Taylor Suarez nets Angel City's lone goal in draw against Gotham FC

HARRISON, New Jersey — Angel City Football Club continued its road trip with a 1-1 draw in the rain against Gotham FC on Sunday at Sports Illustrated Stadium. 

A last-minute goal and a determined backline added another point to Angel City's season record (12-8-7, 43 pts) as the visitors fought until the clock wore out. 

“Whether we go up a goal or we go down a goal, we are fighting 'til the very end,” said Angel City's goal scorer of the night, forward Taylor Suarez. 

After Angel City held the Gotham side to zero shots on target in the first 45 minutes and a dark scoreboard heading into the break, the home side found its breakthrough in the 66th minute. Rose Lavelle slipped a diagonal pass back to Jaedyn Shaw, who scored her 10th goal of the season with a one-touch shot past Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson. 

Suarez's equalizer in the 91st minute capped efforts to keep Angel City in the game. She came on for Ally Sentnor in the 83rd minute and immediately created space. 

In the first minute of stoppage time, she received a pass from Emily Sams near the front post and fired it into the back of the net. 

“I saw Emily making a run in behind, and I knew if she found herself with the ball in that spot, I just needed to cut across the goal and make a front post run,” Suarez said. “She found a beautiful ball by my feet, and I just tapped it in at that point. Credit to her, obviously; she's a center back, so she doesn't find herself up there a lot, but I was just grateful in that moment.”

90+ and still fighting!

Taylor Suarez scores in stoppage time! pic.twitter.com/TjuPElCWqY

Sunday's goal was the third of Suarez's third goals off the bench in her last four appearances, and came at the most crucial time for Angel City. The result extended ACFC's unbeaten streak to seven matches and kept the club in sixth on the league table. The Los Angeles side has scored at least once in each of its past seven matches. 

“Several players are developing and [Taylor] is really doing that,” interim head coach Leif Smerud said. “To have players in a squad where people work for each other and know we can leave everything on the pitch, and then we can make a sub to bring on fresh legs that can score goals — she’s been amazing the last games.”

Sunday was the last match before the international break, when the U.S. Women's National Team will face the 2023 World Cup reigning champions Spain. In the stands sat USWNT Head Coach Emma Hayes, who watched some of the 26 players she recently named to the training camp roster battle on the pitch. 

Angel City's Gisele Thompson and Evelyn Shores were called up to represent the U.S. for its October matches against Spain in Washington, D.C. and Chester, Pennsylvania.  

USWNT head coach Emma Hayes is in attendance for this Gotham and Angel City matchup pic.twitter.com/xFS9prFgLg

Angel City returns from the international break on Oct. 17 to face Denver Summit FC in its final road match of the regular season.