It has been quite a road back for Sydney Leroux.
The forward, acquired from Orlando almost at this time last year, has not had the chance to make an impact in Los Angeles, as she played a handful of games before undergoing major ankle surgery and enduring a long and grueling recovery process. But finally, on Monday night against the Chicago Red Stars, Leroux not only made her return to the pitch, but found the back net for the first time as an Angel City player late in the second half. However, her return was not enough to get Angel City the win, as a brace from Ava Cook propelled Chicago the upset 2-1 win over Angel City at BMO Stadium.
“It meant a lot to me. It’s definitely been an emotional year,” Leroux said. I didn’t know if I would be able to put on this jersey again and be able to play the way that I know I can play. So to come on, to feel like I’m back, to not have any issues, and to play without pain was really special. We wish that the score was a little different, but I think we showed that we can play tough and that’s what we need to do, but for 90 minutes plus.”
The moment came for Leroux in the 88th minute with Angel City trailing by two goals. Alyssa Thompson had the ball inside the penalty and despite being marked by multiple defenders, managed to play a cross into the six-yard box, Leroux slid to take the shot, Red Stars keeper Alyssa Naeher initially made the save, but did not get enough of the ball to prevent it from crossing the goal line to cut Chicago’s lead to a goal. Angel City pressed for the equalizer, but eventually, Chicago held on for the win.
“I knew when she (Thompson) got that ball, that ball was coming in the box and I was going to get there first, and she knew that too,” Leroux said. “It’s a nice little connection to have, and hopefully we can share the running. That’ll be fun.”
The first half belonged to Chicago, particularly Cook. Cook first struck for Chicago in the 17th minute, as she headed a Julie Bianchi cross into the right corner net to open the scoring for Chicago. Ten minutes later, it was Cook again for the Red Stars, as Yuki Nagasato headed a ball and Cook let the ball bounce on the grass before she one-timed a sliding left-footed volley past keeper Didi Haracic at the far post to double the Red Stars lead.
The journey back to the pitch has been quite the adventure for Leroux. Acquired from the Orlando Pride, Leroux had been expected to fill the void left by Christen Press, who was lost to a torn ACL in June of last year. Leroux played in three games for Angel City before it was determined her ankle injury was severe enough to undergo surgery. Leroux missed the rest of last sesaon and missed the first two months of this season as she went through a rehab process where she described that she had to “learn how to walk,” let alone get back into game shape. Leroux redits her family for getting her through the recovery stages. Now with Leroux back and scoring her first goal as an Angel City member, the teams hopes her presence along with the return of Press, who has recently resumed training, along with the impending arrival of French midfielder Amandine Henry can ignite a turnaround that can vault Angel City from its current predicament, currently 11th in the league standings, but just six points out of a playoff spot, into contention for a playoff berth.
“It’s been a tough year for us, but we can show that we can get results, we can fight, we can have grit, we can have heart and that’s the most important thing – to go out there and fight,” Leroux said . “We need to do more of that and we know we need to do more of that. So hopefully, I can help out with that. It takes each and every one of us to fight. I’m excited to move forward and move past this game and look to the future because we know what we need to do.”
Angel City next travels to the nation’s capital to face the Washington Spirit.
