Sporting Director Mark Parsons and Interim Head Coach Sam Laity Discuss the Last Week of Preseason Training Ahead of 2025 NWSL Regular Season
NWSL Angel City FC

Sporting Director Mark Parsons and Interim Head Coach Sam Laity Discuss the Last Week of Preseason Training Ahead of 2025 NWSL Regular Season

Published on March 6, 2025 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


LOS ANGELES - Angel City Football Club (ACFC) held their last week of preseason training this week as they continue to prepare for the upcoming 2025 NWSL Regular Season with the club kicking off Sunday, March 16 against SoCal rivals San Diego Wave at BMO Stadium live on ESPN2 (3:50pm PT kickoff).

Below please find quotes from Sporting Director Mark Parsons and Interim Head Coach Sam Laity:

ACFC Sporting Director Mark Parsons

On the club's goal towards roster building this offseason:

"Matt Wade and Mark Wilson have done a very important and great job of stabilizing things throughout the offseason. I arrived January 15th, two days before the players arrived right at the end of the core part of the offseason. Since that date to today, it's been incredibly intense working, listening, sharing, and leading a great group of staff here with regards to roster development and recruitment.

"The philosophy since I arrived in the building is that we've done some good work with the additions that we have made. We're able to complement those additions with the bringing in Savy King after I arrived. Not just bringing in Savy, a very elite talented young player, but re-signing her to a long term deal, which was very important. Bringing her in at that point was to complement what we believe is the talent on the roster and the talent of the additions that we had made.

"It was positionally specific to make sure that we have the quality and the depth in the back line because we had lost a couple of players during the offseason. We have a very clear idea of wanting to get to the top and not just get there, stay there.

"We want to be a team that is fighting for trophies every year. That means it's my primary responsibility to be clear on how our style of play and how our culture is in this organization. When you're clear on that, you get to go and find people that could help join and raise our level, complementing the qualities that we currently have.

"We've got to develop and retain the talent that we have. Alyssa and Gisele Thompson's contract renewals were absolutely huge that Mark Wilson and Matt Wade worked on. So right now, we're feeling pretty excited about our roster."

On why it was important for him to get this opportunity as ACFC Sporting Director:

"'I've really wanted to jump into this role full time. I've always been both coach and sporting director, coach or General Manager in some capacity. I really wanted to do it full time, so that was a strategic choice from my end.

"The first moment I had a conversation with Angel City, they were honest about what had been wrong and what had been right. I absolutely believed with every answer of mine that I aligned with the importance of community and the importance of supporting, pushing and raising the game for female athletes.

"I am also absolutely aligned with putting in a high performance culture and the style of play and behaviors that allow us to go compete and win trophies. I would say honesty from Angel City, the ambition from Angel City and also the stage of where they're at helped with my decision to come here.

"Willow [Bay] and Bob [Iger] have come in as controlling owners along with the work that Julie [Uhrman] and many others have been doing. The message is, let's be world leading on and off the field. It reminds me when I got to Portland, they finished fourth, then they finished sixth and for the next six years we had a pretty good ride.

"I feel like we've got something special here to build and I love the role and seat I'm in, to be able to have a bigger impact across staff and the long-term strategy of an organization. I'm enjoying every moment. I don't know if I've ever worked this many hours in a day for the last six weeks of my life, but I'm pretty excited and my adrenaline's high."

Head Coach Hiring Update:

"First of all, I want to share that Sam Laity is our Interim Head Coach and we believe he will be our Interim Head Coach until June. That's the current reality of our head coach process. Our head coach process is getting to a point where it is getting clearer, but it's still not clear when the head coach could be joining us at Angel City.

"The journey that we're on and the way the process is looking right now, the Head Coach won't be here at the beginning of March, like I previously shared was one option. The availability of the candidates that are left in the process are all available in June, and in the next few weeks, I hope to be able to give a more concrete update.

"While we're very committed to finding the best person, the only reason we're in a position to be able to do this is because we've got someone like Sam Laity, who's been in this league for over 12 years as an assistant coach and as a head coach leading our team and organization on the field right now. He's doing a tremendous job. We're very happy and grateful for the way that he has conducted himself and continues to lead our group."

ACFC Interim Head Coach Sam Laity

On the club's plan going into the home opener and beyond:

"Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face. We'll know more next week once the games around the league start going. We are fortunate that we have the opportunity to play at home against a local rival and that will add a bit of spice to it all. We are happy about the mentality and intensity of the group and the body of work they've been bringing on a daily basis."

On what to expect from the club this season:

"Fans can expect what we've seen in preseason already which is extremely high energy in and out of possession, a winning mentality, and an eagerness to make life uncomfortable for the opponent with and without the ball. Those are the three things we have paid most of our attention towards this preseason and our objective is to bring the best version of ourselves individually into our home opener against San Diego. If we do that collectively, we think we know what the response from the team will look like."

On the club's preparation to play San Diego Wave:

"Our first priority is to develop the game model we have here. As we turn the corner next week, we'll have an idea of what San Diego will look like, but the commitment going into this game is to be the best version of ourselves individually and collectively. San Diego may have changed things that we've seen from them in the last few weeks, so we'll make it about us and with a couple considerations for the opponent and in terms of where we think we can hurt them."

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