**SEATTLE, Wa.** – The first of two Quarterfinal matchups featured the OL Reign hosting Angel City FC at Lumen Field on Friday night, where the Reign were propelled to a 1-0 win by a late Veronica Latsko header. Latsko was able to bundle the ball over the line in the 87 ^th minute via a headed chance, and the Reign now move on to a Semifinal matchup with San Diego, while a fantastic campaign for Angel City sees it lose its first-ever playoff game.
It was a first half of relatively few quality chances between the two sides, but the visiting Angel City was the more aggressive of the sides as the pair searched for an opening goal.
In the 4 ^th minute, a cross in from forward Claire Emslie teased the Angel City attack before defender MA Vignola had a cross from a similar position seen away in the 8 ^th minute. Outside of a brief look for OL Reign’s Jess Fishlock from near midfield in the 13 ^th minute, the rest of the momentum was all Angel City’s with the visitors coming closest on the half-hour mark through Emslie.
Emslie was driving forward in the 30 ^th minute when she found herself on the ball outside the box on the right side of the field. Cutting inside, her left-footed effort initially seemed to be a cross but ricocheted off the back of an OL Reign player and cut toward goal. This left Angel City forward Sydney Leroux with an opportunity to slide in and perhaps get a touch on the ball, but it rolled into the grateful arms of Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey instead.
At the break, neither team had produced enough to breakthrough and the second half would prove necessary to find a winner.
The Reign created a chance just two minutes after the restart, granted, with forward Megan Rapinoe having a go at Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson’s goal. Rapinoe had been played in down the left side of the field where she opted to cut in and attempt to whip a shot around the defense and in.
However, in the 52 ^nd minute, the Reign came as close as they had all night when first forward Veronica Latsko hit the post with a cross-turned-shot that then saw midfielder Jess Fishlock have an effort cleared off the line. Then, exactly one minute later, Rapinoe took up a shot from a similar position as her first goal against Chicago last weekend, but Anderson came up with a solid reaction save to push it out and keep the score level.
The Reign continued to press and adjust with midfielder Rose Lavelle coming on for her first NWSL appearance since September 3, and Rapinoe came close again on a free kick opportunity in the 69 ^th minute but her shot landed high over the bar in the end.
Pressure would build in front of the Angel City goal, though, and the Reign would finally find the game’s first goal as Latsko headed in from close range in the 87 ^th minute to help push her side ahead late on. A ball out wide from defender Phoebe McClernon found Latsko just a couple of feet away from the penalty spot. From there, Latsko was able to get her effort past Anderson, who did get a hand on it, and into the back of the net to send the home crowd into a frenzy.
After four minutes of stoppage time, Lumen Field then erupted even more as the Reign sealed a 1-0 win in the Quarterfinal and will now travel to face the Wave in San Diego in the first weekend of November.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights