City’s direction. One chance in the 18th minute came off a well-placed through ball from midfielder Savannah McCaskill that forward Scarlett Camberos made a run around the outside to connect with. She then sent a low cross into the 18, which forward Sydney Leroux put on target, but goalkeeper Bella Bixby blocked it for a corner kick.
Angel City kept pushing and finally broke through in the 36th minute. Forward Claire Emslie, sitting centrally in the pocket, played a simple forward ball to Leroux, which she sent onward to defender MA Vignola as she made a run up the left wing. Vignola charged forward, beat her mark, and sent an angled rocket from the edge of the 18 flying past Bixby and into the net.
The home team doubled their lead just two minutes later. In the 38th minute, Vignola played Emslie in on the left, and the Scottish international patiently looked for an opening against Thorns defender Natalia Kuikka. Finding space, she crossed the ball to the back post, where Camberos headed the ball past Bixby.
The Thorns had one attempt to close out the half, with Dunn putting a shot on target from a central area at the edge of the 18 that Anderson easily saved.
Angel City opened the second half swinging and made it 3–0 in just the 47th minute. When Dunn lost track of the ball near the halfway line, midfielder Amandine Henry scooped it up and tapped it up the wing for Emslie, who dribbled forward and held up the ball for a few moments. When Vignola arrived with an underlapping run, Emslie backheeled her the ball, and Vignola then sent in a cross for McCaskill at the near post, which she easily redirected into the net.
'She's been working on that for about three months straight,' said defender Jasmyne Spencer after the game. 'Her timing in the box, her runs in the box—and she executed it perfectly today.'
The goal of the match—and perhaps Angel City’s whole season—came in the 51st minute when Camberos beat defender Meghan Klingenberg to send in a hard shot, which Bixby blocked. The ball arced high and fell to the feet of Leroux, who sent it into the back of the net with a bicycle kick.
'She also pulls that out every day in training,' said Spencer. 'Literally.'
Portland midfielder Hina Sugita pulled one back in the 79th minute, but was almost immediately answered. In the 80th minute, with the Thorns defense ball-watching, forward Alyssa Thompson dribbled sideways across their back line and found forward Jun Endo in lots of space on the left side. Endo dribbled a few steps and notched her team’s fifth goal of the day with an emphatic left-footed thwack.
After six minutes of stoppage time, the center official blew the final whistle to give Angel City the 5–1 win.
'I know we're in Hollywood, but we've never, ever played like that,' said Gorden to the media.
Not only did the win mark the team's first-ever trip to the playoffs, but it counted as the culmination of a dramatic turnaround from the team's position in the middle of the season. By the beginning of June, Angel City had fallen to 11th place following a string of disappointing results. Beginning with their June 17 win against San Diego, the team went on a 10-game all-competition unbeaten streak. They only lost one game, to Orlando two weeks ago, between that point and today.
'I just so proud of every single person on the roster, from staff to players to the front office,' said midfielder Madison Hammond after the game. 'The amount of belief that we had to turn this thing around, because now I don't really think anybody's going to stop us to go win the whole thing.'
