LOS ANGELES — The Angel City Football Club was flying high after the first three games of the season.
“We looked like Angel City,” Sporting Director Mark Parsons said last week of that stretch. “The energy and the stadium and what I felt, what the fans felt, what the players felt, that was Angel City.”
That good momentum was lost as Angel City won just once of its final eight games before the NWSL’s just completed summer break.
Friday night, Angel City (5-6-1, 16 points) regained that good feeling in its first game back since May 31, defeating the Orlando Pride, 2-0, in front of 13,900 at BMO Stadi’um. The win was the team’s first since a 2-1 victory over the Kansas City Current on May 20.
“I’m pretty happy,” interim coach Leif Gunnar Smerud said. “It was a good win against a good team. The players showed character, had some good moments, pressed well and dealt with the ball well against a good team.”
The Pride and Angel City have established a fiery rivalry in their short history. Going into Friday’s game, six of their first eight clashes had featured either the tying or winning goal after the 85th minute.
Their first meeting this season on April 3, exemplified the wild moments in the series. Orlando scored in the 84th minute, Angel City scored an equalizer in the second minute of stoppage time, then Orlando secured the win in the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Angel City, playing its first game under Smerud, built a 1-0 lead by halftime in this one on a goal from Maiara Niehues in the 36th minute.
“This is day-to-day, week-by-week, game-by-game,” Smerud said of his interim role. “I’m trying to set the direction for the team game and how I want it to look. I don’t look very far ahead. I’ve been really focused on this game and helping the players and I think you saw some of it today, what we can do with the team.”
On the other side of the break, Sveindís Jónsdóttir got back on the scoring sheet to double the lead. The play was a one-woman show from Jónsdóttir. She intercepted a pass near midfield, dribbled in on an angle, shooting toward the far post for the goal. It was her first goal since March 27. Jónsdóttir missed the last four games before the break with a foot injury.
Smerud replaced Alex Straus, who was fired last month. Smerud joined the club in May, after coaching in Europe, most recently with SK Brann in the Norwegian League and Crystal Palace last year.
With the lead, came the challenging task, especially in this series of protecting the lead. The Pride put the Angel City defense under pressure late, forcing goalkeeper Angelina Anderson into a stretch of key saves and important clearances from the back-tracking defenders.
Anderson only faced one shot on goal in the shutout win. The Pride only had five total shots and finished with an underwhelming xG of 0.28.
The game was the Angel City debut for newly acquired forward Ally Sentnor, who played the full 90 minutes. She was acquired in a trade with Kansas City during the summer pause.
“We got the win, we’ve been working hard the past weeks in training,” Sentnor said. “It wasn’t perfect, but I think you saw what we’re building toward.”
Angel City finished with 15 shots and six on goal.
Angel City will play its next two games on the road, July 11 against San Diego and July 18 against Chicago. If Angel City is going to make a run up the NWSL standings, the club will need to string together wins on the road. After Friday’s game, Angel City has just seven home games left and 12 on the road.