Expansion Angel City FC gearing up to make its long-awaited debut
The official name and home stadium were announced in 2020.
Last year came the building of the front office, the technical staff with Freya Coombe as the first coach, and the acquisition of Christen Press as the first player.
As the calendar turned to 2022, the process of a building a roster has taken precedence.
On Saturday, Angel City FC will make its debut in the NWSL Challenge Cup. After 1 1/2 months of preseason training, ACFC will face fellow expansion team San Diego Wave FC at Titan Stadium at Cal State Fullerton (6 p.m., Paramount+).
“This is a daily evolution,” ACFC goalkeeper Brittany Isenhour said. “What's exciting is that the growth is going to continue.
“From the start, we were all ready and willing to grow together and now that we have developed these relationships, it has been great to see how we have grown on the field.”
Angel City will be the first women's professional soccer team in Los Angeles since the Los Angeles Sol (2009-2012) in the Women's Professional League.
“We're in a very competitive market, so we want to have a team that is competitive, challenge for championships, go off to playoffs, and keep this culture of winning within the city of Los Angeles,” Coombe said. “We have our 14,000 seasonticket holders that we have to entertain on a weekly basis, not to mention the other single-ticket holders that are going to be coming to games. So, we need to make sure that we're entertaining the fans and supporters with an attractive product.”
The Challenge Cup was started during the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. That first year, all of the teams were brought to a single location for the tournament. Last year, it was played at home locations.
For its debut, ACFC will be using Titan Stadium as it home site. The club will not play a home game at Banc of California Stadium until the regular season.
Although there will be a championship game at the end of the Challenge Cup, it doesn't count toward the regular season, allowing Coombe and the staff six games to see what works and what doesn't.
ACFC will play two games against the Portland Thorns, OL Reign and fellow expansion team San Diego Wave. The semifinals are May 4 and the championship is May 7.
“We're always looking to go out, be competitive and win our games,” Coombe said. “In terms of building a foundation, that's not necessarily the one and only goal of the Challenge Cup.
“As a coach, it's a really good opportunity to experiment, put players in different positions and see who will perform best in certain positions. That's certainly how we'll be looking at using the Challenge Cup to get some of those tinkerings done before the start of the regular season.”