Angel City FC went from excitement to disappointment in approximately 10 minutes late in Sunday’s NWSL Challenge Cup game against OL Reign.
In the 82nd minute, Simone Charley’s header flew into the goal over an outstretched arm of OL Reign goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce to tie the game.
However, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, OL Reign found the winner as Olivia Van der Jagt went up for a header on a long service from Lauren Barnes. Van der Jagt’s header was on target, but Angel City goalkeeper Didi Haracic was out of place and the ball went into the net for the 2-1 win at Lumen Field in front of 5,660.
After three tough weeks in the NWSL Challenge Cup, Angel City FC found a bit of promise Sunday against OL Reign. In its previous three games, Angel City’s defense had allowed 10 goals, so to keep the Reign to one at halftime was a step in the right direction.
“I think we were much improved tonight in terms of our defending, especially in transition,” Angel City coach Freya Coombe said. “We have to look at our organized attack and perfect that to be able to make more of our entries into the final third and turn them into more attacking opportunities, especially inside the box.
“The last goal was a sucker punch. We made a few errors there in terms of how we set ourselves up for the goal kick and that hurt us there.”
Angel City didn’t offer much going forward in the first half, but in the second half, the combination of Jun Endo and Charley started to create problems for the OL Reign defense. Angel City was playing without forward Christen Press due to COVID protocols.
OL Reign opened the scoring in the 34th minute on a goal from Bethany Belcer. She nearly made it 2-0 before halftime, but was called offside later.
“This is literally a brick-by-brick type thing,” Charley said. “I hate that we learned this the hard way. We go again, but better next time. I think this is just another step in our learning process. It is really frustrating, but we learn this lesson and we move on.”
Angel City will conclude the Challenge Cup Sunday at Titan Stadium against the Portland Thorns and open the regular season April 29 against the North Carolina Courage at Banc of California Stadium.
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