Sentnor rallies Angel City to draw with Spirit

Angel City is staying in the NWSL playoff race anyway it can.

Hosting the second-place Washington Spirit on Sunday evening, Angel City showed it can go toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league. Washington spotted Angel City a goal from star Trinity Rodman in the 65th minute, but Angel City responded with a wonder goal from Ally Sentnor, and Angel City eventually spilt points with the Spirit courtesy of the 1-1 draw.

“It does a lot for us,” Sentnor said “We have the talent, we have the quality, we have the belief in the work ethics. I’m really proud of us for coming back today.”

Angel City had come into the match on Sunday three points back of the Seattle Reign, who won its match two days ago against the Chicago Stars. Sunday’s draw enabled Angel City (7-7-4, 25 points) to close some of the gap between them and the Reign.

 “Our performance today is very promising, and I’m proud of the way we played,” Angel City Interim Head Coach Leif Smerud said. “We went for it in the end. We really wanted to win here, and that’s the attitude we want to see in Angel City – going for it and playing that kind of football.”

Trailing by a goal late into the second half, the moment finally came for Sentnor and Angel City in the 85th minute. Savy King played a ball to Sentnor on the left side, Sentnor then cut inside and dribbled waiting for a sightline, and when she finally saw one, unleashed a right-footed volley from about 27 yards out, the ball tucked in underneath the crossbar and sailed past keeper Sandy McIver at the near post into the back net for a spectacular equalizer.

“I honestly just felt a lot of momentum in this game,” Sentnor said. “I got a goal disallowed early on, so I was crediting this team and the staff for really allowing me to be my true self – taking shots and taking chances and allowing me the opportunities to do that, fail or succeed.”

Sentnor thought she had a goal back in the 3tth minute. Claire Emslie crossed from the right side into the penalty area, Prisca Chilufya brought down the ball, Washington cleared the ball but Gisele Thompson kept the play alive and played a ball back to Chilufya, who switched a ball to Sentnor on the left, Sentnor dribbled past Spirit defender Rebeca Bernal and fired a left-footed shot past McIver at the back post to give Angel City the lead.

However, referee Alyssa Pennington soon got the call for VAR, and what was determined was that earlier in the buildup, when Chilufya brought the ball down, the ball deflected off Chilufya’s arm, and while Chilufya did try to get her arm out of the way, Pennington and the VAR crew determined that the contact was impactful enough to call Chilufya for the handball and thus take away Sentnor’s goal.

“I give credit to the leaders on the team because they really picked us back up and [said], ‘It doesn’t matter. We’re going to get another one,’” Sentnor said. “We could have easily dropped the level, but we came back – and I think we could have scored a few more goals as well.”

The Spirit went ahead in the 65th minute. Tara Rudd played a ball forward to Rodman on the left side, Rodman dribbled all the way into the penalty area, then fired a left-footed shot that beat keeper Angelina Anderson into the upper back net to give Washington the lead.

Sunday’s match also marked the return of forward Sydney Leroux to the active Roster. Leroux, who had missed all of last season and half of this season while batting and anorexic diagnosis, came in as a substitute in the second half stoppage time.

“It’s great to have [Leroux] back on the field,” Angel City defender Savy King said. “She is an absolutely incredible person and player, and it’s just been incredible to watch her journey. We’ve been training a lot as we both made our way back onto the field, so she’s been a huge part of my recovery as well.”

Angel City now prepares for perhaps its biggest test of the season, as they welcome the league-leading Gotham FC to Los Angeles next Sunday evening.