Angel City ends winning streak, falls 2-1 against Orlando Pride

ORLANDO, Fla. – Angel City’s winning streak came to an end with a 2-1 loss on the road against the Orlando Pride on Friday night. 

Gisele Thompson’s goal in stoppage time wasn’t enough to overcome the brace scored by Orlando’s Haley McCutcheon. 

“This is a difficult result for us to allow them to score in 90-plus, because we do feel like that is a mentality thing, which is what we’ve been working on,” said ACFC captain Sarah Gorden. “So it is really disappointing.”

Angel City (3-0-1) fell to second in the league’s table with nine points. Orlando (2-2-1) now sits in sixth with eight points. 

It was scoreless at halftime. Orlando’s Barbra Banda looked to get behind Angel City’s defense but was unable to capitalize on any chances. Anchored by a well-rested Gorden, Los Angeles completed 6 tackles and won 55% of ground duels before heading to the locker room. The visitors maintained 66% possesion but failed to find a footing in their attack, creating zero shots on target despite frequently finding space in the final third. 

“Sarah is probably one of the fastest and strongest defenders in the league,” Head Coach Alex Straus said. “I don’t see anybody who has controlled [Banda] in a way that Sarah did today. So I’m very, very happy with Sarah’s performance defensively against Banda.”

The second half started off with a false alarm for Angel City after an Orlando corner kick that resulted in McCutcheon finding the back of the net. However, after a VAR review, McCutcheon was deemed offside, and the score was erased. 

Orlando broke the stalemate in the 84th minute with McCutcheon’s right-footed shot from very close range. After another VAR review, the goal stood, putting Angel City on the clock to respond. 

It was Thompson who responded, netting in ACFC’s lone goal during the second minute of added stoppage time. The 20-year-old defender found the top corner of the post, slammed the crossbar, and came down just beyond the goal line for the equalizer. It’s Thompson’s second goal of the season for Angel City. 

Six minutes later, McCutcheon scored her second goal of the night, handing Angel City its first loss of the 2026 season.  

“Today, we could have gone away from here with a very, very good point and played an almost perfect away game,” said Straus during the post-match press conference. “But we threw it away in the end. And that’s unacceptable for us as a team and as a unit.”

Under Straus, the club has been creating a new identity, one that will be put on display as Angel City returns from international break. 

Angel City returns home to BMO Stadium for NWSL gameplay on April 26 against the Portland Thorns (3-0-1).