ACFC looking to build on momentum from last week's victory

Angel City Football Club is off to a positive start in its inaugural season and through three games coach Freya Coombe is still learning about her team.

Angel City (2-1, six points) won its first road game, defeating the defending NWSL champion Washington Spirit last Sunday.

“We were feeling the effects of the loss last week (to Orlando Pride) and wanted to put that right and build momentum again,” Coombe said.

Today: vs. Kansas City, 7:30 p.m., Twitch

Thanks to Christen Press’ 42nd minute goal and another strong defensive effort, Angel City escaped with a 1-0 win last week.

“I think we’ve shown that when we’re really on it, we’re really a tough team to break down and beat as well as being exciting in the offense and the attack,” Coombe said. “That was something we wanted to get back to this week and was something I thought we did.”

Through three games, Angel City has scored just three goals, but has allowed only two. That performance has Angel City in third place in the league.

“We’ve got to try and compete every game and everywhere we go,” Coombe said. “I think we gave a very good account of ourselves last week. We were hurting as a team from that (loss) and it was important for us to go and put our best foot forward.”

Angel City will look for a second consecutive win as it hosts the Kansas City Current (0-2-1) today at Banc of California Stadium. The

Current have scored just two goals and allowed seven.

This is another week for the expansion club to take a big step in its development and on the season.

“Both of the matches in the league that we’ve won have been such team wins, so much effort from all the players on both sides of the ball,” Press said Sunday. “It’s really important for us as an expansion team to have short-term memories when it comes to performances that we’re not happy with so we can continue to take points.”

The game will be available on the NWSL’s official Twitch stream at

Reinforcements arrive

Last Sunday, both Paige Nielsen and Clarisse Le Bihan made their Angel City debuts. Nielsen was selected in the NWSL expansion draft, but was sidelined due to injury, entered a substitute in the 97th minute.

Le Bihan was signed from Montpellier in France, entered as a substitute in the 46th minute.

“Their additions are great in terms of adding competition for places,” Coombe said. “With the injuries that we’ve had and the adjustments of some players to the level, there was a lack of depth at times.

Now, it allows us to have really good competition, which is exactly what you want in order to be able to push the performances of the team on.”

Date change

The June 15 game against the Houston Dash has been moved to June 7 due to scheduling changes made by Banc of California Stadium.

The game, which will be Angel City’s “Pride Night,” will start at 7 p.m.