Match Preview: Angel City vs Utah Royals FC | 10.20.24

Sunday, October 20, at 4:30 p.m., Angel City is back at home for the last time this season against the Utah Royals. The match will be broadcast locally on Bally Sports SoCal and will stream live on Paramount+ and Golazo Network. An English-language radio broadcast will be available on iHeart.

Tickets to the game, which is Angel City’s Fan Appreciation game, are available here.

Matchup

Angel City’s last game was a 1–1 draw on the road against North Carolina Courage on Saturday, October 12. Forward Christen Press opened the scoring in second-half stoppage time, with North Carolina forward Olivia Wingate equalizing a few minutes later.

The Royals’ last result was a 3–0 home win against Seattle Reign FC, following a hat trick by forward Cloé Lacasse.

Angel City last faced Utah on the road on May 3, a contest that ended with a 2–1 Angel City win. Forwards Sydney Leroux and Claire Emslie scored for ACFC, with Utah forward Dana Foederer notching the consolation goal for the home team. As the Royals are a new expansion side this season, that win was the first time the two teams faced each other.

Utah are currently in 10th place in the league with a 7–14–3 (W–L–D) record; Angel City have a 7–12–5 record but sit in 11th place with 22 points.

Following Bay FC's win against North Carolina on October 19, Angel City have been eliminated from playoff contention regardless of their result against Utah.

Scouting Report

Although Lacasse, who signed with Utah in August, is now the club’s leading scorer with four on the season, she scored three of those last week against Seattle; a more consistent contributor has been forward Ally Sentnor, who Utah selected first overall in the 2024 Draft out of the University of North Carolina.

Sentnor has three goals and four assists on the season, including one game-winning goal against North Carolina in March and a game-winning assist two weeks ago in Portland. Despite playing for a team that has struggled to score in their inaugural season, with just 20 goals to date, Sentnor has been finding scoring opportunities, recording 48 shots, tied for fifth-most league-wide.

Following a disappointing 2–11–2 start to the season, the Royals parted ways with Head Coach Amy Rodriguez on June 30, appointing then-Assistant Coach Jimmy Coenraets interim head coach in her place. Since then, the team’s record has improved to 5–3–2, and has also been finding the net much more consistently—after scoring only seven in the first 15 games of the season, they have scored 13 since Coenraets took the reins.

CP 100

Last week forward Christen Press made her 100th NWSL appearance, scoring her 48th career goal; she is the 10th player to score in her 100th NWSL appearance and has the eighth-most career goals league-wide.

It’s worth noting that of the league’s top 10 all-time goal scorers, Press has the fewest appearances by 15. Of the seven players with more career goals than Press, only two, Sam Kerr and Megan Rapinoe, have fewer than 150 appearances, and only Kerr, who leads the all-time list with 77 goals in 119 appearances, has a better goals-per-game ratio than Press—.65 for Kerr compared with Press’s .48.

ACFC will celebrate Press’s 100th appearance with a pregame ceremony on Sunday.

Postgame, the club will celebrate defender Merritt Mathias, who announced this week that she will retire after 12 seasons in the NWSL.