(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The UKG Cup match featured Southern California rivals, the Angel City Football Club (ACFC) taking on its San Diego Wave rivals in this midweek, Match #14 of the season at BMO Stadium. The ACFC entered the 2023 UKG NWSL CHALLENGE CUP match with a sub-par (2-6-5) record, while the Wave came into the city with a (6-5-3) winning record.

[REFEREE]: Elvis Osmanovic

[PRE-MATCH]: Playing without the presence of its two U.S. Women’s National Team members, #13/Julie Erst, and #21/Allysa Thompson, Interim Head Coach, Becki Reed was allowed to use their replacements, Defender, #44/Elizabeth Eddy, and Defender, #36/Kelsey Hill.

[MATCH SUMMARY]

[1st Half]: Fans were still arriving at BMO Stadium in their vehicles, and many more were being directed to their seats by ushers, when all of a sudden, after taking the opening kick-off and proceeding to attack mode instantly, on a corner kick by. #29/Clarisse Le Bihan, she let it fly to a great looking spot in the pack, right in front of goalkeeper #30/Shae Yanez. It was then deflected by ACFC #14/Paige Nielsen and then somehow, in some miraculous way, stayed in flight and was then “headed” right into the netting by the oncoming Midfielder, #99/Madison Hammond, at minute (2:00) in the match, it was rather immediately and suddenly the score of  ACFC  1  San Diego  0.

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Play went back and forth seamlessly for about (15:00) more minutes before ACFC took off on a wing-generated fast-break run that involved #9/Savannah McCaskill and #15/Scarlett Camberos who took it close to the goal for the creation of a strong “2-on-1” attack. The ball was then centered back by Camberos after an over-run on the goal and then with (17:30) showing on the BMO Stadium scoreboard clock, Forward, #29/Clarisse LeBihan took control of Camberos’ great pass and shot it into the netting for Angel City’s second goal of the match.

[HALF-TIME SCORE]:  Angel City  2   San Diego Wave   0

[2nd Half]: Not much offense was generated for the first (20:00) minutes of the period, but at minute (64:00), Midfielder, #24/Danielle Colaprico of the Wave found an opening and took dead aim at the goal for a score and was successful, cutting the Angel City lead in half, (2-1) with plenty of time left in the match.

The ACFC defense then reacted quickly and tightened-up quite a bit to keep the Wave offense in check and at a safe distance while generating several attacks of their own on the Wave’s goalkeeper, Yanez. The strategy paid off and the victory went to Angel City as they claimed bragging rights over their rivals that included two consecutive wins within a 10 day period of the NWSL schedule.

[FULL-TIME SCORE]: Angel City  2  San Diego Wave  1

[ATTENDANCE]: 13,486

[UPDATE ON PREVIOUS MATCH]: ACFC played to a (0-0) draw during its road game against NJ/NY Gotham last Sunday, July 2nd. The team returns home for a July 9th match-up with one of the leading team in the NWSL, the Carolina Courage at BMO Stadium with a 5:00 pm kick-off.

[GAME NOTES OF SIGNIFICANCE]:

• Madison Hammond scored her first career NWSL goal in all competitions, becoming the first Native American to score a goal in NWSL history.
• She also scored the fastest Challenge Cup goal in NWSL history (2’)
• Clarisse Le Bihan scored her second career NWSL goal in all competitions.
• Scarlett Camberos earned her second career NWSL assist in all competitions.
  

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