Alyssa Thompson’s first half of the season ended goalless.
She’s making up for lost time since NWSL play restarted after the Summer Cup.
Heading into Friday’s home game against the Washington Spirit, Thompson has scored five goals in five games.
“I’m not seeing anything differently,” she said of the difference between the early part of the season and now. “I’m just getting myself into better positions and I am more confident in myself. Knowing that I can take the ball up to create something, whether it be passing the ball off or by scoring.”
Thompson credited her after-practice work with Christen Press.
“Christen and I will practice it after training,” she said. “Getting those reps in and gaining more confidence has helped a lot. Once I score, she and I are normally finished, but in the game I’m more confident in myself and know that I just need one chance to finish.”
As a rookie, Thompson scored four goals with two assists. Along with her five goals this season, she has five assists.
“Her growth this year has been huge,” Angel City coach Becki Tweed said of Thompson. “She has to become more sophisticated. Last year, she was new to the league, she found herself in a lot of 1v1’s. She rarely gets 1v1’s this year. People have to defend her differently and she’s found her way to score really similar goals in the last five games and I think that’s a credit to her growth and her maturity within the game.
“Sometimes you can become a player that players will probably have on their scouting report as a player to stop getting on the ball, to stop in the attacking third, but your job as a footballer is to find other ways on what you can bring and that’s what Alyssa has really started to do.”
Staying within striking distance
Angel City (6-11-4, 22 points) went from playing the last game of Week 21 on Monday to playing the first game of Week 22 on Friday.
Angel City slipped to 10th place in the standings, but is still just three points out of the eighth and final playoff spot with five games to go.
“Rest, recovery, and freshness is going to be the most important thing for Friday,” Tweed. “We are making sure that we can come in, reflect on the game, and move forward, but priority is definitely going to be rest and recovery.”
Trinity Rodman out
Newport Beach native Trinity Rodman did not make the trip with the second-place Spirit (14-5-2, 44 points). She suffered a back injury last week. Casey Krueger (adductor) also didn’t make the trip.
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“Trin, we checked her after the game, she [had pain] in her back,” Spirit coach Jonatan Giráldez said Thursday during a Zoom call with reporters. “After checking everything, the results have been good. This type of pain, you have to take care, so I thought the best for her and for the team was to stay in Washington to be 100 (percent) recovered without pain and ready to help us.”
WASHINGTON (14-5-2) at ANGEL CITY FC (6-11-4)
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: BMO Stadium
How to watch: Amazon Prime Video