Match Forecast: OL Reign Set to Host Angel City FC
OL Reign and Angel City FC are set to meet for the first time in the regular season. The teams met previously twice in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. OL Reign took three points from both matches, scoring a total of 5 goals.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, June 18 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on Twitch
2022 REGULAR SEASON RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 2-2-4 (10 points, 6th place), Angel City FC 4-3-1 (13 points, 4th place)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – OL Reign and Angel City FC most recently met during the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup at Lumen Field. OL Reign scored the opening goal of the match in the 34th minute of the game. It was a beautiful sequence starting with OL Reign midfielder Quinn. They played an amazing ball out wide, and forward Ally Watt got on the end of it. She settled the ball and found Bethany Balcer, who made no mistake as she found the back of the net. Angel City found an equalizer in the 83rd minute of the match. Forward Jun Endo earned the assist on Simone Charley’s goal. It was rookie Olivia Van der Jagt to find the game winner. She got her head on the end of Lu Barnes’ ball into the box to put the Reign up 2-1 in stoppage time and secure the win.
2. SCOUTING ANGEL CITY – Angel City FC most recently played Racing Louisville FC and beat them 3-2. Louisville scored first, in the 29th minute when midfielder Savannah DeMelo connected with defender Gemma Bonner on a freekick. Louisville didn’t hold onto the lead for long, as Angel City found an equalizer in the 38th minute, courtesy of forward Christen Press. After halftime, Angel City scored again, this time on a combination from Press and midfielder Savannah McCaskill.
Louisville was not done, however, as Angel City conceded a penalty kick. Forward Nadia Nadim stepped up to the spot and coolly found the back of the net to tie up the game. In dramatic fashion, Angel City earned a penalty ick of their own in stoppage time. McCaskill hit it home to secure the 3-2 win for Angel City.
3. FIRST REGULAR SEASON MEETING – Though OL Reign got the best of Angel City in the Challenge Cup, OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey noted that both teams have had an opportunity to grow since then.
“The Challenge Cup was so many games ago now, that I think both teams have been on different journeys since then. But I think we know that when we put out the product that we believe in on the field, we're a difficult team to play against and we believe we can have success against any team that we play against,” said Harvey.
“So, like I've said before, I think Angel City have been on a great run. I say this all the time, I think the Challenge Cup really, really helped those two expansion teams to give them a very quick learning curve on what this league is all about and they've utilized that. You can learn from it and not use it, but I think both teams have done a really good job of using that.”
4. BEING RELENTLESS – “We actually say all the time that we want to be relentless, we want to be brave, we want to do the things that we think are really going to punish the opponent and, actually, one of the things I think we've evolved this year is how we build out from the back. We've always been a team, really, that plays short at times and with Phallon now in goal, I think we've sort of elevated that to, yeah, sometimes we play short, like Sunday's goal. Sometimes, we go a little bit longer, which also was included in Sunday's goal with Phallon playing it up,” said Harvey.
Harvey continued, “We say a lot that you've got to play what the game sort of gives you at the moment and we don't try to be too prescriptive of what that might look like, but there are just options on the field for players to see and if they see the bravest, riskiest paths, then sometimes you should play it because if you do and it's successful, we've seen the results of that and we'll get the reward of it. But, when you want to play the safe path, the opponent might be ready for you to play the brave pass. So, it sort of makes us a little bit more unpredictable, which I think is a really good thing for this team. The more unpredictable we are, the more of a threat we are, I think."
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