Angel City Football Club earns first home win of 2024, topping North Carolina
A pair of goals by Claire Emslie holds up despite pressure from the Courage.
LOS ANGELES — After dropping their season opener at home and playing on the road for three straight, the Angel City Football Club earned its first win of 2024 at BMO Stadium on Sunday, holding off the dangerous North Carolina Courage, 2-1.
A pair of goals from Claire Emslie were enough as North Carolina could not rally for its first away point five games into the NWSL season.
Coming off back-to-back shutout victories, the Courage (3-2-0, 9 points) had not conceded a goal for 262 minutes until Emslie’s brilliant free kick in the 23rd minute that put ACFC (2-2-1, 7 points) ahead for good.
Taken straight away from 20 yards out, Emslie’s shot was set up by midfielder Rocky Rodriguez, who tried to sneak a pass through North Carolina’s stingy defense to Alyssa Thompson while the young forward made a darting run to the box.
Courage defender Kaleigh Kurtz received a yellow card for bodying Thompson to the ground, providing Emslie a perfect spot to shoot over the wall and bend it away from the outstretched arms of U.S. international goalkeeper Casey Murphy.
The lead held up through the break, even as North Carolina worked into increasingly dangerous spots around the Angel City box.
Forward Tyler Lussi was in alone at the back post in the 37th minute, but the Courage forward scuffed her volley attempt over the bar.
That trend continued into the early portion of the second half as North Carolina pressed higher up the field.
The home side was fortunate to hold onto the lead when Angel City captain Sarah Gorden stepped in front of a shot and then a follow-up attempt clanged off the post.
Emslie and Thompson had a more direct combination for Angel City’s second goal of the game.
From the midfield, Thompson struck a through ball that offered Emslie room to take one touch to reach the edge of the box. Unsure if she should challenge the Angel City forward or stay in the goal mouth, Murphy was stuck in no woman’s land. Emslie’s cheeky chip rainbowed over the goalkeeper to make it 2-0 in the 54th minute.
“I knew there was space in behind,” Emslie said. “[Thompson] looked up. We caught eyes. It was a perfect ball from her. I knew the keeper was tall and I knew she was off her line, so I thought I’d just take a touch and try and dink it.”
The brace, Emslie’s first in NSWL play, gave the Scottish forward a team-leading three goals in five games before she was substituted out of the game after 64 minutes.
A short time later an offside call wiped away a North Carolina goal, but the visitors cut their deficit in half in the 73rd minute after Kurtz took a foul from Madison Curry to the right of the Angel City box.
The subsequent free kick glanced toward the far post off the head of Angel City’s Rodiguez, where Lussi made the most of another opportunity, converting with the inside of her right thigh for her second goal of the year.
During a tense last half hour, including 10 minutes of stoppage time, Angel City made the one-goal advantage stand up, securing consecutive wins after taking one point in their first three matches.
“It was about doing the dirty work and getting it done,” Gorden said following her 100th NWSL regular season appearance. “Twenty-seven minutes is a lot of time, but honestly soccer is a game of energy and we could feel we were going to close out the game.”
Sunday’s performance in front of an announced sell-out at BMO Stadium came two days after the team traded away Paige Nielsen and Amandine Henry for a combined $125,000 in allocation money — moves the players called “emotional” and the club described as “strategic.”
For Angel City coach Becki Tweed, the result was indicative of what the team focused on during the week.
Said Tweed: “Ultimately, we still didn’t complete what I would call a 90-minute performance but we did have 90 minutes of grit and resilience and that togetherness that pulls you through results.”