Orlando Pride holds off Angel City for the win

Photo courtesy of Angel City Football Club.
Vanessa Gilles has already emerged as a star in Angel City’s backline.

Riding high after its resounding opening week win, Angel City looked to carry the momentum into the following match against the Orlando Pride on Sunday evening.

Adversity however hit Angel City even before the match. Angel City would have to play without its team captain, left back Ali Riley, who was placed in COVID protocols, then came the match itself. One early strike from Sydney Leroux was all the Pride needed to leave Banc of California Stadium with the three points, that combined with an organized, disciplined defense that made things hard for Angel City, and Orlando got its first win courtesy of the 1-0 result.

“We looked sluggish,” Angel City head coach Freya Coombe said. “We had too many unforced errors especially in the first half. We were unable to get going with our attack.”

It took just three minutes for Orlando to take the lead. Darian Jenkins crossed a ball into the penalty area for Gunny Jonsdottir, who then sent a quick cross into the six-yard box that skipped past keeper Didi Haracic, Leroux was unmarked in the box when she got the ball and touched a ball towards the open net, defender Megan Reid got a touch on the ball, but not enough to prevent the ball from crossing the goal line.

Angel City had several chances for an equalizer. The first chance came three minutes after the Pride’s goal, as Cari Roccaro headed a ball into the penalty area and Tyler Lussi flicked a ball with her right foot that curled dangerously towards the far post area, though it eventually went over the end line. Angel City thought they had a goal in the 27th minute, as Vanessa Gilles sent a long ball, Savannah McCaskill flicked a header forward for Christen Press into the penalty area and Press slotted the shot past keeper Erin McLeod for what looked like the equalizer. The goal however was waived off, as linesman Salma Perez judged Press to be in an offside position before McCaskill’s header. Press did get another chance at goal in the 41st minute, as Jun Endo played her into the penalty area, Press took a quick touch to create some space between her and Toni Pressley, then fired for the near post, but McLeod came through with the save, sending the ball over the end line.

“You never want to give up an early goal, (but) our fight and our grit was evident the remainder of the game,” Angel City defender Jasmyne Spencer said. “We were unfortunate not to pull one back, especially at the end of the first half.”

Angel City continued to play for the equalizer well into the second half, but found the Pride challenging to break down throughout the match. Orlando themselves had two chances in the second half to lock up the three points, both of them by Leroux, but a chance in the 66th minute glanced off the crossbar, then five minutes later, Orlando pounced on a turnover, and Leroux found herself inside the penalty area with plenty of support coming in, Leroux took the shot herself, but Gilles managed to block the shot and thus send the ball over the endline.

Angel City eventually went back on the offensive. In the 75th minute, Press sent a left-footed ball towards the far post and McCaskill leaped to try to head the ball at her near post, but the ball was too high. Angel City’s best chance to salvage the draw came just as the match was heading into stoppage time. as McCaskill and Jun Endo worked a one-two that played Endo into the penalty area, Endo crossed a ball into the six and Lussi swooped in and touched a dangerous ball towards goal, but McLeod made herself big, stopping the ball with her chest and Pressley cleared the ball out of the box.

“These learning curves hurt, but again, we have a long season ahead of us and we’ll go back, we’ll fix what we did wrong today and hopefully we’ll get back on track next weekend,” Spencer said.

Angel City will go on the road to the east coast for the first time, and it will be a doozy. Angel City heads to the nation’s capital to face the reigning champion Washington Spirit at Audi Field next Sunday afternoon.