LOS ANGELES – Angel City FC fans love their team. A sold-out crowd of 22,000 packed Banc of California Stadium on Saturday night left no doubt. With a frustrating draw at home last week against the Portland Thorns keeping the LA team in the middle of the NWSL pack, Angel City needed a positive result against league-leaders and SoCal rivals San Diego Wave FC.
It was time to reciprocate the support with a win and a win they delivered as ACFC defeated SD Wave FC by a scoreline of 2-1 in the first regular-season edition of La Trafica — which the club is referring to simply as "The Rivalry."
Heading into this match, Angel City was already dealing with a long list of absences due to injury or international duty, including star player Christian Press. A total of six players were listed as out on ACFC's player availability report, but there was a new name added to that list just minutes before kickoff, attacking midfielder Savanna McCaskill. The 25-year-old, who leads the team in goals with three, had played in every match this season but was forced to miss Saturday's derby due to injury.
On a positive note, newly acquired striker Sydney Leroux made her first start for ACFC since being acquired via trade on June 29. Throughout the course of this season so far, Angel City had shown the inability to score with only eight goals in the first 10 games, the second-worst offense in the league. Part of bringing in a proven forward like Leroux was to help the team in that department. Although she's yet to score her first goal for the club, Leroux was involved in both ACFC goals on Saturday night.
Turning point in the season?
Beating out your rival in a derby is always important and a confidence booster for the players but if you want to be the best, you've got to beat the best. That's exactly the mentality that it takes to take this team to the next level.
“I think we’ve taken a step forward. It is still our first year. It's a journey. And journeys aren't always one step forward and you keep going and you keep making those steps," Angel City head coach Freya Coombe said after the match. "But I think the fact that we've taken a good step forward tonight and we're making progress is really important for this group, especially against our rival team that's been sitting top of the table and has done a really great job. For us to come and get the result against them is a real confidence boost for our players. And then I think we needed that.”
Victorious only once in the last six games, and failing to score in four of those matches, Angel City's triumph over San Diego catapulted the team from sixth to fourth place in the NWSL standings. ACFC's win got them just four points behind the Wave for the top spot in the league.
Team captain Ali Riley scored her first-ever NWSL goal in the opening minutes of La Trafica and shared her thoughts about the growth of the team after the match.
"We want to make progress every game," she asserted. "We want to grow every game. We're looking at small steps and not looking too far ahead. Obviously we've made it known we want to make the playoffs. We're starting to show the depth of the team and how we can be more disciplined when we need to secure the win.”
ACFC debut and game-winner for Emslie
Claire Emslie had herself a week. Angel City FC announced on July 7 that the club had signed Emslie for the rest of the 2022 season. The 28-year-old attacker had been playing with Everton FC in the FA Women's Super League in England and gave us some insight on her move to Los Angeles.
“I arrived Tuesday night and managed to enjoy Los Angeles on Wednesday and got right into training on Thursday which led me to play tonight, so it's been very nice," said Emslie.
Coming on as a substitute at halftime, Emslie made her official debut for Angel City in front of her new fans. “The supporters were amazing," Emslie stated. "Right from warm-ups, they were loud, so coming into the game with such a great atmosphere made me happy and I’m glad I was able to score that goal.”
Emslie's game-winner could not have come at a more perfect time for the home side. In the 79th minute, Angel City defender Tyler Lussi committed a foul and was shown her second yellow card of the match, leaving her team one player down the rest of the way. Two minutes later, with Angel City still adjusting to being a woman down, Emslie scored the deciding goal with just under ten minutes left in the match.
"As far as the goal, it came down the line and I tried to get up field and provide support. It was a good cross from Cari and Sydney dummied it really well. It came to me and I kept it rolling in the corner," Emslie said about her goal.
It was an important win for the club, the fans, and the city of Los Angeles. Considering it was the first-ever La Trafica derby, it felt like a switch had been flipped. Goalkeeper Didi Haračić made amazing saves late in the game to keep the team alive, midfielder Jen Endo maximized her potential into an elite creator with another assist, and Leroux made an immediate impact in the attack. All of that added up to Angel City FC taking a big step forward in the right direction on Saturday.