In an at-times chippy match at Cal State Fullerton, Angel City fell 1–3 OL Reign today, with goals scored by Veronica Latsko, Alana Cook, and Angelina for the Seattle side, and Tyler Lussi notching her first for Angel City.
Angel City found an early chance in the sixth minute, with a graceful dipping strike by Savannah McCaskill from the top of the 18 that went just over the bar.
OL Reign opened the scoring in the 12th minute, when Rose Lavelle received the ball from Bethany Balcer centrally, dribbled for a few steps, and sent a diagonal pass to Latsko on her left. With DiDi Haračić off her line, Latsko slotted the ball cleanly inside the near post.
The Seattle-based side continued to push, breaking through again in the 17th minute. Midfielder Angelina sent in a cross from the right, which deflected off Cook, past a lunging Haračić and into goal.
The game grew increasingly chippy as the half wore on, and in the 31st minute, Savannah McCaskill was shown straight red for a foul against Latsko. Now playing with 10, Angel City reshuffled their formation, moving Christen Press to center forward, Tyler Lussi to the right wing, and Jun Endo to the left wing. The Reign continued to push for goal, but Angel City held on and kept the score at 0–2 through the end of the half.
Just five minutes into the second half, OL notched their third, with Latsko receiving a pass from Lavelle in the left side of the area, then passing across the face of goal to Angelina, who slid to get her foot on the ball and slipped it past Madison Hammond inside the near post.
The Reign stayed on the front foot for the next 10 minutes or so, but with half an hour to go, Angel City started to put together more scoring chances. In the 64th minute, Simone Charley, who had come on for Endo after the break, put a shot on target, scooping up a deflected ball that Ali Riley had sent into the box for Christen Press and taking a low left-footed shot, which Tullis-Joyce saved.
Angel City broke through soon after, in the 67th minute, with Charley—set up by a nice bit of skill from Jasmyne Spencer—sending in a cross to Lussi, who one-timed it past the Reign keeper.
Despite the result, Angel City outshot the Reign 16–13, with 9 of those coming from inside the box (compared with the Reign’s 7).
In addition to Charley, three other players—Hope Breslin, Allyson Swaby, and Stefany Ferrer Van Ginkel—made their Angel City debuts in the second half, with Breslin’s 76th minute entry also marking her professional debut.
Next week, Angel City travels to Providence Park to take on the Thorns on Wednesday, March 30, at 7:00 PT. The match will be streamed live on Paramount+.
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