Match Recap: Angel City 0, Houston Dash 0 | 6.15.24

Angel City drew 0–0 on the road tonight in Houston in what was the team’s third shutout of the season.

The first real chance of the game came in the eighth minute, when Houston defender Courtney Petersen sent a cross from the left into the box for midfielder Sarah Puntigam, who sent her shot just wide of the right post. 

Play was largely concentrated in the midfield over the next 20 minutes or so; in the 26th minute, Dash defender Tarciane, midfielder Ramona Bachmann, and midfielder Bárbara Olivieri connected three quick long passes up the right wing to find forward Michelle Alozie in the box, but she sent her shot into the outside of the side netting.Two minutes later, Angel City had their best chance to that point when midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan played a lateral ball from the penalty arc into forward Alyssa Thompson’s run; the winger dribble into the box and put her angled shot on frame, but goalkeeper Jane Campbell made the save.

LA followed that chance up with one in the 34th minute, which saw Thompson drive up the wing, cut inside across the edge of the penalty area, and find forward Claire Emslie with a short sideways pass, but Campbell again saved Emslie’s low, driven shot.

In the 54th minute, Tarciane handled the ball while attempting to block defender Gisele Thompson’s cross, and the center official pointed to the penalty spot. Emslie stepped up to take the attempt—and was once more foiled by Campbell. 

In the 70th minute, Olivieri ran onto a short sideways pass inside the box and had a crack, which looked to be on target, but Angel City midfielder Madison Hammond blocked the ball almost the moment it left Olivieri’s foot.

The hosts followed that attempt up with another in the 75th minute that saw forward Diana Ordoñez dribble up the right wing and send a cross into the box. ACFC defender Madison Curry blocked the cross, and the ball fell to Olivieri, whose follow-up attempt from just inside the box went high.

Angel City had a handful of late chances, starting in the 88th and 89th minutes. The first of that pair of looks started when defender Jasmyne Spencer nutmegged Dash defender Paige Nielsen to find Thompson in the box. Thompson beat her mark, defender Natalie Jacobs, to get a close-range shot off, but Jacobs recovered just in time to block the shot with her foot.

On the corner kick resulting from that play, Angel City defender M.A. Vignola put a headed attempt on frame, but Campbell once again came up big, making a backwards dive to block the shot one-handed.

In the 13th minute of second-half stoppage time—the very last play of the game—Angel City forward Messiah Bright headed a corner kick by defender Merritt Mathias on target from close range, the shot initially hitting Campbell in the chest and bouncing to the ground. Bright’s right-footed follow-up looked as if it may have crossed the goal line, but upon VAR review, the officials ruled that the attempt was not a goal, and the final whistle blew shortly thereafter.

This match marked defender Jasmyne Spencer's 10,000th minute of NWSL play.

Angel City is at home this Wednesday, June 19, at 7:00 p.m. against Racing Louisville FC. Tickets for that game, which will be the club’s Juneteenth celebration, are available here. It will be broadcast locally on Bally Sports SoCal and nationally on CBS Sports Network, with an English-language radio broadcast on iHeart.