Training Log: March 22 | Madison Hammond

Last weekend, the team traveled to San Diego for a final preseason match at SnapDragon Stadium. The game, which was not streamed, ended 2–2. On Wednesday, after a soggy training session at Cal Lutheran, AngelCity.com spoke with defender Madison Hammond about how it went and what the team learned.

'It was a really good test for us,' Hammond said after training Wednesday. 'This was our first NWSL game of preseason and also it being San Diego, there's always going to be a rivalry aspect to it. But we did some tactical experimentation, looking at different formations, different players.'

San Diego got on the board early, with forward Amirah Ali opening the scoring in the fifth minute. The rest of the half was scoreless; Ali put away a second goal in the 63rd minute. 'I think that looking back, we think we could have been more aggressive and on the front foot in the first half,' Hammond said. 'We created really good opportunities to get to the final third, but we weren't being ruthless enough to score goals.'

After the second goal, Angel City dug in and kicked into gear. In the 72nd minute, forward Simone Charley assisted forward Jun Endo to bring the score to 2–1. 'Simone did her Simone things out wide and was able to whip the ball in,' Hammond remembered, 'and Jun scored with her right foot on a near-post run. It was a good finish.'

ACFC equalized in the 89th minute. 'Dani [Weatherholt] made a really good run, Sav[annah McCaskill] played her through, Dani went one-v-one and whipped in a ball, and Sav actually did the same thing as the first goal—a near-post run with a little flick on the finish,' Hammond said.

The come-from-behind draw was an important show of grit, something the team has been working on this preseason. 'We scored those two goals because we were ruthless, and we wanted to put the ball in the back of the net, and we were tired of being down two-zero,' said Hammond.

'To come back and tie is really important for morale,' she continued. 'If we're in August and that's a regular season game, getting a point on the road from two-nil down is incredible.'

When it comes to conceding the two goals in the first place, Hammond said the group is taking what happened as a learning experience. 'Putting ourselves in that position of being knocked down two-zero isn't ideal, but I think that what our takeaways are is, a lot of the mistakes that we made to go down two-zero are very preventable.'

More than any particular formation or strategy, the key lessons from the weekend, and from preseason as a whole, have to do with the team's overall style. 'We want to take risks,' she said. 'We want to be aggressive, we want to be much more offensive than we were last year.'

On the defensive end, Hammond stressed the importance of staying in the game physically for 90 minutes. 'In this league, you can play the most beautiful soccer ever,' she said, 'and if you're not willing to do the dirty work, that's what separates the teams that win and the teams that don't—or the ones that pick up points on the road and the ones that don't.

'I could have definitely made some tackles, broken up some plays—made it a little more ugly.'

Hammond has been trying on a new role with Angel City as a defensive midfielder. She hasn't always been a defender—going into college, she played as an attacking mid—but up until now, she's spent her whole pro career on the back line.

The 25-year-old says it's been an enjoyable challenge. 'It's a pretty steep learning curve,' said Hammond, 'but at the same time, I'm very hopeful for how I'll be able to impact the team.'

Key to that learning experience has been keeping things simple. 'We have very good players up top, so my job is to get the ball from the back and give it to them. I don't need to go be flashy. I'm just, like, the engine.'

She also highlighted her relationship with Weatherholt. 'We have different strengths,' she said. 'She's very offensive, willing to run a lot more than I am. And I like to stay home and protect the back line and distribute side to side. So we complement each other, and hopefully that can keep building.'