Angel City FC falls to the Utah Royals for their third straight loss
Dakayla Hawkins
Host · Writer
In all there were a total of 5 yellow cards handed out during this match between both clubs, as well as multiple VAR reviews. But in the end of the passionate display of NWSL soccer, the Utah Royals took the 1-0 win over Angel City FC in Los Angeles’s electric BMO Stadium.
The Royals put the ball in the back of the net in the 32nd minute, as Cloé Lacasse saw the ball coming right to her and with zero hesitation she put a head on it. Paige Cronin assisted the goal with a perfectly placed cross, even with Angel City’s Riley Tiernan putting her body on the line to try to get in front of that pass.
It was a red card call that set an intense tone for this match. Angel City’s Maiara Niehues received a red card for what the league would consider violent conduct in the six minutes of stoppage time added to the first half. This brought confusion and chants of “ref you suck,” from the sea of Angle City FC loyal fans. Niehues received her red card that led to her immediate ejection from the game only a moment after Utah’s Lacasse received a yellow card for a bad foul.
In the post game press conference head coach Alex Straus led with the sentiment that he is proud of how his players performed in the second half. The problem is that they consistently lack the type of energy that they have in the second half, to start the game. “Today I cannot ask anything else.”
Angel City defender Emily Sams was clear when she said after the game, “If we come out in the first half like we did in the second half, I think we win that game. I think that’s something that we can definitely learn from and take forward, that we don’t have to wait until we’re down a player or down a goal to come out with that kind of intensity.”
There was a significant amount of time used to determine the severity of fouls throughout this match. This ultimately killed the momentum of play making for these athletes having to turn their gears on and off. Sams who tallied 28 accurate passes, 49 touches, three tackles won and four doula won expressed, “Utah was trying to draw those fouls because the ref was calling everything.” Sams also mentioned that the stop and start pace allowed for them to catch their breath until they were about to get going again.
Attacker Taylor Suarez who sat beside Emily Sams post game said that she felt the consistent change in momentum mostly affected the mental side of the game. Suarez said that all of them were locked in and wanted to walk away with the win, it’s just about continuing to push through the mental aspect of the circumstances.
When Straus was asked about the momentum of the game being affected by the amount of calls and reviews that took place, he made it clear what he thought. “There were a lot of things that went Utah’s way today”
Angel City’s captain and veteran defender Sarah Gorden played in her 150th regular season appearance in this match up. During the intensity of a match that Utah brought, Gorden did not fail to keep her team grounded and onto the next play. Gorden who played the entirety of the game had 37 touches, 13 accurate passes, four progressive carries and four duels won.
