NWSL Angel City FC

Charley Scores for Angel City FC in Loss to OL Reign

Published on April 17, 2022 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


SEATTLE - Angel City FC (ACFC) fell 1-2 to OL Reign today on the road, with goals by Bethany Balcer and Olivia Van der Jagt for the home team, and Simone Charley for ACFC.

The game was a back-and-forth affair early on, with neither team maintaining possession long enough to put together many attacks. The first real chance was the Reign's, in the sixth minute, when a corner by defender Sofia Huerta fell to forward Bethany Balcer in the right corner of the six-yard box. Balcer got her head on the ball but headed it wide of the near post.

OL had another chance in the 10th minute, when forward Aly Watt took Angel City center back Megan Reid one on one, found an opening just outside the six, and fired off an awkwardly angled shot to the near post, which keeper Didi Haračić blocked.

The home side opened the scoring in the 34th minute, when midfielder Quinn sent a long ball to Watt on the right side of the Reign's attacking half. Watt settled the ball and dribbled diagonally toward the LA defender Ali Riley inside and opening up space for a run by forward Bethany Balcer. Watt tapped a through ball to Balcer, who fired off a shot from the top of the 18 that sailed into the net.

To start the second half, ACFC forward Tyler Lussi, who had been playing at striker, swapped places with fellow forward Simone Charley, who was on the left wing in the first half. The game became more transitional, with Angel City playing more direct, bypassing the Reign's midfield press by sending balls in from deep.

In the 52nd minute, LA got their best chance to that point in the game when midfielder Savannah McCaskill dribbled up the center of the field and found forward Jun Endo making an overlapping run on the left. Endo got on the end of a well-weighted pass by McCaskill and sent in a close-range shot that was deflected out for a corner kick.

The Reign nearly got a second goal in the 62nd minute, with Quinn again making a long pass to Watt, who crossed the ball from the right to forward Veronica Latsko. Latsko struck the ball on the half-volley, but defender Vanessa Gilles just blocked her shot.

With about half an hour to go, midfielder Dani Weatherholt found Charley in the box a few times with well-placed long balls. One such attempt in the 73rd minute saw Charley just beat her mark, but the angle was difficult and her shot was soft.

In the 83rd minute, LA equalized, with Endo scooping up a deflected ball around the top of the 18, dribbling to the near post, and chipping the ball up and over to Charley at the top of the six. Charley jumped and placed a looping header over the top of goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Angel City looked on track to a hard-earned road win until stoppage time, when Olivia Van der Jagt's lobbed header squeaked under the bar just out of Haračić's reach. ACFC defender Jasmyne Spencer nearly equalized again with an emphatic shot from the top of the 18, but it went just over the bar, and the center official blew the whistle immediately.

Despite the result, the outing was an improvement for ACFC over their last matchup with the Reign, who are in first place in the West in the Challenge Cup standings. They limited the Seattle side to four shots on target, compared with seven in the first match, won 13 tackles to the Reign's 12, and won 55.7% of the game's duels.

The match saw defender Megan Reid make her Angel City debut.

ACFC plays their final group-stage Challenge Cup match next Sunday, April 24 at 6 p.m. PST, at Titan Stadium at Cal State Fullerton against the Portland Thorns.

QUOTES:

Simone Charley, ACFC Forward

"I am proud of the team. This was not the end that we wanted. I think for us, it is about learning to fight til the end. We are still a new team. We are still getting to know each other.

"This is literally a brick-by-brick type thing. I hate that we learned this the hard way. We go again, but better next time. I think this is just another step in our learning process. It is really frustrating, but we learn this lesson and we move on."

"I was obviously excited about scoring my first goal. It was a fantastic ball by Jun. She just put it on my forehead and she made my job easy."

Freya Coombe, ACFC Head Coach

"I think we were much improved tonight in terms of our defending, especially in transition. We have to look at our organized attack and perfect that to be able to make more of our entries into the final third and turn them into more attacking opportunities, especially inside the box."

"The goal was a great header from Simone Charley, a good recycle from Jun Endo. She put a great ball in the box. She is looking lively. I was really impressed with the header, especially since it was a bit behind Simone. Her accuracy was great."

"The last goal was a sucker punch. We made a few errors there in terms of how we set ourselves up for the goal kick and that hurt us there."

"I think there are moments where we can press a little harder in the final third. We can ask more of our strikers, but we have people coming back from injury and we have to be mindful of how we manage that."

"We are getting there in terms of our team's health. We haven't had all of our strikers available for 90 minutes, but we would like to have that heading into the Portland game if possible."

Check out the Angel City FC Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



National Women's Soccer League Stories from April 17, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central