**Harrison, New Jersey** – Angel City FC defeated Gotham FC, 3-1, behind a trio of first half goals from midfielders Savannah McCaskill and Cari Roccaro as well as forward Claire Emslie, all of whom tallied within a 15-minute span.
Early in the match, it was Gotham who had the best chance at goal with forward Ifeoma Onumonu testing Angel City goalkeeper DiDi Haracic’s goal. Midfielder Kristie Mewis played the ball to her left where Onumonu took possession and entered the penalty area. Attacking goal, Onumonu fired a low shot toward the near post that Haracic did well to match as she put it out of play for a corner kick that resulted in nothing. Then, five minutes later, Onumonu was again involved as a pass played in towards the right side of the box found the forward, who clipped a ball toward the back post that bounced off the post and back into play where Haracic collected safely.
However, in the 16 ^th minute, Angel City turned the game in their favor when midfielder Savannah McCaskill opened the scoring in impressive fashion. Settling a ball that came across to the left side, McCaskill nutmegged the defender in front of her as she went toward the endline and the goal. There, McCaskill pulled a powerful right-footed shot into the top center of the goal as the visitors went one-up early on.
Once they had found a goal, Angel City only continued to put pressure on the hosts’ goal and found their second goal of the night in the 25 ^th minute through midfielder Cari Roccaro. Forward Simone Charley was on the ball on the right side of the penalty area where she dribbled inside and attempted to fire a shot on goal. Though the effort was blocked, Roccaro was able to pounce on the loose ball and fire home past Gotham goalkeeper Michelle Betos and in.
Then, after thwarting a chance at the other end of the field with Haracic again involved, Angel City added what was ultimately the momentum killing third goal as forward Claire Emslie produced a wonderful strike from outside the penalty area. On the ball on the right flank, Emslie danced around inside toward the upper right edge of the 18-yard box. Picking her head up and having a look at goal, Emslie then curled a dipping effort toward the top right corner that landed perfectly to beat Betos and put the visitors up three goals still in the first half.
At the break, Angel City held onto their three-goal lead though Gotham had still put their stamp on the match with their own attacking chances.
Into the second half, Gotham then scored their lone goal of the night as midfielder Paige Monaghan tallied in the 52 ^nd minute. In similar fashion to Angel City’s second goal, Nahomi Kawasumi’s cross into the middle of the box picked out midfielder Kristie Mewis. Mewis then had her shot toward goal blocked by the defense, but the bouncing loose ball was picked up on by Monaghan who poked it home to the far corner with her right foot.
Neither side were able to dig deeper into the match, though, and the 3-1 scoreline is how it all ended at the final whistle with Angel City taking a big three points on the road. The result extends Angel City’s league unbeaten run to four games as they push for a playoff spot, while Gotham have now lost seven straight matches dating back to a 5-0 loss against Portland in mid-July.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights