Angel City battles to draw with Washington Spirit

Coming off a rough two-week stretch in which it dropped consecutive road matches to teams they are currently in competition with for the final playoff spot, Angel City hoped the friendly confines of BMO Stadium could help them get back on track to reach the NWSL Playoffs on Thursday night.

After 90 minutes were up against the Washington Spirit, Angel City got mixed results. On one hand, it halted the losing streak at two games and gained some ground in the playoff chase. Angel City will certainly rue letting a one-goal lead slip away, and thus had to settle for point following the 2-2 draw.

“I think we wanted to build on our last game at North Carolina,” Angel City midfielder Nealy Martin said. “You could see in our press in the first half, we were all over them, and I think it was an improvement for us. So we will continue to build under Alex’s leadership.”

Washington got big performances from its stars, as Trinity Rodman and Croix Bethune found the back net for the second-place Spirit (10-4-7, 37 points), who saw its unbeaten streak reach nine matches. Angel City was boosted by a goal from Evelyn Shores and also a Washington own goal. Angel City (6-9-6, 24 points) climbed two points back of Racing Louisville for the eighth playoff spot, and will certainly be paying attention to this weekend’s upcoming results.

“I think our press was really working” Shores said. “We were keeping them wide how we wanted to in the first half, and then in the second half, they were dropping in with the double sticks, and we had a little trouble. They were able to find the opposite pocket. Credit to them for exploiting our weaknesses. But we’ll watch the film and get better.”

Washington was gifted an opportunity to take the lead. It started in the eighth minute, as Miyabi Moriya faced the tall task of defending Trinity Rodman inside the penalty area, Moriya and Rodman collided and the ball went over the end line, but referee Calin Radosav initially let the play go and signaled goal kick. Radosav however soon got the call for video review, and both Radosav and the VAR crew determined that Moriya tripped Rodman from behind, and Radosav made the decision to award Washington the penalty and Moriya a yellow card. Rodman stepped up to the spot looking to finish what she started, keeper Angelina Anderson actually denied Rodman on the penalty, but Anderson let the ball back into play and Rodman came in and scored off the rebound.

Angel City however was up to the challenge and it didn’t take long for them to get back into the match. Gisele Thompson received a ball from Sveindís Jónsdóttir, and despite heavy marking from Kate Wiesner, Thompson dribbled all the way into the penalty area and took the ball all the way to the endline, Thompson then played a ball across the six-yard box and Shores swooped in and buried the point-blank shot to level the match.

“Today, there was an Angel City team that worked really hard to craft out the points,” Angel City head coach Alex Strauss said. “Now we get a break, we get a little bit of time to heal our wounds, and get ready for it again in nine days.”

Angel City took the lead in the 55th minute with a little bit of luck on their side. Martin played a ball to Riley Tiernan who was defended by Paige Metayer. Despite Metayer’s marking, Tiernan still managed to dribble into the penalty area, crossed into the six with Kennedy Fuller the intended target, Spirit defender Tara McKweon tried to make a play on the ball, only to see the ball deflect off her right leg and into the back net for a Spirit own goal that gave Angel City the lead. Washington however answered back in the 71st minute, as Leicy Santos crossed into the penalty area and Croix Bethune outjumped Sarah Gorden and headed a ball past Anderson far post to equalize for the Spirit.