For the first time during the regular season, Angel City FC will face a familiar opponent.

On Friday, Angel City will face the host Portland Thorns (7:30 p.m., Paramount +). The teams met twice during the NWSL Challenge Cup. Portland won decisively 3-0 at home March 30 and Angel City returned the favor with a 1-0 win April 24.

“It feels like such a long time ago now,” ACFC defender Ali Riley said of those meetings. “I think we’ve grown a lot as a team, I think we defend a lot better as a team than that first game, one that a lot of us don’t like remembering that game.

“You know a bit about the styles of both teams, but I think both teams are different than we played here (Cal State Fullerton) and played there.”

The Thorns (1-1-3) have struggled out of the gate. With four of their first five games at home, they’ve managed just six points.

Despite falling Sunday to Gotham FC, Angel City (3-2, nine points) is still in second place in the league standings.

However, the chance to go to the top of the table was certainly there. Angel City had 23 shots and seven on goal, but still couldn’t get on the scoreboard in a 1-0 loss.

“I think we showed real dominance in the second half,” Angel City coach Freya Coombe said. “Initially, we were just rushing in the final third and really weren’t converting our chances. I think we showed a little bit more patience towards the end of the second half and that translated into entries into the box and touches in the box.

“We just couldn’t find the net. On another day, you get two or three goals from that.”

Scoring has been the missing link for Angel City. Through five games, the club has scored just four goals and one was an own goal.

“Every time we had the ball around Gotham’s goal, the crowd believed that we were going to score,” Riley said. “So can we have even more of that cut-throat …. do anything to get a body part, one touch, daring to take shots. I don’t think we matched the energy of the crowd in terms of doing everything to put the ball in. It was an impressive effort, but I think we can learn from those last 30 minutes, but also the whole game.

“This is the league. This is what it is like. While we’re proud of our performance, I think it was a step forward in terms of how we kept the ball, our build-up play, you’re starting to see a little bit more of our identity, but now it is that last piece and we have to learn from this because we will find ourselves in that position again.”

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Busy stretch

Friday’s game kicks off a stretch of three games in nine days for Angel City. After the trip to Portland, Angel City will host the Houston Dash on Tuesday and will visit Racing Louisville FC on June 11.

“We’ve haven’t had midweek games outside of the Challenge Cup,” Coombe said. “We’re obviously an expansion team and relying on some players that haven’t played in the league before, but now as we see a slight congestion of our schedule coming into this week, we will expect a little bit more (roster) rotation.”

Angel City FC at Portland

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday

Where: Providence Park, Portland, Oregon

How to watch: Paramount +