Angel City Battles Dash to a Draw

June 8, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Angel City FC News Release

LOS ANGELES – Angel City Football Club played to a nil-nil draw with the Houston Dash at home tonight in a back-and-forth, at times physical match. The match was the club’s Pride Night presented by Heineken, which kicked off with a special pre-party that included a vogueing contest, dancing, and a spirit station.

The first half of the match got off to a slow start, with Houston controlling the ball much of the time thanks to their aggressive press, but failing to get many looks on goal due to strong defending by the home team. Around the 20th minute, Angel City started to put together longer stretches of possession and push the momentum the other direction, getting more chances and half-chances as time went on.

In the 30th minute, midfielder Savannah McCaskill came close with a shot from the top of the 18. After a quick one-two with forward Christen Press, she got into a window of space and fired off a powerful strike, but it went over the crossbar.

Houston answered three minutes later when a deflected cross by defender Elizabeth Eddy fell to midfielder Sophie Schmidt just outside the penalty area. She put a decisive shot on frame, which keeper DiDi Haračić made a beautiful diving save and narrowly blocked the ball out over the endline.

Angel City continued to push for goal, with defender Vanessa Gilles pulling a close-range left-footed shot wide in the 37th minute, but the best chance of the remainder of the half was for Houston in added time. After a free kick by midfielder María Sánchez was incompletely cleared from the box, Eddy sent the ball back into the mixer, where forward Nichelle Prince headed the ball over the crossbar from point-blank range.

As the second half began, the home side looked to have the Dash’s aggressive press all but solved, managing to break through it and make attacks into the spaces left behind. In the 61st minute, Press charged into an open pocket to the left of the penalty area and crossed the ball toward McCaskill and forward Simone Charley as they crashed the box. McCaskill got her head on the ball at close range but sent it high.

The game continued to heat up, with LA continuing to exploit the space and create opportunities- but Houston also got a few attacks in transition.

After a half-dozen forays into the box, Angel City had their best chance of the game in the 69th minute: after driving up the center of the field, McCaskill found…