Angel City extends their unbeaten streak after the international break with a 3-1 win over the Houston Dash.

Mace Hodge stepped back into the starting lineup again replacing Katie Zelem. This seems like the only position Interim Coach Sam Laity really considers switching up in an otherwise consistent starting XI. I did think that the midfield looked more organized with Zelem in it, but I understand that you might get more out of her for 35ish minutes on a shaded pitch in the Houston humidity versus 60ish minutes on a half sunny pitch.

Regardless of the veracity of the reasons for starting Hodge over Zelem, let’s talk about the rookie first because she earns her first career goal and, for the most part, puts in a pretty solid performance. She still had some moments of chaotic roaming, but she seemed much more positionally sound in this game than previous. Hodge won a lot of her duels and was breaking up play and ball-winning in the midfield.

In the first half G. Thompson and Emslie were having a field day down the right side. Emslie makes a beautiful cross to Fuller who’s shot is blocked but Hodge put the rebound past Jane Campbell from outside the box. Angel City continues its early scoring streak.

Houston came out pretty flat in this game. They were without their typical starting outside backs, but it just seemed like Yazmeen Ryan was the only one trying to make something happen. Despite dominating possession 68% to 32%, in the first half they were doing absolutely nothing with it. The entire backline was ball watching as Hodge’s shot went in. They didn’t put a lot of pressure on Angel City when they had the ball. It sort of looked like we were the home team and they were away.

In the 29th minute A. Thompson stormed down the left wing and when she got double teamed, she’s able to pass it off to Tiernan who earned her second career goal. Angel City was happy for the Dash to have the ball and punish them for their lack of urgency. They went into the locker room at halftime two up and in control of the game.

Both teams made changes at half time. For Angel City, Moriya came on for Emslie and pushed G. Thompson up to the right wing. For the Dash, former Angel City player Messiah Bright came on for Diana Ordoñez, and Ryan Gareis came on for Sophie Schmidt. Houston looked much better with these changes and they were able to pretty consistently attack our left side throughout the second half. The Dash’s goal came from a Ryan cross to Barbara Olivieri while Vignola was pulled up and wide leaving way too much space. Michelle Alozie’s appearance in the 62nd minute for Christen Westphal definitely did not help, but for the rest of the game Vignola and King seemed to be able to break up this play. It did result in a lot of corners for Houston, but none of them found the back of the net.

Zelem and Hammond came in to replace the pivot of Kennedy and Hodge in the 62nd minute. Christen Press came in for G. Thompson in the 74th. However, by the time these substitutions came, it felt like the rest of the players had started to feel the humidity and a lot of our attacking juice had already been squeezed. Houston shot almost twice as much as Angel City in the second half, and seemed to have a better hold of the momentum. However, unlike Angel City’s of the past, they didn’t cede total control and appeared to remain relatively composed. Despite Houston injecting more pace into their lineup with their substitutions, Angel City held on for the rest of the game.

In fact, despite conceding a goal, Angel City managed to put the game to bed when they needed to. In the 86th minute, Zelem won the ball in midfield and pushed it up to Tiernan. Even though she looked to be on her absolute last legs, she sent a great pass down to A. Thompson who slotted it past Campbell 1v1.

I really loved this goal because I feel like it shows A. Thompson’s growth as a player. During some sort of injury time right before her goal you could actually see Alyssa talking to Riley and giving her some instruction or feedback. A few minutes later, they combined to get a goal late in the game to put points well out of Houston’s reach. Thompson’s development has really seemed to coalesce in this moment into some great play for both Angel CIty and the USWNT. For the past couple of years it felt like Angel City just didn’t have that player who was going to put the team on their back and just get a goal when it’s needed. It always seemed like Thompson had that kind of potential, and right now it feels like she’s actually making that a reality.

Angel City has a streak of tough games ahead. Gotham at home followed by Pride and Spirit away. I’m glad that the team has been able to actually get points during this period of the season where they should get walking away with something. This team still has a long way to go, but it does feel like they are improving and building toward putting together a solid on-field product.