NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City FC Downed by OL Reign

Published on March 26, 2022 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


LOS ANGELES - In an at-times chippy match at Cal State Fullerton, Angel City Football Club (ACFC) fell 1-3 to 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 goalkeeper 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 the goal.

The game grew increasingly tense as the half wore on, and in the 31st minute, Savannah McCaskill was shown a 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 p.m. PST. The match will be streamed live on Paramount+.

ACFC QUOTES

ACFC Head Coach Freya Coombe:

On positives playing with a woman down:

"We use the Challenge Cup as a process to test our team, and today we were tested. I was really pleased with the performance despite being a player down. If you look at some of our statistics, we completed more passes than we did last weekend. We were better in possession than we did last week."

"We dominated possession in terms of having 10 players, and that's an absolutely great performance. We also didn't roll over, we came back into the game and scored a goal. I'm very proud of my team today."

On initial thoughts on Simone Charley:

"She looked absolutely great. Something we know from recruiting her, she can terrorize defenders and I believe she did that today. I thought her link-up play with Jasmine was very impressive. A combination between the three of them, and I would like to see if we had that extra player we took out of our forward line to be able to cope with being a player down.

"If we had another player in there, it would be a different game. But it was overall a dominant performance and well-executed. It's a big challenge for us as a team, but I'm very pleased with the strides that we took forward today."

ACFC Forward Tyler Lussi:

On scoring her first ACFC goal:

"It was amazing to get my first Angel City goal. It felt good to score and have that momentum shift."

"We want to win every game, but any goal I score is a team goal. That goal started from the back with Jasmyne Spencer beating her defender so many times, then Simone getting it and crossing it in. It was a simple ball, and I may have had the last touch when it went into the back of the goal, but it didn't start from me."

On Savannah McCaskill's red card:

"Savannah McCaskill is a crucial part of our team, and we need her. The call is the call, but at that moment, we had to drop in and just hold our line."

ACFC Forward Simone Charley:

On adapting to playing down:

"It's an opportunity to practice being down. Things aren't always going to go your way. You have to look at it as an opportunity to face something that we don't want to face. It was just great for us to be able to face this so early in the season. Now when the regular season starts, it's nothing new. We've been here before we know how to handle it."

On scoring with Tyler Lussi:

"It's always fun playing with Tyler. We've been together as long as I've been in the league and we know each other's strengths and how to play together. It was really fun being able to score a goal together and be able to assist her and her great movement in the box."

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