The waiting, the talking, the pontificating, the hyping, is finally over and we can officially say, ANGEL CITY FC ARE BACK! The team took to the pitch for the first time in 2025 Sunday, playing host to California rivals, San Diego Wave. With Interim Head Coach Sam Laity at the helm, the team looked to get a fast start to the season, hoping to get three points off their rivals, while kicking off the season with a win at home.
Here is your ACFC Starting XI!#Volemos | #NWSL | #LAvSD | #AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/vhDApWvL0r
— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) March 16, 2025
The big story from the first Starting XI of the season, was how new, and young, this lineup was. Four of the starters (Hodge, King, Kennedy, and Tiernan) were all brought in ahead of the season, while all but four of the starting XI, were under the age of 25. It was also of note to see how Laity set up at the back in defense. Gisele Thompson, who spent most of last season on the left side, was deployed as a Right Back, Savy King who also spent her rookie season playing Left Back for Bay FC, was moved back to Center Back, where she started for North Carolina in her college days, while MA Vignola was on the left side. It was obvious early on the defense still needed time to gel, as they were not on the same page to start the match and San Diego made them pay for it.
In just the first five minutes of the match, the Wave dismantled the Angel City defense, en route to what was probably one of the cleanest looks at goal from the entire NWSL weekend. Just some pace from Delphine Cascarino to get past MA Vignola, set up the cross into the box that found a wide open Gia Corley who needed no invitation to smash it home for the early lead.
Gia Corley with a perfectly timed run and finish for her first in a San Diego kit 👏 pic.twitter.com/gOGtV22mS5
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 16, 2025
The rest of the first half was spent with Angel City trying to get their feet under them. It very much felt like the first match of the season for Los Angeles. The team did have an excellent chance to equalize before halftime break, with Alyssa Thompson using her speed to find herself one v one with the keeper, but was unable to pull the trigger on the shot, leaving a golden opportunity on the table as LA went into the half down a goal and looking for some answers.
The answer it seemed, was to feed the pace along the wings and widen play to stretch out San Diego, and it worked. The attack opened up a bit more for Angel City as they began to get closer and closer to goal, and then, in the 54th minute, it happened. An excellent pass from Kennedy Fuller found Alyssa Thompson in stride as she blew past her defender, setting up another chance at goal. This time with another defender in front of her, she turned on the footwork, got into her space and with the slight angle, put it past Sheridan for the equalizer.
This move by Angel City 🤯
Alyssa Thompson finishes the chance! pic.twitter.com/ydaseXR0hY
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 17, 2025
It very much felt like both sides after the Thompson goal, were happy to leave with a point as not much seemed to happen after. There were a couple of attempts at goal, nothing to really write home about, but for new San Diego manager Jonas Eidevall and ACFC Interim Head Coach Sam Laity, it seemed both were content with an opening point and moving on from this with lessons learned. While it isn’t the win we were all hoping for, at least its a point added early on in the season, and given the performance from the team, there should be a lot of hope that this was probably the worst it should get as the team continues to build chemistry and gain experience playing aside one another.
Thoughts on the season opener? Leave a comment below!