The Angel City FC Outlast the San Diego Wave FC 2-1

Angel City FC #2 Sydney Leroux (Attacker) scored in the 51st minute, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside call by the officials. Photo by Nick Koza/TGSportsv1.

LOS ANGELES, CA - In their rivalry game against Angel City FC on Saturday in NWSL regular season play, San Diego Wave FC ran the gauntlet at The Banc for the first time but fell short 2-1.

Even though Wave FC played with an extra player for the final 10 minutes and changed the game, Angel City had the advantage on the evening and won the match. The game was very entertaining for spectators, especially in the second half when the Southern California rivals threw metaphorical haymakers as they wrestled control of the game back and forth.

Casey Stoney started the game for San Diego with the same starting XI that won over the Washington Spirit the previous time out because he believed there was no need to change what wasn't broken.

San Diego didn't get off to a great start in the game. Ali Riley received a patient pass from Jun Endo on the left side of the box, and Riley fired a tightly-angled shot past Carly Telford in goal in the ninth minute, giving Angel City the lead after San Diego had dominated the flow of play in the opening minutes.

After making that early concession, Wave FC seemed a little startled and lost their rhythm, battling to maintain possession as the home team became stronger. Although San Diego wasn't scoring a lot of goals, they didn't dominate the game or manage a lot of scoring opportunities in the first 45, which has usually been their calling card. It was one of their poorest half of the regular season.

The greatest opportunity for the visitors came in first-half stoppage time when Abby Dahlkemper took a free kick from around 25 yards out and beat DiDi Harai in goal for Angel City, but it clanged against the crossbar and missed the target.

Sydney Leroux scored for Angel City in the 51st minute, but the goal was disallowed due to an offside call for the striker, sparing San Diego some embarrassment. The second half began in much the same way as the first, with Angel City controlling the flow of play and San Diego trying to get a foothold on the game.

In the 56th minute, Stoney made his first lineup adjustment, switching Makenzy Doniak up top for Wave FC with Katie Johnson.

A few minutes later, that decision paid off when Johnson had an excellent nutmeg pass to Kristen McNabb, who struck the one-timer flawlessly to tie the game for San Diego and give Wave FC fresh life.

A few minutes later, Kelsey Turnbow came close to scoring with a cross or shot that beat Harai but caromed off the post and didn't quite seem to cross the goal line. A minute or so later, Wave FC really cranked it on to try to score the winning goal. Marleen Schimmer came close with a one-timer that just missed the target.

After that, Belle Briede was replaced by Amirah Ali in the 67th minute of play.

As pressure mounted from Angel City, Madison Hammond's shot in the 70th minute forced Telford to extend fully in order to save the ball, which she accomplished.

In the 79th minute, Tyler Lussi received her second yellow card of the match for pulling down Ali on a breakaway attempt, giving San Diego further chances to score a last-second victory.

However, after coming close to conceding when Simone Charley collided with Telford outside the area while on a walkabout, Angel City scored the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute thanks to Claire Emslie, who was making her club debut.

In the last minutes, San Diego made a drive for an equalizer and put Angel City goalkeeper Harai to the test many times. In the end, it was insufficient.

San Diego deserves praise for genuinely transforming it into a contest in the second half, but it wasn't enough to change the outcome. Wave FC could have used one or more of the players currently away on international service in this match, but despite a terrible first half, they made it a contest and fell just short. Although it will hurt, San Diego still has the fortitude to compete with any team, and I believe this will be one of the most challenging conditions they encounter this season. There is plenty to learn from this, but I have no doubt that many will be thinking forward to the major stadium opening return leg in San Diego in September.

The next game for San Diego is planned for next Friday at Torero Stadium against Racing Louisville. It's an opportunity to "square the score," since Racing has already defeated Wave FC this year.