September 11, 2022 – National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) – Angel City FC News Release
HOUSTON – Angel City Football Club drew the Houston Dash 1-1 on the road tonight, following goals by Houston forward María Sánchez and Angel City forward Simone Charley.
Most of the first half saw a back-and-forth battle, with Houston getting more scoring chances, but Angel City doing well to absorb and limit the Dash to less dangerous opportunities. The home team’s first real chance of the night came in the 29th minute, when midfielder Sophie Schmidt intercepted a pass by keeper DiDi Haračić intended for midfielder Dani Weatherholt. With Haračić out of goal Schmidt pounced and took a shot, which went well high.
The Dash opened the scoring in the 43rd minute. Midfielder Natalie Jacobs received the ball off a short corner kick by midfielder Marisa Viggiano and tapped it to forward María Sánchez. Sánchez took a few steps, found herself in space, and fired a hard shot to the far post, past a diving Haračić to bring the score to 1-0.
The second half was a faster paced, more transitional affair from the beginning, and it didn’t take long for Angel City to pull one back. In the 49th minute, defender Megan Reid sent a long ball over the top for forward Simone Charley, who had been lurking near the Dash’s defensive line all night. Charley picked up the ball, drove into the box, and beat Houston defender Katie Naughton. Keeper Jane Campbell went to ground to smother the ball, but bobbled it back into Charley’s path. Charley calmly dribbled past Campbell and tapped the ball into the open net to equalize.
The goal was Charley’s first in the regular season for Angel City.
Just a minute later, Houston came close to pulling ahead again when Sánchez placed a low, driven shot to the near post, but Haračić dove and blocked it out for a corner kick. They came close again in the 52nd minute, when Sánchez sent in a cross from the left toward forward Nichelle Prince, who got her head on the ball but sent it wide.
In the 60th minute, Angel City had another quality goal opportunity. From the endline, defender Ali Riley found midfielder Savannah McCaskill as she made a run into the area. With Campbell at the near post, she flicked a shot toward the far post with the outside of her right foot, but it bounced wide.
The two teams traded chances for the remainder of the half, with two final near misses by Houston coming late. In the 80th minute, forward Valérie Gauvin, who had…