Angel City FC fell 1–2 to OL Reign today on the road, with goals by Bethany Balcer and Olivia Van der Jagt for the home team, and Simone Charley for the visitors.
The game was a back-and-forth affair early on, with neither team maintaining possession long enough to put together many attacks. The first real chance was the Reign’s, in the sixth minute, when a corner by defender Sofia Huerta fell to forward Bethany Balcer in the right corner of the six-yard box. Balcer got her head on the ball but headed it wide of the near post.
OL had another chance in the 10th minute, when forward Aly Watt took Angel City center back Megan Reid one on one, found an opening just outside the six, and fired off an awkwardly angled shot to the near post, which keeper Didi Haračić blocked.
The home side opened the scoring in the 34th minute, when midfielder Quinn sent a long ball to Watt on the right side of the Reign’s attacking half. Watt settled the ball and dribbled diagonally toward the penalty area, drawing LA defender Ali Riley inside and opening up space for a run by forward Bethany Balcer. Watt tapped a through ball to Balcer, who fired off a shot from the top of the 18 that sailed into the net.
To start the second half, forward Tyler Lussi, who had been playing at striker, swapped places with fellow forward Simone Charley, who was on the left wing in the first half. The game became more transitional, with Angel City playing more direct, bypassing the Reign’s midfield press by sending balls in from deep.
In the 52nd minute, LA got their best chance to that point in the game when midfielder Savannah McCaskill dribbled up the center of the field and found forward Jun Endo making an overlapping run on the left. Endo got on the end of a well-weighted pass by McCaskill and sent in a close-range shot that was deflected out for a corner kick.
The Reign nearly got a second goal in the 62nd minute, with Quinn again making a long pass to Watt, who crossed the ball from the right to forward Veronica Latsko. Latsko struck the ball on the half-volley, but defender Vanessa Gilles just blocked her shot.
With about half an hour to go, midfielder Dani Weatherholt found Charley in the box a few times with well-placed long balls. One such attempt in the 73rd minute saw Charley just beat her mark, but the angle was difficult and her shot was soft.
In the 83rd minute, LA equalized, with Endo scooping up a deflected ball around the top of the 18, dribbling to the near post, and chipping the ball up and over to Charley at the top of the six. Charley jumped and placed a looping header over the top of goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.
Angel City looked on track to a hard-earned road draw until stoppage time, when Olivia Van der Jagt’s lobbed header squeaked under the bar just out of Haračić’s reach. ACFC defender Jasmyne Spencer nearly equalized again with an emphatic shot from the top of the 18, but it went just over the bar, and the center official blew the whistle immediately.
Despite the result, the outing was an improvement for Angel City over their last matchup with the Reign, who are in first place in the West in the Challenge Cup standings. They limited the Seattle side to four shots on target, compared with seven in the first match, won 13 tackles to the Reign’s 12, and won 55.7% of the game’s duels.
The match saw defender Megan Reid make her Angel City debut.
ACFC plays their final group-stage Challenge Cup match next Sunday, April 24 at 6 p.m. PST, at home against the Portland Thorns.