.png?width=75&height=114&name=ACFC_Crest_Primary_Sol%20Rosa%20(1).png)
Angel City clinched a spot in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup semifinals today following a draw and a win in the penalty shootout against San Diego Wave FC. The game was scoreless at the end of regulation, with Angel City winning the shootout 5–4 thanks to a save by goalkeeper DiDi Haračić.
To start the game, Haračić was forced into action right away: in the first minute, Wave forward Makenzy Doniak sent a lofted ball into the six-yard box that would have landed in the back of the net if Haračić hadn’t tipped it over the bar.
The keeper was called on several more times in the early part of the half, first in the 12th minute when defender Hanna Lundkvist put a low, angled shot on frame from 20 yards, which Haračić dove to stop. She made a difficult stop in the 20th minute when forward Alex Morgan got her head on a service by Doniak from inside the six. Haračić made an impressive reflex save on the close-range shot.
After those early attempts, the half saw few convincing attempts by either side; San Diego would make a number of forays into the box, but ACFC’s defense maintained its shape throughout the half and easily cleared most of those chances.
Angel City worked their way into the game as time went on, finding their way into the box a handful of times, often on quick transition plays. Their best chances of the half came late, starting with a 45th-minute shot by forward Claire Emslie. That play started with defender Jasmyne Spencer taking the ball endline and sending it back across the 18 looking for late runners. Her pass was deflected by San Diego midfielder Danny Colaprico, but rolled on to the penalty arc, where Emslie connected, but sent her shot high.
Forward Messiah Bright made an impressive attempt late in stoppage time, sprinting onto a long ball from midfielder Kennedy Fuller and beating defender Abby Dahlkemper into the box around the outside—but her shot sailed off target.
Just a minute later, Angel City had another near miss when the team won the ball back on a counterpress, with Spencer lobbing a pass over the Wave back line for forward Alyssa Thompson. Thompson charged into the box and fired off a sharply angled shot that hit the post.
The second half got off to a slow start, with the first real chance for either team not coming until the 65th minute. Following a San Diego throw-in in their own defensive third that pinged around a few times, Fuller found Bright in the box, but the forward again sent her shot high.
Barring a pair of shots, one by each team, in the 71st and 73rd minutes that were both easily saved, the next real chance came in the 77th minute. Following a quick sequences of short passes, running through midfielder Rocky Rodríguez, Fuller, and forward Katie Johnson, the ball landed back at Fuller’s feet inside the 18, but the youngster sent her shot wide of the far post.
San Diego midfielder Melanie Barcenas came close twice in stoppage time, but Haračić came up big each time to keep the visitors off the board.
After the final whistle, the game went straight to a penalty shootout, which Angel City won 5–4 following a save by Haračić against forward Amirah Ali. Forward Christen Press made a penalty kick for her team, having subbed on in the 89th minute of the game, and Fuller made the final kick with an emphatic strike to the upper left corner. Emslie, Thompson, and Rocky Rodríguez also took successful kicks for Angel City.
Press’s entrance into the game marked the first time the forward had set foot on the field in a professional soccer game in 782 days, after she sustained a torn ACL against Racing Louisville in 2022. “I just ran on the field for the last five minutes but it was me making it,” said Press after the game. “I really see it as the beginning of the next part of my journey.”
Angel City plays next in the Summer Cup semifinal next Tuesday, August 6, at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City. Time and opponent are TBD pending the results of tomorrow’s group-stage games.
