NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club Advances to Semifinals NWSL X Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup in Victory Over SoCal Rival

August 2, 2024 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


LOS ANGELES - 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 sequence 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.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

ACFC Forward Christen Press

On what this moment meant to her:

"It was a lot of emotion. There were so many ups and downs over the last two years. Definitely moments where I didn't think I'd be able to make it. Sometimes as athletes, wherever we are, we're looking for the next thing, the next medal. I was just trying so hard this week to be present and know that it was pretty symbolic."

"I ran on the field for the last five minutes, but it was me making it and it was a lot of determination and patience that was required for me to just run on the field tonight. I really see it as the beginning of the next part of my journey."

On her feelings leading up to this match:

"I was just telling myself to be present. I've been going to the farmers market every Sunday. When I go to the farmers market, I tell myself to shop with your intuition, taste things, smell things and look people in the eye, because so much of our life is digital and monotonous.

"So I was like, I'm going to smell the grass and I'm going to hear the crowd because you never hear the crowd. Truth be told it was very overwhelming and I was just smiling from ear to ear. I don't know what I was feeling or what was happening. It was just sort of a roar of emotions that maybe someday I'll be able to process."

Her thoughts on her penalty kick and feeling like herself:

"There's a couple of things. I feel really good, I feel like I have my center of gravity, and I know exactly who I am. In training, the couple of moments that I've been in elevens' in my team training, it literally feels like riding a bike."

"I know exactly the kind of player that I am and how I like the ball. I can communicate to my midfield and my defenders that this is how you find me and this is not how you find the other fours, but this is how I play and this is how I succeed."

"So in that regard, I feel like myself and I think sharpness comes with that. I'm in a unique situation where I don't feel a lot of pressure because it's taken me so long to be able to run on the field. There's a lot of grace now.

"With the penalty, I actually think it was probably the first time that the larger world has seen that I have my center of gravity and I have my footing. I am the same player that I was, hopefully a little better."

ACFC Head Coach Becki Tweed

On the team's confidence going into penalty kicks:

"It's something that we've talked about over the last couple of weeks is removing pressure. When I did a deep dive on this team, and we've talked about it a lot, everybody strives for perfection and everybody as an elite athlete wants to be perfect every single day. That's why they are where they are."

"We've stripped that back a little bit and given them the freedom and confidence to be able to make mistakes. We've talked about what every single person is good at and what we need from them to contribute to the team, for us to be good.

"Giving them that kind of space to express themselves and take the pressure off, going into the pens we knew that it was a chance for us to gain experience. We always want to win and beat rival teams, but there was no pressure on us. It's something that we do every single day."

"You could see that we have taken pens every day for the last three weeks and sometimes we put something on it and we play for a chat. Syd [Leroux] said at the end, we all get a Champions League point because we always run its table every day with something competitive.

"I've just asked them to really enjoy themselves, enjoy the game, each other and the struggle. The first 20 minutes was a struggle, but we put ourselves through that and we had to enjoy it instead of getting stressed out by it. In past weeks we've been stressed out by struggle. So finding ways to enjoy struggle, finding ways to enjoy winning, finding ways to enjoy each other and be the best versions of ourselves, has been the main focus for the last couple of weeks."

On Christen Press's return and the emotions:

"She was just ready. She's been ready now and it's been finding the right moment for her, for the team, for everybody to get her on the field. I asked her if she was ready and she didn't even flinch. She's been ready for this moment for a while."

"She didn't know when it was going to come and that is sometimes really hard. You can't predict when it's going to happen. This was a perfect night for her. This game created a lot of atmosphere, it created a great environment. To be able to get her on the field and for her to take a penalty as well, is something that's huge for her, but also for this club and this team moving forward with gaining some confidence for people.

On Madison Curry's performance tonight:

"What's really impressive about Curry is she just takes everything in her stride. She plays center back, she's played left back, and just the versatility to play at the back. I do think that the support she gets from this team and just how she always strives for more is amazing. She can never say I had a good game today, it's always "it was ok".

"That mindset is going to get her a long way. I hope that she takes this and grows in confidence with it. When you look at the people that she has surrounding her with Sarah [Gorden], Megan [Reid], Jasmyne [Spencer], all players that have played in this league and been put in similar situations to her."

"They've all had rookie seasons, they've all had moments that have been high pressure and they've really helped guide her through it. She's really finding her feet here in this team. Our future is really, really bright."

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