Angel City routs Utah, pulls into playoff position

One word to describe Angel City’s weekend; opportunity.

With the Denver Summit having defeated the Seattle Reign a day before, Angel City knew that a win on Sunday evening against the Utah Royals would vault them into a playoff position, and it turned out that opportunity was Angel City’s best friend even in the match on Sunday. The Royals self-destructed early, as two players were sent off for reckless challenges, and Angel City rode the two-player advantage to a 3-0 win at America First Field.

“I’m very happy with the way we pushed and pressed and worked to not give away anything,” Angel City Interim Head Coach Leif Smerud said. “The professional job and the hard work that our players did made it clear who was winning this game.”

Ally Sentnor, Taylor Suarez and Svenidis Jonsdottir found the back net for Angel City. Sunday’s win and Seattle’s loss weren’t the only results that benefitted Angel City, as losses by the Kansas City Current and the North Carolina Courage pulled Angel City (11-8-6, 39 points) into a tie on points with the Current for sixth place.

“It really is a team effort,” Angel City keeper Angelina Anderson said. “Everybody having a part of our success lately has been one of the best parts about it. Obviously, only 11 can start, but the people coming off the bench are kind of the real difference-makers as the game gets tiring. We’re in this together.”

The first sign that it was going to be Angel City’s day occurred early in the match. Anderson sent a long goal kick over the halfway line, Utah defender Paige Cronin looked to make a play on the ball, but it took the wrong deflection, which enabled Prisca Chilufya to sprint past Cronin, get to the ball and break forward. Cronin clipped Chilufya from behind and at first, referee Matthew Corrigan issued a yellow card, but soon got the call from the VAR crew to take a second look, and it was concluded that with no other defender close too the action, Cronin was the last defender on the play, and Corrigan made the decision to instead issue a straight red card to Cronin on the basis of denying Chilufya a goal scoring opportunity, thereby reducing the Royals to 10 players.

Things got even better for Angel City starting in the 21st minute. It started when Jonsdottir sent a ball into the penalty area, and not much came of the play. However, the VAR crew advised Corrigan to take a second look at the play, and what was seen was that as Jonsdottir’s ball was sent into the penalty area, Utah’s Ana Tejeda pulled the hair of Ary Borges while trying to defend the play, and Corrigan issued a straight red card to Tejada for violent conduct, meaning the Royals now had to play down two players. Compounding matters for the Royals’ the foul was inside the penalty area, gifting Angel City the opportunity to take the lead, which they did, as Sentnor converted the penalty in the 26th minute, making it the third straight match that Sentnor had scored from the penalty spot, and it gave Angel City the lead.

The floodgates soon opened for the Los Angeles-based side. A second Angel City goal from Chilufya in the 40th minute was called back for offside, and a chance by Gisele Thompson just before halftime was parried over the endline by keeper Mandy McGlynn. Angel City eventually did get that second goal, and it came just two minutes into the second half. Thompson dribbled down the right side, crossed into the penalty area and Suarez one-time a left-footed shot past McGlynn far post to make it a two-goal Angel City lead.

“[Taylor] has a very good ability to get into those situations, and from there it is about the quality of the finish,” Smerud said. “She got into those situations again today. She’s in a good place and on a good development path, which is important for us.”

Not satisfied with a two-goal lead on the road, especially being two players up, Angel pushed across the third goal in the 67th minute. Jonsdottir dispossessed Tatum Milazzo deep inside the Royals’ side of the field and broke for goal, Jonsdottir dribbled into the penalty area and slotted a right-footed shot past McGlynn to triple the Angel City advantage and basically put a bow on the match.

Angel City now braces for a huge test, as they head 3,000 miles to the nation’s capital to face the second-place Washington Spirit on Saturday afternoon.