Angel City opens second half with win over Orlando

While most of NWSL had been on break throughout the month of June, Angel City FC was anything but getting rest.

Looking to get back on track an up-and-down season, the Angel City front office were busy making moves. The first move came on June 17, when it announced they had fired Alex Straus as head coach. Straus, who was hired and took over in the middle of last season, started out well, leading Angel City to victory in its first three matches, but things unraveled from there, as the team who just once over the next eight matches that ensued. Leif Gunnar Smerud is currently assuming interim head coaching duties. The second big move came just 48 hours later, as they acquired forward and rising prospect Ally Sentnor from the Kansas City Current.

Finally, on Friday, after a month of changes, Angel was finally back on the field at BMO Stadium, and Sentnor was int he starting 11. Facing the Orlando Pride, Angel City finally came out of a match with the full three points, as goals from Maiara Niehues and Sveindís Jónsdóttir carried Angel City to the 2-0 win.

“One of the biggest things is the girls being so welcoming and inclusive to me, coming in and really just letting me be myself and letting each other be ourselves and building those connections,” Sentnor said.

After 35 minutes of pressuring the Orlando defense, but having nothing to show for it, Angel City finally broke through in the 36th minute. Pride defender Cori Dyke cleared a ball out of the penalty area, but it went to Angel City’s Ary Borges. who fired a ball back towards the penalty area, Dyke stopped the ball from going towards goal, but it went to the feet of Niehues, who then curled a left-footed shot that beat Anna Moorhouse far post to give Angel City the lead.

Angel City’s pressure once again paid off the 56th minute. Jonsdottir threw herself in front of an attempted forward ball by Rafaelle, the play broke perfectly for Jonsdottir, who raced to the loose ball, dribbled all the way into the penalty area, took a right-footed shot right at the outside line of the six-yard box, and Jonsdottir slotted the ball past Moorhouse to double the Angel City advantage.

“It was a good win against a very good team that has a lot of experience, and I think the way the players played today showed character,” Smerud said.

Angel City heads out on the road next Saturday, as they head to San Diego for round two of its SoCal showdown with Wave FC.