Angel City Football Club Defeats Houston Dash 2-0, Keeping Playoff Hopes Alive
NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club Defeats Houston Dash 2-0, Keeping Playoff Hopes Alive

Published on October 12, 2025 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


LOS ANGELES - Angel City Football Club (ACFC) earned a 2-0 victory over the Houston Dash on Sunday. Goals from Kennedy Fuller and Maiara Niehues sealed the win and kept the club's playoff hopes alive. The afternoon match at BMO Stadium celebrated Native American Heritage Day presented by the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation.

The home side came out pressing from the opening whistle. In just the second minute, forward Riley Tiernan nearly opened the scoring, forcing a fingertip save over the crossbar by Dash goalkeeper Abby Smith. Fuller followed up with a golden opportunity in the eighth minute, sending a left-footed strike just wide off a dangerous cross into the box.

Houston's first real threat came in the 36th minute when it was awarded a free kick just outside the area. However, the attempt was deflected off the ACFC wall, keeping the match scoreless. A minute later, Houston defender Michelle Alozie received the match's first yellow card for taking down ACFC forward Sveindís Jónsdóttir on a breakaway.

The breakthrough came in the 54th minute when Kennedy Fuller capitalized on a rebound after Hina Sugita's cross was deflected by the keeper. Fuller slotted her fourth goal of the season into the bottom-left corner to give ACFC a deserved 1-0 lead.

Houston nearly equalized in the 64th minute when Paige Nielsen's effort struck the crossbar, but the danger was cleared

Angel City doubled its lead in the 86th minute thanks to a finish from Maiara Niehues, who beat the keeper one-on-one after a through beautiful backheel from Jun Endo, her first assist of the season.

The backline remained solid throughout, limiting the Dash to just three shots on target and securing the club's fifth clean sheet of the season.

Angel City FC will close out its regular season home slate on Sunday, October 19, hosting Portland Thorns FC at 2:00 p.m. PT. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

ACFC Goalkeeper Angelina Anderson

On today's win versus the last match against KC Current

"I think I can speak for all of us when I say we took a breath of relief, happiness, and joy when that final whistle blew. We work every week for these results. Last week they had one shot, one goal, it was really frustrating. Today, the difference was that we had a swagger about us that we weren't going to lose."

"It's about having that intangible mindset and I felt that tonight. Goals like Maiara [Niehues], defensive tackles, we were putting in big plays today. We were making sure that we didn't let those little moments slip. That was a big difference today."

On how the team has prepared for today's match:

"It takes a lot of things that need to click in order for [a win] to happen. It's easier said than done and we have not been fully clicking and firing on all cylinders and it felt like today we were. Defensiveness has been a focus, we know our areas of weakness. We look at them in the film room. We try to translate that onto the training pitch. The intensity went up another level this past week at training. We keep trying to match the standard that we set.

"Before the game, Sarah [Gorden] and I looked at each other and knew it was time for us to get what we deserve. It felt really good to get that shutout. There were some massive defensive plays. I'm really proud of the group for stepping up in that regard."

On honoring Ali Riley and her retirement next match:

"She is a special human being first and foremost and it's the honor of a lifetime sharing the pitch and locker room with her. I think we all feel that way and I hope we can make next week's match really special for her and get a big win for her"

ACFC Midfielder Maiara Niehues

On her goal tonight and playing with Ali Riley:

"I wanted to give my best, that is what was going on in my head before the game. I was expecting that beautiful touch from Jun [Endo] and since then it was wonderful."

"Ali is my mom here. There are no words to describe everything she has been inside and outside the pitch. All I can do is thank her for being the great person she is."

ACFC Head Coach Alex Straus

On tonight's performance:

"One of my things in my job is that we don't lose balance when we win and when we lose. That has happened before, that when we win, we are so high up here, and when we lose, we go deep. We need to try to balance it.

"You tend to forget other good performances when you have a good performance. I look behind the results a lot. You have to when you don't win every week. I see a team that has become more and more dominant and that is what I talked about when I arrived. I saw it against Kansas last week when we should have won. We need consistency week in and week out but also year in and year out and that is the only way we are going to grow."

On the difference was today compared to last Monday' game

"We deserved it [the win] last Monday as well and it still has not left my body. But we are not as stable as them and we are not enabled to fulfill our potential as often as them. Today we won 2-0, of course Houston is different than Kansas City.

"There are differences in the context of the games because Houston presses really high. Kansas dropped off a little bit and let us have the ball so we had the ball more against Kansas than we had today."

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