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Sports Mar 27, 2023
Teammates swarm Alyssa Thompson after her goal in Angel City FC's season opener. | Photo courtesy of Angel City Football Club
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Alyssa Thompson scored in her professional debut but Angel City Football Club lost to NJ/NY Gotham FC, 2-1, Sunday evening at a sold-out BMO Stadium to open its second National Women’s Soccer League season.
The 18-year-old Thompson collected a pass from midfielder Dani Weatherholt just outside the penalty area in the 11th minute and took a right-footed shot that leaping goalkeeper Abby Smith got her fingertips on, but the ball bounced off the bottom of the crossbar and into the back of the net.
“It felt amazing,” said Thompson, a senior at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City. “I was super excited to be at the home opener and score and get our team off on the right foot.”
The goal made Thompson the fourth-youngest player to score in the NWSL regular season behind Olivia Moultrie, Jaedyn Shaw and Ellie Carpenter.
Thompson took one other shot, a right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty area in the 24th minute that was blocked by a defender.
“We saw them defending by pushing multiple players over to that side in order to deal with her,” ACFC coach Freya Coombe said. “That’s going to be a problem that she continues to pose opposition.”
Gotham FC was awarded a penalty kick in the 54th minute following a video review when the referee determined ACFC goalkeeper DiDi Haracic had tripped Svava Rós Guomundsdóttir in the penalty area. Midge Purce put a right-footed shot in the top right corner of the net for the tying goal in the 55th minute.
Lynn Williams scored what proved to be the game-winner in the 64th minute, putting a right-footed shot from about 12 yards out into the top left corner of the net off Purce’s assist.
ACFC had an apparent goal disallowed in the 15th minute when video review determined Jun Endo had fouled a defender before putting a 40-yard shot into the net.
ACFC was out-shot 15-11 and trailed 9-5 in shots on goal in front of a crowd announced at 22,000. Haracic made seven saves. Smith made five.
“We got a little bit sloppy with the ball and then our defending we gave them too much space and they have really good players,” ACFC defender Ali Riley said. “We can’t let things that are out of our control affect us so much. We saw a little bit of that on the mental side so it’s something to learn from and get better.”
ACFC chose Thompson with the first pick of the NWSL draft in January after making two trades to acquire the pick. It first dealt its first-round choice, the fifth overall selection, to the Portland Thorns, along with its second-round choice in the 2024 draft and $200,000 in allocation money in exchange for midfielder Yazmeen Ryan, then traded Ryan and $250,000 in allocation money to Gotham FC in exchange for the No. 1 pick.
Thompson had made a nonbinding verbal commitment in 2020 to attend Stanford, beginning in the fall of 2023, before the start of her sophomore season with the Wolverines, but decommitted from that commitment about a week before the draft.
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