#Angel City FC holds off Kansas City to record first home win of the season #Usa #Miami #Nyc #Houston #Uk #Es

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LOS ANGELES — There is no such thing as a comfortable lead in the NWSL and certainly not for Angel City Football Club and Sunday was another reminder.

With a three-goal lead at halftime against the Kansas City Current, things got interesting quickly in the second half as the Current responded with two goals.

The good news for Angel City (2-2-2, eight points) is that the Current never scored a third goal, allowing ACFC to record the 3-2 win in front of 19,219 at BMO Stadium.

“I thought our game management was good,” ACFC goalkeeper DiDi Haračić said. “In the locker room at halftime, we did say we can’t take the foot off the gas. Unfortunately, we did. I’ll take full credit on the second goal (CeCe Kizer), I’m capable of doing better, but to be able to close out the game and get the win at home, that’s really important, especially moving on to next week.”

Haračić had four saves in the first half and finished with six in the game.

The win was the first at home this season for Angel City and this was the second consecutive game that the team scored three goals. Last Saturday, Angel City finished with a 3-3 draw against the Portland Thorns. Angel City scored three goals in a game only once last season.

This time, the three goals came in 15-minute stretch late in the first half that combined precision passing with lethal finishing.

In the 31st minute, Alyssa Thompson scored for the second consecutive week, beating her defender in a 1-on-1, cutting back and shooting and tucking the ball inside the far post.

Claire Emslie finished a Jun Endo cross with a sliding tap-in in the 43rd minute and early in added time, Madison Hammond set up Endo for the goal and a 3-0 lead before halftime.

“I think we really made it a point today to be on the front foot and to be aggressive,” ACFC defender and captain Ali Riley said. “We knew that if we stood off them, they have a lot of pace up front, they like finding those balls in behind, we would have to be proactive.

“I think in that (15-minute) period, we took that to the next step of actually combining, finding players in the half space, we’ve been working on our crosses, working on getting people in the box and finishing our chances and I think you saw the quality of the delivery and what players like Claire (Emslie) are willing to do to get their body on the line to put that ball in the back of the net.”

The Current (2-4) came out in the second half with a purpose. Izzy Rodriguez scored in the 57th minute and then Kizer’s goal came just four minutes later.

That left Angel City with approximately 30 minutes to protect a one-goal lead. Last season, the club had trouble doing that and again last week allowing a game-tying goal to Portland’s goalkeeper Bella Bixby deep into added time.

“I think the vibe and overall energy in the locker room before the game was different,” Haračić said. “I think we know that we need to do better the last few games. This is our home and we need to protect this. We had about 24-48 hours to sit on (the) Portland (loss). Sports, it’s a short-term memory, we have to have it. We learned from Portland and tonight, to close it out like that, I think it is really important.”

Angel City returns to action Saturday at home against the Washington Spirit.

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