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NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club Looks Forward After Loss on the Road to Washington Spirit

May 18, 2024 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


WASHINGTON, DC - Angel City Football Club (ACFC) fell 2-4 on the road tonight in a dramatic battle with the Washington Spirit. All six goals were scored in the first half, with Trinity Rodman, Casey Krueger, and Ouleymata Sarr scoring for Washington, and Sydney Leroux adding to an own goal forced by Clarisse Le Bihan to bring LA's total to two.

Washington opened the scoring in the ninth minute with a combination play starting with a lateral ball that forward Ashley Hatch played into the box for forward Ouleymata Sarr. Sarr beat her mark and sent the ball onward to Rodman as she made a central net-crashing run and put her shot into the back of the net.

Angel City equalized with an own goal in the 20th minute. An initial cross by midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan was blocked, and the ball was cleared out of the box; defender Madison Curry sent it back to Le Bihan, who fired off a second cross from the left. Washington defender Anaïg Butel was near the goal line, and the ball ricocheted off her leg and into the net.

The visitors doubled their lead just three minutes later, as forward Sydney Leroux got on the end of a free kick by forward Claire Emslie and sent a decisive header into the back of the net.

It didn't take long for Washington to level the score. In the 30th minute, defender Casey Krueger sent a long diagonal pass into the box, which forward Croix Bethune scooped up. She tapped the ball to Rodman on her right, who found the back of the net from the top of the six-yard box.

Spirit again pulled ahead in the 34th minute. Following a chaotic sequence in the box that saw midfielder Lily Nabet make an outstanding save off the line, the ball bounced out to Krueger just outside the 18, and the veteran defender sent her shot past a screened-off DiDi Haračić.

Just two minutes later, Bethune sprinted up the middle of the field on a transition play. With Angel City's defense out of shape, she sent a short sideways pass to forward Ouleymata Sarr, who found the back of the net from inside the 18.

ACFC kept pushing to start the second half. Forward Alyssa Thompson nearly notched her first of the season in the 58th minute when she ran onto a through ball from Le Bihan. A defender clipped her inside the box, but she kept her balance and shot, hitting goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury's shoulder as she came off her line to try to claim the ball. Kingsbury also saved a 60th-minute effort by Rocky Rodríguez, a header on a cross by Le Bihan.

Haračić had some noteworthy saves of her own, including a 66th-minute stop where she came off her line to claim the ball and stop a breakaway play by Hatch.

As both teams made a number of substitutes, there were few chances for either side over the last half-hour of the game.

Leroux's goal tonight was her 44th career NWSL goal, putting her in tenth place for most goals all-time in the league.

Angel City returns home this Thursday, May 24, to face rival San Diego Wave at 7:00 p.m. That game will be broadcast nationally on CBS Sports Network and locally on Bally Sports SoCal.

ACFC Milestones

Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson and defender Gisele Thompson became the first sisters in NWSL history to start in the same game for the same club.

Angel City forward Sydney Leroux earned her 44th career goal. She just passed Carli Lloyd (43), and now sits 10th all-time. This is her third goal this season.

Defender Jasmyne Spencer made her 180th career NWSL regular season match appearance.

Forward Claire Emslie earned her second assist of the season, making it her eighth career NWSL regular season assist.

POST-MATCH QUOTES

ACFC Defender Jasmyne Spencer

On the match overall:

"We need to look back and pay attention to the detail in our shape behind the ball. We want to be a possession-style team that spends a lot of time in our attacking half. Today we weren't good enough in our shape behind the ball and it cost us."

On the adjustments made in the second half in efforts to make a comeback:

"Anytime you give up four goals, it's a tall task. It came off our inability to stop them in transition and it's something that we'll have to tighten up moving forward. We stifled most of their attacks, except for those three moments that they hurt us in transition and they are clinical finishers."

ACFC Defender M.A. Vignola

On returning to the pitch after being out for weeks due to injury:

"It feels really good to be back out here. I missed the girls a lot. Coming in in the 70th minute, I had a job to do from Becki [Tweed]. She was hoping to come in and kind of stir things up a little bit and if we can get one goal then that would help us get the next one, unfortunate that one of them was offsides."

"It's tough. Being down 4-2 is one of those tough scores to be up against because if you really get one more then you can kind of close out the game if you can, but it's tough."

On losing Sarah Gorden so early in the match:

"It's tough having her go out so soon in a game, especially with her being such a solid player for us in the back line. We wish her well and hope that she can come back as quick as possible."

On how to move forward in their upcoming rivalry match:

"It's important for us not to dwell on anything that's happened. Now we need to go back to LA with open minds, bring it together as a team, and focus on the next one ahead, because this is a big one coming up and we want to get all of the points possible at home."

ACFC Head Coach Becki Tweed

On Gisele Thompson earning her first professional start:

"She was brilliant. She was dynamic in the attacking third, she created chances. We challenged her to get in the attacking third as much as she could and be on the back line and she really tried to do that. Your first start in the NWSL is never easy, especially away to the Washington Spirit against Trinity Rodman. Those are all boxes she checked tonight in her career, and her performance was the reason that she started the game. For her first performance, as an eighteen-year-old, it was incredible."

On the match overall and Sarah Gorden's early exit:

"Whatever happens to any player at any moment, we have to be able to adapt. For 84 minutes of the game, we did adapt. We had a nine minute spell when we lost focus. The difference in this game is the difference between the two boxes. It's a completely different game compared to the game that we came off of last week. We created enough chances to win the game, but you also can't concede four goals against a good Washington Spirit team and dig yourself out of that hole very easily."

"Sarah is a huge player for us in every way on-and-off the field. I'll be looking to get that update as soon as I can so we can plan. We're hoping for the best news that could possibly happen."

On how the club can improve:

"This group is very together. We know what we need to do. We have to look at ourselves and our character and who we want to be. We are the people standing in our own way right now, and we're fully aware of that. We're not going to hide from it or blame anything. I looked at last week's performance and asked if we created enough. I look at this week's performance and say, we did create enough, we just weren't clinical."

"We know this league is transitional. We know that teams are going to try to hurt us in behind and that's for us to do a better job. When we get pressure on the ball, we have to win the ball. We have to make things predictable. We have to deal with early balls. We didn't do enough to deal with the early and the ugly. This is a space that we have to get better at."

"We scored another two goals that were both offside, and they were both offside, so I can't argue with that. It's the detail of half a yard."

"We've got to be more in control of our own destiny. We can't leave our destiny up to other people. That's on us as a squad, and that's on us as a staff. We have to reflect and look at the spaces that we have to get better in."

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National Women's Soccer League Stories from May 18, 2024


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