Angel City grinds out draw with San Diego
Heading its the first edition of its huge reginal rivalry match with San Diego Wave FC, Angel City was not exactly in the best position coming into the match.
Angel City had lost back-to-back games, including its last match in which it gave up a lead and ended up surrendering four goals. On top of that, Angel City had lost defender Sarah Gorden and she was not active for Thursday’s match against a Wave FC squad that despite its own struggles to begin the season, still boasted an attack featuring Jaedyn Shaw, Maria Sanchez and Alex Morgan, who came off the bench for Thursday’s match.
However, when 99 minutes were up at BOM Stadium on Thursday night, Angel City showed it could hold its own, as they not only held off San Diego’s first half surge, but also had some chances themselves late in the match, though both teams had to settle for the 0-0 draw.
“We showed a new level of mental strength and toughness tonight, a level that should be there,” Angel City head coach Becki Tweed said. “The last nine minutes were crazy. You’ve seen us crumble in past weeks in those nine minutes. Today I felt like everybody was tuned in. We were together, the clean sheet is a huge positive and it’s something we’ve been talking about for a long time.”
The biggest moment in the match came as stoppage time was winding down. San Diego had a free kick on the left side, Jaedyn Shaw sent the free kick into the penalty area, Emily Louis van Egmond sent a header towards the upper part of goal, keeper Didi Haracic reached out her right had to stop the shot, and while the ball was out of Haracic’s reach, it was not out of reach of the framework, as the ball hit off the crossbar. The ball fell to Morgan, and she headed a ball just inside the six-yard box towards goal, but this time, Haracic delivered, as she swatted the ball away and a second header by Abby Dahlkemper went wide left and over the end line.
“It’s a matter of how we can make a chaotic moment so calm, and that’s something we train on,” Haracic said of the last sequence. “It’s just going through my routines, my rituals, my habits. The goal is to keep it out of the back of the net at the end of the day. I’m happy about it and the entire team, I think it was an entire game of just grit and getting a point.”
Angel City was not without its chances. Angel City had a scoring opportunity in the 93rd minute, as they were on the break, Alyssa Thompson played M.A. Vignolia into the penalty area, Vignolia then sent a cross into the six-yard box that looked like it would find the feet of Sydney Leroux, who had slipped in between two Wave FC defenders to get open inside the middle lane. However, Sheridan got enough of her right foot on the cross to deflect the ball away from Leroux and out of bounds, which led to a series of corner kicks as well as a free kick for Angel City, though they could not capitalize on any of those chances. Another chance by Angel City late in the second half saw Raquel Rodriguez launch from about 27 yards out, which forced a reaction from Sheridan, but the shot missed the near post.
San Diego dictated terms in the first half. Wave FC got its first chance eight minutes in, as Savannah McCaskill dispossessed Rodriguez, and the former Angel City midfielder dribbled into the penalty area and fired a shot for the near post, but Haracic redirected the ball over the end line. Another chance for San Diego came in the 14th minute, as Hanna Lundkvist crossed from the right side into the penalty area, Shaw could not get enough on a header, but the ball fell to the feet of Maria Sanchez inside the six, Sanchez found herself one-on-one with Haracic and Sanchez took the left footed shot, but the shot hit off Haracic’s face, and the threat was eventually nullified.