Angel City draws Chicago in Strauss’ NWSL debut

Angel City’s first game since the international break carried some fanfare.

In addition to being in a playoff spot heading into June, Saturday’s match against the Chicago Stars, Angel City was debuting a new head coach, as Alexander Strauss made his debut on the Los Angeles sidelines. Angel City started out well, then despite falling behind early in the second half, managed to salvage a point courtesy of a 2-2 draw.

“We go and we play at the stadium in front of all of these people, all of these fans, which was a great experience coming here,” Strauss said. “I’ve played at big stadiums before in Barcelona and in München and in different places where there are huge, huge stadiums, but the atmosphere here, you feel like it’s 50,000.

Things started out well for Angel City, as they jumped out to the lead in the 29th minute. Julie Dufour and Riley Tiernan worked a one-two that saw Tiernan play Dufour into the penalty area, Dufour crossed into the six-yard box looking for Alyssa Thompson at the back post, Stars defender Camryn Biegalski cut off the cross, but Fuller, who was trailing the play, was in the right place at the right time, as she swooped in and one-timed a point-blank shot past keeper Halle Mackiewicz into the back net to put Angel City ahead.

Angel City took the lead into halftime, but Chicago came out strong to start the second half. The Stars tied the game in the 58th minute in rather fortunate circumstances as Nadia Gomes dribbled down the right side of the field, Gomes played a ball off M.A. Vignolia that went high in the air, but towards goal, the ball sailed over a backpedaling Angel City keeper Angelina Anderson and snuck in at the far post for an unlikely equalizer. Chicago then took the lead in the 66th minute, as Schlegel received a ball near midfield and took off, dribbling deep into Angel City territory, then unleashing a right-footed volley from about 25 plus yards out, Anderson got her hands on the shot, but not enough to stop the ball from going into the back net far post, and just like that, Chicago had taken the lead.

Angel City quickly picked themselves back up. Angel City almost tied the match in the 77th minute, as M.A. Vignolia’s shot inside the penalty area hit off the crossbar, but Vignolia get her redemption three minutes later, as Tiernan, already inside the penalty area, sent a ball towards the six, Chicago’s Natalia Kuikka cut off the pass, only to see the ball fall to Vignolia, and this time she didn’t miss, firing a left-footed shot that got past Mackiewicz and snuck in at the crossbar for the Angel City equalizer.

“With Alex coaching now, he wants everyone to get high and into the box, so I took that opportunity to get into the box and took the shot.,“ Vignolia said.

Angel City returns to BMO Stadium on Saturday to host the North Carolina Courage.