(East Los Angeles, CA) [From The Editor’s Desk]: The historic first-ever National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) quarterfinal playoff match for the 5th seeded Angel City Football Club (ACFC) ended in a very heartbreaking loss to the 4th seeded, Seattle, WA-based, OL Reign, Friday night in the NWSL’s 2023 first quarterfinal match.
For (87:00) minutes the two teams played a sluggish and low-energy type of match, where there wasn’t too much offensive action with full attack mode in a favorable view of the big home crowd at Lumen Field, as well as the healthy Angel City audience watching on Paramount +. Fans were basically watching the defensive alignments of both squads to see when and where a scoring strategy could clearly be noticed as efficient, tactful, and successful. With nothing till that scoring moment, the teams had to play on.
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To recap the goal, the Reign’s, #24 Veronica Latsko’s timely “header” was taken on a long and deep crosser from #21 Phoebe McClernon, which was then driven from just in front of the net where it was deflected by goalkeeper, #19 Angelina Anderson’s right hand and into the corner of the netting for the score. Latsko dutifully emerged as the hero of the match, and the Reign began their jubilant celebration with their 12,152 home fans. They were of course also taking into account the joyful and rewarding fact that they had just secured a semi-final match with the #1 seeded, San Diego Wave on 11/5 in San Diego.
We bring you the account as composed by the Angel City Communications Staff along with post-match Quotes, and a great photo gallery of the match,
ANGEL CITY FOOTBALL CLUB FALLS TO OL REIGN IN FIRST-EVER PLAYOFF MATCH
SEATTLE (October 20, 2023) – Angel City Football Club (ACFC) fell 1–0 to OL Reign tonight in the quarterfinal of the 2023 NWSL Playoffs. Forward Veronica Latsko had the game-winning goal.
The first half was largely a midfield battle. Angel City came away with the edge in possession by 54 percent to the Reign’s 46 percent, but both teams stayed compact out of possession and limited their opponent going forward.
ACFC, however, strung together several promising attacks that challenged the Reign’s strong defending inside the area.
[Photo Gallery]: Angel City Football Club
In the 30th minute, forward Scarlett Camberos found Claire Emslie with a diagonal ball to the right wing. Emslie sprinted a few steps and sent a low cross toward the six-yard box that deflected slightly off of a Reign defender before landing in the path of forward Sydney Leroux, who slid to get a foot on it, but was beaten by keeper Claudia Dickey.
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Angel City had another look in the 39th minute when Leroux intercepted a Reign pass and sent a sideways ball to midfielder Savannah McCaskill. McCaskill lofted a diagonal ball over the top for Emslie, who drove into the box and hit a low cross with her left foot that was blocked.
The Reign had a flurry of chances early in the second half, starting in the 47th minute when midfielder Jess Fishlock found forward Megan Rapinoe with a lateral ball across the top of the box. Having caught Angel City in transition, Rapinoe was one-v-one with keeper Angelina Anderson, but her left-footed shot from inside the 18-yard-box went just high.
In the 52nd minute, Veronica Latsko sent in a shot/cross from outside the 18-yard-box that hit the far post. With Anderson diving, the ball rebounded to midfielder Jess Fishlock on the left side of the area, who put a hard shot on frame—which defender Paige Nielsen saved off the line.
Seattle had another chance just a minute later when Rapinoe found another shot in transition from a similar position to her 47th-minute effort and sent a hard shot to the far post. Anderson made a full-extension dive and just got her fingertips on the ball to block it out for a corner.
After a hectic 10 minutes, the game settled back down. The two teams continued to battle it out in the midfield, with few quality chances from either side; in the 63rd minute, Angel City midfielder Amandine Henry had the first attempt of the half for her team, sending a hard shot from the edge of the 18 just wide following a service from Emslie.
Reign scored the lone goal in the 87th minute when Rapinoe sent a long cross from the left wing into the six-yard box. Forward Veronica Latsko made a well-timed run and beat both her markers to put a header on target, which Anderson dove to save but couldn’t stop.
Angel City continued to fight for an equalizer, but after four minutes of added time, the whistle blew, eliminating Angel City from the 2023 playoffs.
[POST-MATCH QUOTES]
{ACFC Defender Paige Nielsen}
(On seeing the season as a success even with the loss)…“The second half of the season, we had the best record out of any team. We went through a coaching change plus a lot of injuries last season. It took us a little longer to get there and we’re still getting there.”
“We’re still not playing to our highest potential. We have to stop saying that at some point though and it’s going to be soon.”
(On if she felt this season was fair)…“There’s no fair play in soccer. You can have possession for 90 percent of the time and still lose. You have to have a little luck on your side. You have to have great chemistry, which we did and great coaching, which we did. Tonight, some shots didn’t go our way.”
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(On Becki Tweed’s influence on the team this year)…“The biggest thing that’s overlooked in the team is trust. Right away when she took over, we all trusted her because she demanded a standard at training. She demanded a standard in the game. She was very clear, which is really good for a coach to be clear on the style of play.”
“We want to play both defensively and offensively. When we all started trusting the coaching staff, we all started trusting each other. Our chemistry grew immensely and that’s why that momentum carries over to next season. We’re in a really good place with each other and know what we have to do to continue to grow as a team.
{ACFC Midfielder Savannah McCaskill}
[On takeaways from this season]…“The biggest takeaway is that when this group is healthy, and we’re not even fully healthy yet, we’re going to be a full fledged wrecking force in this league. Once our mentality as a group got where it needed to be, as far as competing in training every single day and competing in games for every single minute, we showed ourselves and everyone else what we can do and what we’re capable of.”
“The back half of the season is something that we can take with us going into next year. If we started the year off how we started at the end of June, we would have won the league, which is something really special. We’re sitting here today and we’re not moving on to the semi-finals, so that sucks.”
“However, at the end of the day we’re just starting what we can reach and those aren’t just words anymore. Going into preseason next year on day one, the expectation is playoffs and a championship. We’ve said it for the past two years, but with nothing concrete to show for it. Now we actually have evidence of it.
“That is the standard going into preseason next year, for every single person on this roster, coaching staff, and front office. That is what we take away from this year.”
[On if the club needs time to get over this loss]…“I would love to not have to sit on this for the next two months or however long it is. Next week, it’s going be pretty tough. However, we should allow ourselves to feel this because we have to feel it as an individual and as a group. It’s going to suck, but then this off season doesn’t become like any other off season.”
“As a group, we need to show up in preseason on day one, ready to go fully fit, injury free, and mentally ready to get back at it. It’s going to take the whole preseason next year, two new teams are coming into the league, so we’re going to have to be ready to go.”
“Obviously it’s a really long season, so take as long as you need for that. We have to get ourselves ready from an individual standpoint so that we can show up at the end of January, early February, ready to get right back to work.”
[On tonight’s results]…“On the offensive side of the ball, I’d be curious to know what the possession stat was for the game, because I felt we had a ton of possession in our own defensive third, and lower in our middle third. It was really hard for us to break into our attacking third. They sat with two sixes, most of the game with a super compact back four.”
“There weren’t a whole lot of gaps. Because of that, we struggled to get chances like we had been getting chances in the last few games. They’re a great team who scouted us great. As Paige said, ‘Laura is a really smart coach.’
“As a team, we have to be able to problem solve on the field, which we don’t problem solve quick enough. We spoke about it, and we needed to get in line. We needed to try to get cutbacks, but we just didn’t problem solve as a team. It led to a lot of possession, lower middle third, defensive third, which is great.”
“We kept the ball but at the end of the day, we have to turn those into chances. That’s where we can grow as a possession team. When that gap opens up, we’re freaking dangerous and we get a shot on goal. If I’m being critical, an area that we could have definitely improved in the 90 minutes, but definitely we’re going forward.”
{ACFC Interim Head Coach Becki Tweed}
[Thoughts on the match]…“My initial thoughts are that we dominated in the first half. I felt like we were in control. I think we were almost a bit shocked that we were in control, and we needed to make the most of that.”
“Coming into this game, we thought we knew what they were going to do, but we knew that they have the ability to solve problems and change. They changed a couple of things and we still dominated in terms of possession. We didn’t really create anything from it. That’s the piece that I think we have to live and learn from. These playoffs change in one moment and we weren’t able to create in that moment and unfortunately they did later on in the game.
“So I think overall, we can be really proud of our performance. I think it leaves us with space to grow, and a taste of the playoffs. I think we can only use this to get better as individuals, as a group, as a team, as a club.”
[On how she is feeling in the initial post-match moments]
“I’m feeling incredibly proud of the group of players, the staff and the buy-in on what we’ve been able to achieve in the second half of the season.”
“I think that if you were to think about hindsight, would we be here 12 weeks ago? I think the world was against us and I think we’ve proven that we can compete, be one of the top teams, and that we have top players. I feel proud of the group for the buy-in.”
“We are obviously devastated. I think we were outplayed, which makes it more difficult. But we will grow from it. It is the first of many, but you have to go through the first to get better.
“I think again, we had a brilliant week. We felt positive. We knew that we could come into this game and win. I don’t think our performance was far from that again.I think it was the one moment and that cost us ultimately. But I think performance-wise, if we were to look at it, you still put on a brilliant performance.”
“We just missed that one moment in the final third and if it would have come, I think we would have been fine.”
[On the goalkeeping tonight]…“I think when you look at both goalkeepers tonight, Angelina and Claudia, you have two young prospects for the future that are exciting for the country and are exciting for the league. For Angelina to play in a playoff game at the age of 22 is just going to launch her career.”
[Self-reflecting on her success]:…“I think I’ve been caught up in the whirlwind of the last few weeks and I need to look at where I can grow, where I can be better, and where I can be better for the team.
“I have been so blessed to be supported by everybody in the club. I can’t speak highly enough of Dan [Ball] and Eleri [Earnshaw]. Without them, this wouldn’t have happened. I need the world to know that.”
[On how they can learn from this moment as a group]…“I think it’s really important that we actually use this evening to soak it all in, be proud of where we’ve come from and obviously feel the pain. You can’t hide from it. It’s going to hurt for a little while, but we have emotions, we can’t hide them and I think it’s really important that we process those.”
“I think for the young players, it’s about using this as fuel and using the off season to grow and get better. The off season is now a space that we can come back in January and start to move on and move forward again.”
“Look at where we’ve come from, be really proud, and use this to get better.”
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