Angel City FC picks up another win at home
LOS ANGELES — Angel City FC defeated the Kansas City Current 1-0 on Saturday at Banc of California Stadium, following an own goal by Kansas City defender Taylor Leach that was forced by ACFC forward Christen Press in front of a crowd of 18,514.
“I think we’re showing really gritty performances where we’re in games and we’re refusing to concede goals,” ACFC coach Freya Coombe said. “We’re really working together as a team. Our team is relentless in terms of our work rate on the field.”
Much of the often physical first half played out in the middle third, with neither team able to get much of a foothold offensively early in the game. The first chance for either team came in the ninth minute, when the Current were awarded a free kick just outside the 18.
Defender Alex Loera stepped up to take the kick and curved the ball over the Angel City wall and on target. Despite having her view blocked by the wall, ACFC keeper DiDi Haračić made an excellent reflex save and parried the ball over the crossbar.
“It was tricky. It’s difficult trying to see behind five of my players,” Haračić said. “That’s the worst part — when you have the five tallest players on the team as blockers. I’m doing my job and they did theirs. We kept it simple, kept it clean.”
The match remained a midfield battle for the next 20 minutes or so. In the 31st minute, ACFC forward Simone Charley made a run into the right side of the 18. She beat an attempted tackle by Kansas City defender Elizabeth Ball and took a shot at the near post, which keeper AD Franch blocked. The home side started putting together more chances from that point onward, including a sharply angled 37th-minute shot that midfielder Savannah McCaskill took from the right edge of the six-yard box, which went just wide of the far post.
The first part of the second half again saw a back-and-forth battle without many chances from either side. With about 30 minutes to go in the game, Angel City started to build momentum, getting the ball into dangerous areas more often.
In the 70th minute, one of those forays paid off with a Kansas City own goal. McCaskill sent a ball from the central midfield to Press on the right wing. Press went to the end line and tried to beat Ball, but the defender blocked her initial touch. Undeterred, Press recovered the ball and sent it across the face of goal, where it deflected off defender Leach and over the line.
The home side continued to push throughout the rest of the game, with another close call coming in the 78th minute. ACFC Forward Jun Endo sent a corner kick to the top of the six-yard box, where defender Vanessa Gilles got her head on the ball and put it on target — but Franch made a difficult save to keep the score at 1-0.
“It took a while to get some clean sheets and we pride ourselves on that,” ACFC midfielder Cari Roccaro said. “However, I have to give full 100% credit to DiDi today and that save she made, I have never seen anything like it. That was why we won the game, she kept us in the game and after she made that save we were like alright, we got this.
“Obviously credit to our backline. They’re brutes back there. They’re fighters. It doesn’t matter who’s playing back there, who steps in, who subs on, everyone is going to stick the tackle. We’re a tough defense to break down, but it does start from the front too. It’s not only our back four or our keeper. It starts from our frontline pressing: Simone Charley, Tyler Lussi, Christen Press, Jun Endo, that’s where it really starts. It’s totally a team effort.”
In addition to keeping the clean sheet, Angel City outshot the Current and significantly bested them in shot quality, taking nine of their 13 shots from inside the box, compared with Kansas City’s two (out of nine total). Angel City also had 21 touches inside the opposition box, compared to the Current’s 10.
“Kansas did a great job of putting us under pressure in the first five minutes, but we rode the storm and began to put pressure on them,” Coombe said. “The stats from the game should show that we did that well and made it hard for them to play.”
Angel City is at home again next Sunday at 5 p.m. against NJ/NY Gotham FC. The match will be streamed live on Paramount+.