Angel City came out victorious in their top-of-the-table clash with the Houston Dash on Friday night. The 2-1 win keeps them in first place so far this season. Let’s relish this while we can because NWSL 2026 is looking a lot more chaotic in general compared to the last season or two thus far.

Bit of a different formation to take on the Dash, but the principles of play seemed pretty consistent with the two previous games. Dynamic build out play, primarily through the right side, dribble straight down the line on the left, and press hard out of possession.

This was a challenging match, but ultimately gave way to a gratifying win. As can be seen above, Houston had all of the momentum in the first half. They laid the pressure on thick and did a good job of limiting Angel City’s opportunities. Honestly, Angel City couldn’t even string more than a couple of passes together. The build out was often too slow. That combined with the opposition’s pressure, Angel City was particularly vulnerable to counterattacks. Outside back Avery Patterson had a field day down Angel City’s left flank putting multiple defenders on skates to allow for her teammates to cut inside and get shots off. Luckily, only Maggie Graham’s went in and things could have been a lot worse walking into half time.

It seemed like Houston had pressing triggers of Emily Sams and Gisele Thompson. Any time those two players would touch the ball, the Dash sprung forward, and those who didn’t got tight to anyone who could become an outlet pass. This was really effective through the first half For reference, against Chicago and Bay, respectively, Angel City pushed 49% and 55% of their passes into the final third from the right channel compared to 36% and 27% from the left channel. Additionally, the shot maps from the previous two games have most of the shots coming from the right and central areas. The Dash were able to keep Angel City’s right side quiet. However, they could not sustain the intensity of their press for long during the second half, and things started to open up for Angel City. Things started to look a little more even from there.

Riley Tiernan’s goal was given 0.93 xG per FotMob, but outside of that chance creation was pretty poor. Without the second goal Angel City’s xG would have been 0.29… Not amazing. That’s the thing about football, though, sometimes you get lucky, sometimes players make magic happen. Sveindís Jónsdóttir’s goal, which basically opened the second half, only registered 0.02 xG but it was seriously a sight to behold.

Two minutes later Angel City were able to get things going down the right to create chaos in the box. Maiara Niehues’s header didn’t quite land, but Tiernan was on the back post waiting to clean up the scraps.

The team came out much better in the second half. They looked sharper and more composed, but still played with the urgency necessary to chase a game. The defense looked a lot more organized and compact, and significantly cut down the effectiveness of Houston’s attack. After withstanding a couple of waves of pressure after their two goals, Straus made substitutions that would put control of the game firmly in their hands. As it seemed like everyone on the Dash was running out of steam, except for Patterson, Taylor Suarez came on for Nealy Martin and Prisca Chilufya came on for Riley Tiernan. Instead of bunkering down to protect their lead, Straus poured on the gasoline to dictate the pace of the last 10-15 minutes. It paid off.

Straus and the players had the humility to admit that this match could have turned out differently during the post-match press conference. Frankly, Angel City was lucky it wasn’t 3-0 at half time, but it wasn’t. It was only 1-0 and they did what they needed to do to come from behind and protect their lead until the final whistle. While the team will be disappointed in their performance for long stretches of this match, the overall shift in mentality is apparent. As the last few minutes of the game ticked away, I wasn’t really afraid that Paige Nielsen would score a goal at the death. I mean I was, but more in a dark joke kind of way, than an it actually felt possible kind of way. This is a team that is proving that it can be focused, resilient, and adaptable.

Next up are the 2024 NWSL Champions, the Orlando Pride, on the road. Zambian striker Barbra Banda is back from injury and making immediate contributions. Keeping Banda quiet will be of the utmost importance if Angel City wants to walk away from Inter&Co Stadium with even a point. Although they are the current table leaders, this will be the first game Angel City will play against top ranked opposition. I’m looking forward to seeing how they approach Friday’s game.

**Images courtesy of Angel City