Angel City FC earns first win

LOS ANGELES – Angel City Football Club (ACFC) earned its first win of the year tonight, besting Seattle Reign FC 2–1 at home. Forwards Alyssa Thompson and Riley Tiernan scored for ACFC, with midfielder Ji So-Yun notching the consolation goal for the visitors.

“That was a dream come true honestly,” Tiernan said afterward. “We talk a lot in training about getting in the box and winning those first and second balls. We did that really well today and it showed. I know that when Claire [Emslie] gets the ball, she’s playing it in the box. Right place, right time it connected to my head and it went in.”

The first half would see Angel City dominate possession 65–35% and outshoot Seattle by 9–2. Midfielder Kennedy Fuller got the proceedings started with an early chance, running onto a slipped through ball from forward Claire Emslie in the first minute, driving into the box, and firing a low left-footed shot toward the far post, but her attempt went just wide.

Seattle followed up with their first chance of the game in the third minute when midfielder Ji So-Yun capitalized on an Angel City giveaway and sent a through ball to forward Maddie Dahlien. Dahlien sprinted into the box and got one on one with goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, but her shot was also wide.

The hosts opened the scoring in the eighth minute with forward Alyssa Thompson’s second goal in three games. Midfielder Alanna Kennedy won the ball in midfield and tapped it to Fuller, who quickly looked upfield and sent a pinpoint through ball into the box for Thompson.

The 20-year-old sprinted onto the ball, took a few touches to off-balance the defense, and buried a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Claudia Dickey to put Angel City up 1–0.

“I have been working on my relationship with Alyssa,” Fuller said. “She has an eye for the goal. When she sees red, it’s the goal. My job as a ten is to figure out how I can be the most dangerous. If Alyssa is in the right spot then I am going to play that ball and she’s been in the right spot a bunch of times. To be able to put it there for her and her to do her thing is my job.” 

The home crowd’s jubilation was short lived, though, as Seattle was awarded a penalty for a foul by defender Gisele Thompson against forward Ana-Maria Crnogor?evi? in the ninth minute. After a video review, Ji stepped up to the spot in the 12th minute and confidently sent her shot into the right side of the net at chest height to level the score.

Angel City had another chance in the 16th minute when Seattle incompletely cleared an Angel City cross. The ball fell to midfielder Katie Zelem just outside the penalty area, where the Manchester native fired off a hard shot, but her long-range attempt was saved.

In the 27th minute, Alyssa Thompson played a lateral ball into the box for Fuller, but a pair of Reign defenders partially cleared the ball; Kennedy was making a run into the box and took a sliding shot that went wide.

Defender M.A. Vignola had a chance in the 35th minute, running onto a slipped ball from Thompson and taking a low left-footed shot, but it also went wide. Thompson facilitated another chance in the 41st minute, this time finding Emslie at the top of the box, where the Scotland international took a left-footed shot that Dickey stopped but failed to collect; Fuller pounced on the loose ball, but her attempt was saved.

The second half got off to a relatively slow start, with a batch of Reign subs in the 61st minute injecting new urgency into the game. One of those subs, forward Nérilia Mondesir, had a look from inside the box less than a minute after entering the game, but wasn’t able to get much power behind her shot, and it rolled wide of the goal. 

Angel City wasted no time answering Seattle’s renewed energy, finding the game winner in the 63rd minute. Zelem found Emslie to the left of the penalty area with a short pass, and Emslie sent a cross into the center of the 18 where forward Riley Tiernan was lurking. Tiernan had space and headed the ball past Dickey for the go-ahead goal.

Tiernan’s goal was her first as a professional.

LA came close a final time in the 72nd minute when Fuller hip checked a defender off the ball, dribbled past the next defender, and shot for the near post—but her attempt went wide.