ACFC comes up empty in opener vs. expansion Bay FC
Angel City FC opened the book on the 2024 season, but it wasn’t a good chapter.
Bay FC, the Northern California-based expansion team, recorded a historic set of firsts in its inaugural game, including its first win, a 1-0 victory over ACFC on Sunday in front of a soldout crowd of 22,000 at BMO Stadium.
“It was bit of a crazy game,” Angel City coach Becki Tweed said. “We have to be way more ruthless in the box. We created chances. I think we dominated the second half. I think it took us way too long to get into the game; I think 34 minutes before we really started to play.
“I don’t think you saw the real us in the first 34 minutes. I do think you saw glimpses of what to come in the second half.”
Bay FC, who joined the NWSL this season with Utah Royals FC, didn’t wait around until the “real” Angel City FC showed up.
LOS ANGELES » THE SCORE
BAY FC 1, ANGEL CITY FC 0
Up next: Angel City FC at Orlando Pride, Friday, 5 p.m., Prime Video
High-profile signing Asisat Oshoala, who joined the club from Barcelona, scored the first goal in club history in the 17th minute.
In the second half, Angel City came out and turned up the pressure on the Bay FC defense, but goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx withstood the heat.
The final stat sheet paints a picture that Angel City dominated (18 total shots, eight on target, 142 passes in the final third and 12 corner kicks won), but none of it resulted in a goal.
“Angel City was very dangerous in both halves,” Bay FC coach Albertin Montoya said. “They tested us in so many ways, but what I’m the most proud of is the heart and passion the team played with. We didn’t break ... we bended quite a few times, it’s just inspiring. First win for our franchise and they won it because they believed in themselves.”
As the clock ticked toward the 90th minute, Angel City had another chance at the equalizer. Messiah Bright made a run down the right and her shot was redirected by Sydney Leroux, but instead of going into the goal, it deflected off of Proulx and toward the goal line. But Bay FC defender Caprice Dydasco was there for the clearance.
Early in the six minutes of stoppage time, ACFC came close again, but M.A. Vignola’s shot hit the crossbar.
“I think we kind of beat ourselves,” midfielder Merritt Mathias said. “I think we had a bunch of opportunities to either tie the game up or go ahead. I just it’s just being ruthless ... just having that bit of edge back and knowing that it’s not always going to be pretty, it’s going to take a lot of effort, you’ve got to want to do the little things, the gritty things, a little bit more than the other team. I think we’re a good side, we have a lot of room to grow. There’s a lot of talent on this team and what we can put together in the weeks to come, I’m really excited about.
“There were moments were it’s really good soccer and we have to build off of those moments.”
The game was also the pro debut for a pair of ACFC teenagers. Kennedy Fuller, 17, started in midfield and was replaced in the 92nd minute. Also, Gisele Thompson, 18, the younger sister of Alyssa Thompson, came on as a sub in the 82nd minute, replacing Alyssa.
Angel City will return to action next Friday at Orlando Pride, for the first of three consecutive games on the road.
“It sucks to lose your home opener, that’s not how you want to start the season, but there were a lot of positive takeaways,” Angel City defender Sarah Gorden said. “We felt like in the second half we created a lot of good chances, we moved the ball well and ultimately it didn’t go our way today, this is the NWSL, that’s how it goes sometimes, but I think we are proud of where we can take this season.”
For American distance running star Grant Fisher and coach Mike Scannell, The Ten’s namesake event Saturday night was a check point on the way to the Olympic Games in Paris later this summer.
“We’re at the end of our first training block season so this was a report,” Scannell said. “How are things going? You want to check off everything. Check the boxes.” So what was the answer? “All is well,” Scannell said before breaking into a wide grin.
The same can be said for American distance running.
Fisher, the American record-holder at four distances, led eight men under the Olympic 10,000-meter qualifying standard of 27 minutes, with a 26:52.04 victory at JSerra High.
“The goal was sub 27 and we got it done,” Fisher said.
The “we” in the deepest global 10,000 in more than a decade included Northern Arizona’s Nico Young, the former Newbury Park High standout, who finished just behind Fisher in 26:52.72, shattering the 14-year-old collegiate record set by Sam Chelanga of Liberty.
Behind the pair, Andreas Almgren broke the Swedish national record running 26:53.01 for third. South Africa’s Adrian Wildschutt, who ran collegiately for Florida State, also took down his national record with a 26:55.54 clocking for sixth place.
Only the 2011 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene has produced more sub-27:00 marks in a single race (9). The field was so deep that Australia’s Jack Rayner knocked nearly six seconds off his national record with a 27:09.57 mark but only finished 13th.
Before Saturday night only three Americans had ever broken 27 and only Fisher had done so since 2014. But this year’s version of Fast Times At JSerra High also saw Woody Kincaid, Fisher’s former training partner at Nike’s Bowerman Track Club, dip under 27, running 26:57.57 for eighth.
“The U.S. is getting really, really good at the distances,” said Fisher, who set the American record at 10,000 of 26:33.84 at the 2022 The Ten. “A lot more competitive on the world scene.
“When I was younger there might be one American a year that could compete with Europeans and East Africans. When I was growing up that was Galen Rupp,” Fisher said, referring to the former Oregon star and 2012 Olympic silver medalist in the 10,000. “But we really didn’t have the same depth (as the East Africans). There was always one to two guys on the world scene but now we’ve got a very competitive five to 10 guys every year who are competing to make a team that’s harder to make every year.”
The U.S. got even deeper this winter with Young fulfilling the promise he first showed at Newbury Park in winning the Nike Cross Country Nationals and then setting the national high school indoor 3,000 record (7:56.91).
Young ran a 3:57.33 mile in Flagstaff, elevation 7,000 feet, in January, a mark that converts to 3:48.7 at sea level. He then smashed the collegiate indoor 5,000 record running 12:57.14, dipping under the Olympic standard of 13:05.00. Young then answered those online critics who have constantly pointed out that he had failed to win an NCAA title at NAU. Check a box?
Young checked off the NCAA title box in a big way last weekend, blowing away the 5,000 field with a 54.39 last 400 Friday and then coming back Saturday to claim the 3,000 crowd with a meet record 7:41.01.
“My first instinct was to get him out of Boston as soon as possible but then we let him sleep in because we knew that night of sleep would be the most important,” Smith said. “So then