The Angel City Football Club will go into the World Cup break on a high note after defeating the North Carolina Courage 2-1. North Carolina is the top team in the NWSL, their record falls to 8-2-5 and ACFC’s improves to 4-5-6.
This is the third win with interim head coach Becki Tweed at the helm. The prior wins came against the San Diego Wave in both a regular season and NWSL Challenge Cup match.
“The best thing that we have right now is 26 players, including injured players, that are really willing to buy in,” Tweed said. “It’s a mentality every day and it’s if you do the dirty work in training, it carries forward and we just want to be the best we can Monday to Friday and then bring that same attitude on the weekend.”
ACFC came out aggressive on offense in the early minutes, making two goal attempts in the first 16 Courage midfielder Brianna Pinto scored a goal in the 15th minute, the ACFC did not let the early goal deter them.
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“You can see the group as a collective pull each other in,” Tweed said. “I don’t think we were good enough up to that moment, we just took our foot off the gas for a little bit and that punishes you in this league.”
Midfielder Savannah McCaskill put the ACFC on the board at the 18th minute to tie up the game.
“We knew coming into this game that this game needed to be three points,” McCaskill said. “It took every single person to get the job done … puts us back closer to playoffs spots which the rest of the season is ours to battle for.”
McCaskill noted how the team had to change their mindset and go back to the basics with a hope to make a strong playoff push.
“We talked about standards but we kind of let those slide in the first half of the season,” McCaskill said. “We knew that if we didn’t turn things around, we weren’t going to be playing for anything on the second half of the season.”
ACFC signed midfielder Elizabeth Eddy as a replacement for the United States National Players who will be competing in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Eddy was subbed in at the 63rd minute and scored 14 minutes later to give ACFC the lead.
“They made a cut on the right with the ball and a great pass from a teammate,” Eddy said. “Then I was going to enter a one-on-one duel and then she kind of overstepped and I got a shot off before the center back slid hard and it wasn’t even on target. In soccer, if you get it hard across the center of the goal, sometimes it will go.”
ACFC ultimately took 20 shots at the goal in the matchup. Tweed noted that was a an area of improvement.
“Obviously, we created a lot of opportunities tonight,” Tweed said “This could have a result that could have been beyond two-one if we would have taken those opportunities but it’s the hardest part of the game.”
Angel City will battle the Portland Thorns on 7/29 at 7:00P.M.
