Angel City honors Press and Riley in final home match

For its last home match of the 2025 season, it was all about honoring its past for Angel City.

On a bright and sunny Sunday afternoon at BMO Stadium, Angel City took the opportunity to honor two legends in women’s soccer that had been with the franchise since its first day in 2022. Ali Riley and Christen Press, who had cemented their respective statues on both the domestic and international stage are retiring at the end of the season, closing careers that had spanned two decades and multiple leagues across the world, not to mention World Cups, Olympics and numerous other international tournaments, are retiring at the end of the season, and the Angel City franchise wanted to send out its two local legends in the best way possible.

“It is one of the things I am most proud of,” Riley said. “I feel so privileged to end my career here and to be part of a movement of a culture and proving a lot of people wrong about what’s possible in women’s sports.”

Fans in attendance received special towels with Press and Riley’s name and jersey number, and an emotional post game ceremony honored the two players. The only thing that didn’t go according to plan was the result of the match, as the Portland Thorns got a brace from Olivia Moultrie, and the Thorns defeated Angel City 2-0.

Moultrie opened the scoring in the 23rd minute, as she fired a right-footed volley from about 25 yards out that sailed over keeper Angelina Anderson, beating her far post. Moultrie got her brace in the 60th minute, as an Angel City foul inside the penalty area gave Portland a penalty, which Moultrie converted to double the Thorns lead. Press and Riley started the match on the bench, but came in in the second half, with Press subbing into the match in the 60th minute and Riley coming in in the 82nd minute.

“The girls tried today, but we didn’t get the rhythm,” Angel City head coach Alex Straus said. “Based on what we’ve done lately, performance wise, it felt like a little of a step backward. We talked a lot about that consistency that we need to have. Moving forward and today, we had that in some phases of the game. It was good, but our passing was much less intensive and far from what we wanted to do. We didn’t create enough chances in the last third today.”

For Press and Riley, their respective last hurrahs with Angel City, which will officially end on November 1 with a road match against the Chicago Red Stars, cap off lengthy careers that have seen them span the globe. Both Press and Riley were actually teammates in college, as they led Stanford to two College Cup final fours. Both players began their careers in WPS, with Riley being drafted by FC Gold Pride in 2010, where she won a title in 2010, and Press starting her pro career a year later, as she was drafted by the Washington Freedom, which later moved to Florida and was renamed magicJack. Both eventually found their way to NWSL, as Press joined the league in 2014, signing with the Chicago Red Stars, where she played for four seasons before being moved to Utah and becoming the Royals.

Press played three seasons with the Royals, sat out the start of the 2021 season before becoming the first player acquired by Angel City. The franchise hoped Press, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, could become the face of the upstart franchise, but in June of 2022, she tore her ACL and the road back was anything but easy, as she endured four surgeries on her knee, but fought through the physical and emotional challenges and made her return to the pitch in the summer of 2024.

While Press didn’t wait long to get back to the United States, Riley waited a little longer, as she continued her career in Europe before joining Orlando in 2020. Riley played two seasons with the Pride before being traded to Angel City a couple of months prior to the start of the 2022 season. Riley became the team’s first ever captain, and was a mainstay on the Angel City backline for two and half seasons before injuries began to take a toll.

“It feels like a dream, I still pinch myself when I think about this club and what we’ve achieved and how much it means to so many people,” Riley said. “For my own journey, I didn’t expect any of this. I had seen what was on social media and what people were saying about the club and what the club was saying about itself then to come here and really feel it and see it. It is one of the things I am most proud of.”

While today’s game was about honoring the past of two great players, and even with one game left in the season, Straus and general manager Mark Parsons are surely looking ahead to not just next season, but the next few seasons.

“There certainly will be some changes on the roster going into next season,” Straus said. “That’s an important thing for us to work on in the off season. The other part is that we need to be very clear on the feel about all the principles and all of the phases of the game. We need to get better, we need to emphasize it. We need repetition. We need to practice this way of playing.”