Racing Louisville FC goalkeeper Katie Lund chases a ball hit by Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill, not pictured, for a goal during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Racing Louisville FC forward Jessica McDonald, center left, vies for the ball with Angel City FC defender Paige Nielsen, center right, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC defender Megan Reid, right, heads the ball against Racing Louisville FC forward Kirsten Davis, left, during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC defender Paige Nielsen kicks the ball during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC goalkeeper Didi Haracic, right, misses a goal by Racing Louisville FC forward Emina Ekic, not pictured, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Members of the Angel City FC organization gather in the middle of the pitch at the end of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC defender Ali Riley looks on during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill looks on after Racing Louisville FC forward Emina Ekic, not pictured, scores a goal during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC head coach Freya Coombe, center, looks on during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Claire Emslie, center front, takes a shot on goal during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Simone Charley dribble the ball during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Racing Louisville FC midfielder Alexandra Chidiac, center front, vies for the ball with Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill, center back, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Clarisse Le Bihan, right, heads the ball against Racing Louisville FC midfielder Jaelin Howell, left, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Claire Emslie, left, dribbles towards Racing Louisville FC defender Julia Lester, right, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Claire Emslie, right, moves the ball defended by Racing Louisville FC defender Emily Fox, left, during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Tyler Lussi controls the ball during the second half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC defender Paige Nielsen, right, kicks the ball against the Racing Louisville FC during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Jun Endo, right, moves the ball past Racing Louisville FC midfielder Lauren Milliet during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC goalkeeper Didi Haracic, center back, makes a save against the Racing Louisville FC during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Racing Louisville FC defender Julia Lester slide tackles Angel City FC forward Simone Charley during the second half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. Racing Louisville FC won 3-1. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Jasmyne Spencer, right, moves the ball up the pitch on Racing Louisville FC midfielder Alexandra Chidiac during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC midfielder Cari Roccaro, right, dribbles the ball against Racing Louisville FC midfielder Alexandra Chidiac during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Racing Louisville FC midfielder Jaelin Howell, right, defends against Angel City FC midfielder Cari Roccaro, left, during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill, right, controls the ball against Racing Louisville FC midfielder Jaelin Howell, left, during the first half of an NWSL match Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
Angel City FC forward Jun Endo, left, celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal during the first half of an NWSL match against the Racing Louisville FC Sunday, Sept. 25, 2022, at Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles. (Photo by Raul Romero Jr., Contributing Photographer)
LOS ANGELES The Angel City Football Club certainly entered the NWSL making a strong first impression this season.
Sunday, in the final home game of the season, Angel City played in front of its fourth sellout crowd of 22,000 at Banc of California Stadium.
Unfortunately for the club and fans, the evening didn’t end in a playoff-clinching celebration.
Racing Louisville FC scored three unanswered goals to hand Angel City (8-7-6, 29 points) a 3-1 defeat, leaving the club in playoff limbo heading into next Sunday’s regular-season finale.
“I think it is really important for us to regroup as a group,” Angel City midfielder Savannah McCaskill said. “That was our fifth game in two weeks, so I think it is extremely important for everyone to kind of digest this and be able to move past this.
“Obviously, we would have loved to come out of this game with a win and still in control (of our playoff lives) going into Sunday. At this point, we need to make sure we get ourselves healthy, get ourselves ready to go again because as of now, we still have a job to do.”
Heading into the final week of the regular season, Angel City is eighth place. North Carolina currently holds the sixth and final playoff spot. North Carolina will face San Diego Wave FC Friday. If San Diego wins, then Angel City’s game against Chicago will have importance.
However, Friday and Sunday are far apart, maybe too far for Angel City’s liking.
“We’re going at it as if we need to go in on Sunday and get the win and hope San Diego can beat North Carolina,” McCaskill said. “I think that’s doable. We have to focus on ourselves and just do whatever we can to go into Chicago healthy and have everyone ready and try to get a win.”
The day started off well for Angel City as McCaskill redirected a shot by Jun Endo into the goal for a 1-0 lead. That probably should have been the second goal of the game, but an earlier situation where McCaskill went up for a header and collided with Racing Louisville’s goalkeeper Katie Lund as the ball rolled into the goal, was waved off by the referee.
Both Angel City coach Freya Coombe and McCaskill said they didn’t receive an explanation as to why the goal was disallowed.
Angel City FC falls short against San Diego Wave FC in front of record-setting crowd
From there, Racing Louisville took control. Kirsten Davis scored the equalizer in the 37th minute and Alex Chidiac converted a penalty in the 43rd minute for a 2-1 halftime lead.
Emina Ekic put the game away with a 90th minute goal for Racing Louisville.
“For us, we need to take our lessons from this, but also be able to move forward quickly,” Coombe said. “We know tonight we weren’t ourselves. If you compare the performance when we played against Washington Spirit (Wednesday), I think it was night and day in terms of the energy and our ability to move the ball well to be good in possession. For us, we’re going to focus on making sure we do those things well and be able to have the energy required to go to Chicago in search a meaningful game.”
For the game to be meaningful, Wave FC, who Sunday, became the first expansion team to qualify for the playoffs, will have to defeat North Carolina.
Rivalry aside, McCaskill said Angel City will rooting for their Southern California rivals.
“I think it will be the only time we root for San Diego,” McCaskill said.
