Angel City settles for scoreless draw with Utah Royals

At a time when they need wins to keep pace in the race for the playoffs, Angel City FC is getting dangerously close to falling further back in the race.

While the team could fall back on the debut of keeper Hannah Seabert, who came out with a shutout, and the fact that they did create some chances in the match, Angel City still could not get a much-needed three points, as they were force to settle for a scoreless draw with the Utah Royals in Sandy, Utah.

“It’s a step backwards,” Angel City head coach Alex Straus said. “Honestly, I think we all agree on that. It’s the easy stuff. Sometimes we miss stuff, but you need to execute on the things that we’ve been working on all week at the standard we want if we expect to go where we want to be.”

The result saw Angel City drop back a spot in the NWSL Standings, though the good news was that the point it earned in the match keeps them three points back of Gotham FC and the North Carolina Courage, who are both tied for the final playoff spot.

“Performance wise, it is what it is, and we will not be perfect every time, but I believe we can do much better than we did,” Straus said. “So today, we were not there. And sometimes it is like that. We just need to go back again and work harder. But the good thing is that we didn’t lose. We could have lost the game today. We didn’t do that. We got a point out of it, and we know that we need to get better.”

While the match may have ended scoreless for Angel City, it wasn’t due to a lack of chances in their part. Angel City’s first shot at taking the lead came in the 15th minute, as Sveindís Jónsdóttir threw and inbounds pass into the penalty area, the Royals Paige Monaghan cut off the pass with a header, but the ball stayed inside the penalty area and Madison Hammond headed a ball on target, but the ball hit off the far post and back into play.

The framework came back to haunt Angel City again in the 54th minute. Alyssa Thompson lead a counterattack, slowed down, then passed to Hammond, who then passed to an unmarked Kennedy Fuller, and she let loose a right-footed volley from about 26 yards out, but the shot ricocheted off the crossbar at the right side. Jónsdóttir had a chance herself in the 55th minute, as she dribbled from the right side into the penalty area, tried to cross, but it deflected off Royals defender Nuria Rabano, but Jonsdottir stayed with the ball, gathered herself, then fired a left-footed shot at goal, but it was saved be keeper Mandy McGlynn.

Angel City could also point to a solid performance by keeper Hannah Seabert, who in her first start earned her first clean sheet. Seabert got plenty of help from the Angel City backline, who stifled the Utah attack and made life easier for Seabert, whose only action on the night was collecting a long range shot from Mina Tanaka and stopping a close-range shot from Paige Monaghan.

“I think we had a calmness out there today,” Seabert said. “I think that we really dug down when we needed to, and it was super awesome to see us grind it out to the last minute, and not concede a goal.” 

Angel City is back at it on Thursday, as they host the Orlando Pride.