Angel City FC falls to short-handed Washington

LOS ANGELES — With opportunities dwindling to climb into the playoff picture, Angel City FC failed to take advantage of a depleted Washington Spirit team, falling 2-1 on Friday night at BMO Stadium.

“You make your own luck and we have to change some things,” said Angel City head coach Becki Tweed, whose team remains three points outside of a playoff spot with four matches left (three on the road).

Despite missing NWSL assist leader Croix Bethune, who was lost for the season three weeks ago, and two of the league’s top five goal scorers (Trinity Rodman and Ouleymata Sarr), Washington still found the opening goal on Friday.

As Angel City (6-12-4, 22 points) operated in its half, defender Megan Reid received a back pass and hesitated before pulling the ball back so she could reset and feed goalkeeper DiDi Haracic.

However, Spirit forward Ashley Hatch anticipated Reid’s movement and pickpocketed the defender in the 39th minute, leaving nothing between her and Haracic, who also made three saves.

Hatch dribbled into the middle of the box, where she calmly put away her fifth goal of the season in front of an announced crowd of 19,257.

“I think the story of the season is that we’re our own worst enemy,” Tweed said. “And whilst you’re your own worst enemy, you think that it’s in your control but you have to find what is actually in your control and where you can kind of regain that momentum.”

In the first half, Washington outshot Angel City 5-1. Returning from the break, ACFC turned up the temperature and in a short span created several dangerous chances that tested Spirit goalkeeper and captain Aubrey Kingsbury, who finished with four saves.

When Angel City star Alyssa Thompson’s sixth assist of the year set up defender Messiah Bright’s first NWSL goal of 2024, the home team looked ready to push for a lead. Bright, a second-year player, started in place of veteran Sydney Leroux for the club’s second game in five days.

“We have to realize we are a strong team,” said Bright, who didn’t know much about Thompson’s pass as it made its way through traffic and clanged off her shin pads past Kingsbury in the 50th minute. “We rely on each other a lot in moments like these, so I think when we do go down a goal it’s just picking each other up in the huddle to get ourselves going again.”

The teams traded chances but Haracic and Kingsbury kept their squads level.

In the 78th minute, Kingsbury turned her goalkeeping skills into instant offense.

Throwing a long outlet pass to Rosemonde Kouassi, whose speed troubled ACFC defenders all evening, the Spirit capitalized with the game-winner when the 22-year-old Ivorian attacker split Jasmyne Spencer and Sarah Gorden with a pass from the outside of her right foot.

“We have to end it,” Tweed said regarding the sequence. “We have to end it early. It should never happen. It shouldn’t even get to the other end of the field.”

But it did, and Kouassi’s perfectly weighted pass set up a nifty chip from the penalty spot by Makenna Morris, who scored her second goal of the year after coming on as a substitute.

“I have to go away from here and do a lot of digging deep,” Tweed said. “The psychological piece. The piece of belief. The piece of not leaving it for the last 10 minutes to find that extra edge.”

Although results have materialized for Angel City, fullback M.A. Vignola doesn’t see much of a gap with the likes of the Spirit, which is currently in second place in the 14-team league.

“The team that we have and the players that we have, we have high, high potential. I think that we just fall short in some aspects,” said Vignola, who led all players in the match with 94 touches. “When we’re out there all together it doesn’t feel like we’re far behind. That’s what’s crazy.”

The result secured a top-four seed for Washington (15-5-2, 47 points).

Angel City faces a challenging path to a potential postseason berth.

“This league, you’ve got to stay in it to the last day,” Tweed said. “You have to keep yourself in the race. You have to pick up points. And you have to play for pride. We want to be winning games. We want to be putting ourselves in a position that we’re not in this season.”