Angel City improves playoff position with big win in DC

After Saturday’s result, the question that needs to be asked is not whether Angel City could made the playoffs, but rather how high in the league can Angel City finish.

On a rainy night in the nation’s capital, Angel City came into Audi Field and ended up raining down on the Washington Spirit’s parade. One magical strike from Maiara Niehues late in the second half enabled Angel City to leave Washington DC with the 1-0 win.

“It was a tight, tough game, but my feeling in the second half was that if someone was winning it, it was us,” Angel City interim head coach Leif Smerud said.

The three points earned in the match was huge for Angel City, as it moved them further up the NWSL standings. Angel City moved into a tie for fourth place with the Portland Thorns, and while Portland broke the deadlock later in the evening by rescuing a draw against the Houston Dash, Angel City again showed they belonged in this playoff race by stretching its unbeaten run to six games.

Tied for 87 minutes, it was Nieheus that vaulted Angel City into the lead. Nieheus received a ball from Carina Lageyre, Niehues then turned to face the goal, then fired a right-footed shot towards goal, the shot looked like it would easily go over goal, but the ball instead dipped and snuck in over keeper Sandy McIver at the upper corner of the back post for a wondergoal that gave Angel City the lead.

“Not even in my best dreams did I actually imagine that I was going to have this mark,” Niehues said. “I’m very happy, especially to help in a very, very important game.”

Whether or not it was the conditions on the pitch, neither team was able to get much going for the first 87 minutes. Washington did get some sightlines in the first half, but most of its shots were easy saves for Angel City keeper Angelina Anderson. Angel City did start to get is offense going in the second half, with the best chance coming in the 57th minute, as Lageyre played a ball to Prisca Chilufya inside the penalty area, Chilufya fought off a challenge from LuciaDi Guglielmo to get a break at goal, Chilufya fired for the back post, but McIver had the ground covered enough to redirect the ball over the end line.

“We didn’t play well enough to the conditions, so that was one of the messages at halftime that we had,” Smerud said. “We had to adapt to players who are not that used to those conditions and we did that well.

Angel City now braces for undoubtedly its toughest test of the season, as they travel to Harrison New Jersey for a showdown with first-place Gotham FC next Sunday.