LOS ANGELES It was a long day for Angel City Football Club forward Sydney Leroux.
“Cassius (her son) had a (soccer) game this morning at 7:40, like an hour away,” Leroux said. “It’s been a day. I’ve been up since 5:30. I’m ready to go to bed.”
Before the day ended, Leroux added game-winning, stoppage-time goal to the day’s accomplishments.
Leroux scored in the first minute of stoppage time to help Angel City (6-9-3, 21 points) escape with a hard-fought, sometimes chaotic 2-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars in front of 18,159 at BMO Stadium.
M.A. Vignola supplied the pass from the left wing and Leroux, who had made a central run, beat Chicago goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher with a one-time finish.
“I know exactly what M.A. (Vignola) is going to do,” Leroux said. “She’s going to drive and bully her way and she’s going to put in a beautiful cross and I have to be there.
“I was there, it was a good goal and I’m proud of us to get the three points.”
The goal was Leroux’s 46th of her career and her fifth this season, her most since 2021 when she scored eight with the Orlando Pride.
The win moves Angel City within two points of Chicago (23 points) for the eighth and final playoff spot. Angel City is tied with Bay FC on points with eight games remaining in the regular season.
Alyssa Thompson opened the scoring in the sixth minute with her third goal in the last two games. Angel City held that 1-0 lead deep into the first half. Then things took a turn for the chaotic.
Both teams had goals wiped away due to offside rulings and video review. That time, combined with a first-half hydration break and a nearly eight-minute stoppage while the training staff attended to Sarah Gorden, led to a 17-minute stoppage time.
Just past the halfway mark, the Red Stars scored the equalizer on a goal by Bea Franklin.
“The game was wild, but we knew we needed to get to halftime,” Angel City coach Becki Tweed said. “We knew we needed to regroup and make some changes and get the football piece of the game back. It became very scrappy … once 17 minutes (of stoppage time) went up, it became a little crazy. Almost 20 minutes of not really football.”
The first move Tweed made was bringing on Katie Zelem and Leroux to start the second half. Vignola came on in the 60th minute.
“I have to credit all of the subs that came on,” Tweed said. “They all impacted the game so positively and Syd doing what Syd does coming out with that game-winner. M.A’s service across the box was brilliant. We’ve been waiting for her to get healthy and fit and ready, we’ve been building her back in and I think you saw the M.A. that she is.”
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This is a two-game week for Angel City with the Seattle Reign visiting BMO Friday. The Reign have won consecutive games and is up to 17 points in the standings. This will be the first meeting against the Reign this season.
Angel City has restarted NWSL play, after the Summer Cup with consecutive wins.
“We have to keep getting results, sometimes it’s going to be pretty, sometimes it’s not going to be pretty, but you have to win in this league,” Christen Press said. “We have to stay confident and get better each game.
“We’ve come back with two strong results to (restart) open up the season, a rivalry win away and a home win to start this streak is really big time.”