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It was a day of firsts for Angel City FC on Sunday evening.
Rookie forward Riley Tiernan scored her first goal of the season, and it turned out to be an important moment, as it allowed Angel City to get its first win of the young season. Tiernan’s first goal in NWSL enabled Angel City to get the 2-1 win over the Seattle Reign at BMO Stadium.
“The performance from this game has been developed from the last games,” Angel City head coach Sam Laity said. “Today we put a lot of really good things together. The first half performance I believed if we played a little bit quicker and cleaner we would have scored more goals.”
Tiernan was not the only key player for Angel City. On a night it paid tribute to the legends of the US women’s national program, Alyssa Thompson showed that one day, she will be mentioned right up there with them, as she continued her torrid start to the season with her second goal of the season through three matches.
Tied at a goal apiece well into the second half, Tiernan surged Angel City back into the lead in the 64th minute. Katie Zelem received a ball from Thompson, Zelem then played a ball out wide left to Claire Emslie, whn then sent a rare left-footed cross into the penalty area and Tiernan sent the header into goal at the far upper corner, out of the reach of keeper Claudia Dickey.
“That was a dream come true honestly,” Tiernan said. “We talk a lot in training about getting in the box and winning those first and second balls. We did that really well today and it showed. I know that when Claire [Emslie] gets the ball, she’s playing it in the box. Right place, right time it connected to my head and it went in.”
Angel City jumped ahead in the eighth minute. Kennedy Fuller sprung Thompson down the left side, Thompson took the ball into the penalty area, and despite being marked by two Reign defenders got a sightline and fired a left-footed shot into the upper 90, also out of Dickey’s reach.
“I have been working on my relationship with Alyssa,” Fuller said. “She has an eye for the goal. When she sees red, it’s the goal. My job as a ten is to figure out how I can be the most dangerous. If Alyssa is in the right spot then I am going to play that ball and she’s been in the right spot a bunch of times. To be able to put it there for her and her to do her thing is my job.”
The Reign however caught a massive break five minutes later, which allowed them to get back in the game. It started in the ninth minute, as Angel City’s Giselle Thompson and Seattle’s Ana Maria Crnogorcevic battled for a 50-50 ball, Thompson bumped Crnogorcevic to the ground, and not only did referee Gerald Flores deemed the contact harsh enough to warrant a foul call, but also award the Reign a penalty, as Flores ruled initial contact was inside the box even as Crnogorcevic fell outside the 18. Video Review was initiated, which confirmed the call, and Ji-So Yun level matters with the penalty in the 12th minute.
