Angel City drops third straight to Utah

It seemed that anything that could go wrong did go wrong for Angel City on Saturday night.

First they fell behind a goal, then they were reduced to 10 players due to a red card right before halftime, then two Video Review decisions went against them, which denied them opportunities for a goal, and add in several missed chances and it all added up to a third straight loss, this one against the Utah Royals. Cloe Lacasse scored the lone goal of the match, and the Royals came out of BMO Stadium with the 1-0 win.

“I’m really proud of the second half,” Straus said. “[The team] went for it 100 percent in the second half with one player less.”

Utah jumped ahead in the 32nd minute off a restart. Kate Del Fava played a ball to Paige Cronin, who touched a ball  down the right side, enabling herself to get past Tiernan and sprint forward, Cronin crossed into the penalty area and Lacasse headed a ball just outside the six-yard box past keeper Angelina Anderson near post to give the Royals the lead.

Falling behind a goal was bad enough for Angel City, but what happened towards the end of the half really put Angel City in a bind. It occurred in stoppage time, as midfielder Maiara Niehues was red carded when she swung an elbow towards Lacasse, meaning Angel City would have to play a player down the rest of the match. Looking to stem the tide of having to play undermanned the remainder of the match, Straus made a substitution at halftime, bringing in Prisca Chilufya in for Riley Tiernan at the start of the second half.

If that wasn’t enough, two key VAR decisions went against Angel City in the second half. The first came in the 61st minute when Angel City’s Ary Borges collided with Utah’s Mina Tanaka as both players tried to get to a loose ball inside the penalty area. At first, Referee Laura Aldrich called the foul on Tanaka, but Aldrich soon got the call for Video Review, and Aldrich and VAR referee Katherine McCormick determined that Borges initiated the foul. The second VAR decision came in the 70th minute when Chilufya chased down a ball sent forward by Sveindis Jonsdottir, Chilufya collided with Del Fava just outside the penalty area, Aldrich first called the foul against Del Fava, but again, Aldrich got the call from McCormick to take a second look at the play, and it was determined that no foul was committed, denying Angel City a set piece just outside the penalty area.

Undeterred against the odds, Angel City pressed on looking to get something out of the match. Angel City had a chance in the 76th minute as Taylor Suarez played Jonsdottir into the penalty area, Jonsdottir fired a right-footed shot for the back post, but keeper Mandy McGlynn got her right hand on the ball and redirected the shot away from goal and over the end line. A minute later, Suarez dribbled into the penalty area, went one on one with Janni Thomsen until she could get a sightline at goal, then took a left-footed shot that deflected off the framework and into the crowd.

“Taylor did an amazing job,” Straus said. [She] was, if not the best, maybe one of our best players today, with the dynamics and the movement.”

Angel City’s last shot at salvaging a point came in the 90th minute on a corner kick, McGlynn punched the ball high in the air, Jonsdottir tracked the ball, then headed a ball for the near post, but the header just missed.

 “I think that’s something that we can definitely learn from and take forward, that we don’t have to wait until we’re down a player [or]down a goal to come out with that kind of intensity,” Angel City defender Emily Sams said.

Angel City had a great chance to find the back net 10 minutes in. Tiernan dribbled  into the penalty area and played a ball to Jonsdottir, who then one-timed a left-footed shot just outside the six-yard box, McGlynn stopped the shot, but left a rebound inside the six, Jonsdottir tried to bury the rebound chance, only to shoot the ball off the post.