Angel City’s first three game week of the season comes to somewhat of an underwhelming end. They had started it off pretty strong. A draw against Portland on the road. A win at home against Kansas City. All just to lose to Houston away in stoppage time. Especially when the team had probably done enough to either win or draw that match. It wasn’t the best they could have done, nor the worst so I guess it’s just time to keep pressing on.

I’ve been kind of busy lately, so I’m not going to get super into any of these matches. I’m mostly going to talk about big picture takeaways.

First of all is rotation. Despite the lackluster ending to this three game sprint, I was impressed by the squad stepping up all over the pitch to manage the load of games in quick succession on top of travel. The midfield and forward line saw a decent amount of rotation and it didn’t look too bad. The following are the starting XI for each of the three matches.

This match Head Coach Alex Straus gave midfielder Carina Lageyre her first professional start. I personally could not watch the entirety of this match due to working that weekend, so I can’t talk about her complete performance in that match. However, she actually started all three of these games. Lageyre’s ability on both sides of the ball particularly impressed against the Current a couple of days later.

Casey Phair received her first start against the Current. She did okay, and I can see the potential. It was interesting to see her starting and playing in a central role. Often times when she has come in as a substitute, it seems like her role is a lot more flexible. She is still extremely young and I don’t necessarily expect her to become a lineup mainstay, but I think Straus sees something in her and it’s good to finally seeing her get some minutes in an Angel City shirt.

This game was kind of interesting. I guess. Interesting in the sense that things looked very similar to the first time these two teams met earlier this year. Ironically, perhaps when the Dash came to Los Angeles, they had done enough to win but lost. This time when Angel City went to Houston, they had probably done enough to win but lost. The score? The same. Just flip and flop it.

The performances across the board here were not terrible. I think that I still saw things that I liked. Going on the road to Providence Park and walking away with a point feels like a big deal. Winning at home against the 2025 NWSL Shield winners. Never giving up despite the loss in Houston. I think that it was good for some of these players who haven’t had a lot of minutes yet really step up and settle into roles on the team.

I think the team really misses Sveindís Jónsdóttir. She may have been on a bit of a hot streak at the beginning of the season, but I do think she adds something to the attack. She is just willing to get in there and scrap. She’s a competitor. Now that we are seeing some flexibility in the forward line, probably because of her absence, we are seeing players like Taylor Suarez and Jun Endo get more minutes and get more comfortable. When she comes back, Angel City will then have more flexibility up top.

There is still another game against the North Carolina Courage coming up first, but the summer break and transfer window will be here soon. Perhaps Sporting Director Mark Parsons will be making some moves, but he doesn’t necessarily have to. Angel City still has three open roster spots and three international spots available. I think that if some high quality reinforcements come in, particularly for the midfield and forward line, Angel City could take that very necessary step toward consistency. I think that there are a lot of talented players on the team who are playing well. I think that the system is more exciting, the press is more aggressive, and the rest defense is decent. The team is still young. I think if Parsons is able to bring in a couple of difference makers in their prime, it can push Angel City across the line into being a more mature team going forward.