Angel City Football Club ended up on the short end of the record-setting night, Saturday.
The second meeting between Angel City and San Diego Wave FC set a new NWSL single-game attendance record as 32,000 filed into Snapdragon Stadium. This was Wave FC’s first game at Snapdragon after playing its previous home games at Torero Stadium on the University of San Diego campus.
The 32,000 in attendance is the largest crowd to see a NWSL game. Last year, OL Reign drew 27,248 for a doubleheader with MLS’ Seattle Sounders. In 2019, the Portland Thorns had a crowd of 25,218 for a game against the North Carolina Courage.
“It was a pretty incredible experience and one that I expect to see across the league as the norm,” Angel City defender Megan Reid said. “These are exciting matches that people want to see and so much fun and inspirational to young kids and adults alike.”
In the 30th minute, San Diego’s Jaedyn Shaw opened the scoring and it ended up being all that Wave FC would need in the 1-0 win.
“Outside of the first 15 minutes, I think we dominated the game,” Angel City coach Freya Coombe said. “It was the strongest performance we’ve had in a while.
“We built on our performance from North Carolina (Wednesday). We were better offensively tonight.”
In the 73rd minute, Claire Emslie was fouled in the penalty area, giving Angel City a chance to tie with a penalty kick. However, Wave FC goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan guessed right and stopped Savannah McCaskill’s attempt.
The loss ends a busy three-game, seven-day trip for Angel City. The club managed just one point and remains in seventh place (26 points).
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“We have to take our chances and be a little bit better in that final third in terms of how we are looking to score,” Coombe said. “It has been difficult because we have identified different ways that we can score goals against these different teams, but we haven’t had any opportunity to train it.
“We have been on the road and traveling so much that it’s been a case of, ‘this is how we think we are going to do it.’ So I am looking forward to getting back to LA and having two training sessions with the team before our next game.”