Alanna Kennedy scored a late equalizer and Angel City tied the San Diego Wave 1-1 on Saturday night in their Southern California rivalry.
Just as the Wave looked to be securing a first home win over Angel City since 2022, Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir sent in a cross and Kennedy scored on a header to make it 1-1 in the second minute of stoppage time. The goal was Kennedy’s first for Angel City.
San Diego opened the scoring in the 85th minute, when Makenzy Robbe curled in a shot across the goal from the right side of the box. It was Robbe’s first goal of the season, but her 10th career goal for the Wave.
In the first half, after being struck in the head by the ball, Angel City defender Sarah Gorden left the game with a concussion.
The fourth-place Wave (7-4-4) are undefeated in their last four matches, although the last three have been ties.
Angel City (4-7-4) remains 11th in the standings and is winless in its last seven games. The team is winless since coach Alex Straus came aboard in June.
Ever since she visited Los Angeles with her national team three years ago, Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir knew she wanted to play in the National Women’s Soccer League one day.
When the opportunity to play for Angel City presented itself, Jónsdóttir was eager to join the league and play for new Angel City coach Alexander Straus.
“When Angel City came up, I was just really excited about it,” she said. “I know Alex. I played against him when he was at Bayern and so I knew he was a great coach.”
Three new players have joined Angel City (4-3-6) during the past few months, delivering an infusion talent for a team that sits in 11th place in the 14-team NWSL standings. The league’s top eight teams advance to the playoffs.
Jónsdóttir, a forward with Icelandic national team experience, signed with Angel City on May 21. After finishing her stint with Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, Jónsdóttir joined her first Angel City practice on Tuesday afternoon.
Midfielder Evelyn Shores, who most recently played for the University of North Carolina, signed with Angel City on July 10. She has played for the U-23 U.S. women’s national team.
Goalkeeper Hannah Seabert, who was Sporting Clube de Portugal’s captain earlier this year, signed with Angel City on May 30 and has been training with the team for three weeks.
Seabert, a Riverside native and Pepperdine alum, spent most of her career playing abroad and wanted to return to the United States.
Angel City goalkeeper Hannah Seabert kicks the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.
(Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
“As soon as Angel City opened up several years back, I just knew it was a team I wanted to be a part of,” she said of the franchise that began play in 2023.
When Seabert’s contract with Sporting CP expired, she pursued her goal of joining Angel City.
“When I came and visited here a couple weeks ago, it felt like a home away from home,” she said. “The facilities are amazing and the girls were so welcoming. It just felt right when I came here.”
Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said the new players earned contracts because they aligned with the vision for the future of the club: winning.
“Who are the players that we believe represent where we’re going and can play for Angel City when we’re fighting for trophies,” Parsons said, referring to the question Angel City leaders asked before signing any new players.
While the new players present an infusion of fresh talent, Angel City also is benefiting from the return of a familiar face.
Forward Jun Endo, who tore her ACL in February 2024, played for the first time in 18 months during a friendly against Bay FC on Saturday. Endo was on the pitch for 30 minutes and scored the only goal of the game.
“If you’re missing a player like Jun Endo for as much time as Angel City has been missing her, of course it affects [the game] because you cannot replace a player like that,” said Straus, the team’s coach.
Angel City’s Jun Endo dribbles the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.
(Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Straus said he expects Angel City to evolve and move closer to achieving its long-term championship goals with the new signees and Endo available to play.
Angel City, which is in the midst of an international break, plays a friendly Saturday against Carolina Ascent FC and resumes NWSL competition on Aug. 1 at Seattle Reign FC.
“Its not just about filling a roster,” Straus said. “We need quality. We need people who can make a difference for us and so we hope they will do this for us.
“We will be good now, but we will be better in January.”
If tonight’s episode of Love Island wasn’t dramatic enough, viewers were informed that new bombshell Angel was on the way – and she’s sure to bring even more drama to the villa
22:58, 17 Jul 2025Updated 23:18, 17 Jul 2025
Angel will be entering the villa tomorrow night(Image: ITV)
The Love Island villa is about to descend into even more chaos as new bombshell Angel is set to join the mix – and fans think she comes with a savage twist.
Her arrival was teased at the end of today’s dramatic episode – and she’s not scared to shake things up. The 26-year-old Aesthetics Practitioner & Salon Owner who hails from Maidenhead isn’t looking to play games, as she’s headed to Mallorca to find the one.
“I’m ready to get into a relationship as I’ve been single for a year, so ready to make memories with someone, go travelling with them and fall in love,” she said. Although she’s willing to get to know everyone, Angel revealed her eyes are firmly on Ty. “I’d like to get to know Ty and see what he’s about,” she said.
Angel’s entrance was teased at the start of the episode(Image: ITV)
Angel’s arrival comes at a great time for the Casa Amor bombshell – who was recently dumped by his partner Shakira. The two were voted most compatible by the public, but just moments after, Shakira revealed that she felt like she had more of a connection with Conor – as the two explored their connection.
However, fans are convinced her arrival means one of the Islanders will be sent packing.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter at the end of the episode, one fan penned: “Is it gonna be whoever Angel chooses goes home,” while another thought her arrival would mean an exit for one of the girls.
“I will hate to see Shakira and Toni leave if she steals either Harrison or Connor though yikes!!!!!” said a second. “Can see a girl getting dumped. Producers literally making us rage!!” agreed a third.
Angel has her eye on Casa Amor bombshell Ty(Image: ITV)
Despite her first choice being one of the single Islanders, Angel revealed she has no problem in splitting up a couple if she has to.
“That is what’s going to happen so it’s quite exciting really. That’s what I’m in there for,” she said.
However, the new bombshell insists she doesn’t want to fallout with any of the girls, exclaiming she’s “a girls girl.”
“I’m a girl’s girl so I will get on with them all really well. I’m looking forward to getting ready with them all in the dressing room. My suitcase is about to be raided! I’ve got so much new stuff,” she said.
Love Island continues tonight at 9pm on ITV2 and ITVX.
The Angels (42-42) reached .500 for the ninth time this season, while the Braves (38-46) have lost five of six.
Adell’s double down the left-field line off Dylan Lee (1-3) drove in Mike Trout, who doubled. Jorge Soler, who came off the injured list after missing 11 games with lower back inflammation, added a two-run double off Enyel De Los Santos in the four-run inning.
Angels shortstop Zach Neto returned as the leadoff hitter after missing four starts with a jammed right shoulder.
“Having the two guys back makes a huge difference,” interim manager Ray Montgomery said before the game.
The refurbished lineup struggled against Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes, who gave up only three hits and recorded 10 strikeouts in six innings. Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson also threw six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
Rookie right-hander José Fermin (1-0) earned his first win with a scoreless seventh.
Key moment
Michael Harris II ended an 0-for-22 drought with a triple to open the fifth. The Braves couldn’t drive in Harris thanks in part to Ronald Acuña Jr.’s third of four strikeouts in the game.
Key stat
A first-inning single extended Matt Olson’s career-best, on-base streak to 31 games. The longest active streak in the majors of games safely reaching base began May 29.
Up next
Braves rookie right-hander Didier Fuentes, 0-2 with a 10.80 ERA after two starts, was moved back one day to start Wednesday. Outfielder Jurickson Profar is expected to make his return from an 80-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. Left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (3-6, 2.79) is the Angels’ starter.
Game 81. The halfway point of the season arrived at Angel Stadium — and the Angels, albeit squarely in contention at .500, were dealing with a bit of organizational uncertainty.
Bench coach Ray Montgomery took over on June 20 as the acting — now interim — manager as the Angels entered Friday winners in seven of their last 10 games.
The Angels are in a much better spot than 2024. This time last season, after game 81, they were 11 games under .500 — squarely out of the postseason hunt.
Friday, however, even after losing 15-9 in a three-hour, 11-minute slog of a series opener against the Washington Nationals (34-48), the Angels (40-41) still are just two games out of the third American League wild-card spot.
In a game where the Angels and Nationals combined for 24 runs and 30 hits — with the 19 hits and 15 runs given up by the Angels’ pitching staff representing season-worst marks — what ultimately separated the teams was the Angels’ inability to come through with runners on base.
In the sixth and seventh innings — down one and two runs, respectively — the Angels had opportunities to take the lead or tie the score with runners in scoring position, but failed to capitalize. From there, the Nationals’ lead grew, with Hunter Strickland giving up four runs in the ninth as part of a 10-run barrage against the bullpen.
“It kind of just felt like an off-night tonight all the way up and down,” Montgomery said. “Those guys have been asked to do a lot over the last few weeks, and they’ve responded. So tonight wasn’t the night.”
Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery, second from left, waits on the mound with catcher Logan O’Hoppe during a pitching change in the fifth inning Friday.
(Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Associated Press)
In the early innings, the Angels had plenty of opportunities against Nationals starting pitcher Jake Irvin, who struggled against the heart of the lineup.
Jo Adell struck a 92-mph fastball high and away to right field for a solo home run — his 18th overall and 11th in June — in the second. An inning later, Nolan Schanuel and Taylor Ward received hanging breaking balls — a high curveball and slider, respectively — and pulled the ball for short-porch home runs.
“The idea is that if we’re hunting the pitches that we want to do damage with pitcher to pitcher, we’ll avoid the chase and kind of be able to get better pitches to hit,” Adell said, who has helped the Angels post four or more walks in the last four games. “You know, our thing is, you’re only as good of a hitter as the pitches that you get.”
Three home runs in three innings helped the Angels build a three-run lead. Across 4 ⅓ innings of work against Irvin, the Angels’ lineup continued to click. They tallied nine runs (eight earned to Irvin) on nine hits — just enough for an early lead as José Soriano trudged through his worst outing of the season.
Soriano couldn’t get out of the fifth against the Nationals. The shutdown pitching he had featured in his last three starts — giving up just two runs across 20 ⅔ innings — looked like a distant memory. The right-hander struck out four and walked two, while giving up eight earned runs and nine hits.
“I mean, that’s not what we would have expected, given what he did in his last three outings and what we talked about a little bit yesterday,” Montgomery said. “Just wasn’t sharp, didn’t feel crisp from the get go.”
Added Soriano in Spanish through team interpreter Manny Del Campo: “I feel a little bit upset because of my performance tonight. … I feel upset because I wasn’t able to help win tonight.”
Angels shortstop Zach Neto (shoulder) returned to action, striking out in the seventh inning as a pinch hitter.
Before the game, Neto said that he’d likely be able to hit before throwing — something he’s yet to do — after jamming his shoulder on a stolen base attempt Tuesday.
“He proved to me, proved to the medical staff, proved to everybody else he was capable of coming in,” Montgomery said. “We thought it was a good time to give it a shot right there.”
The Angels will try to even the series Saturday with right-hander Kyle Hendricks (5-6, 4.83 earned-run average) on the mound.
Brazilian international Lorena stopped a penalty kick and countrywoman Bia Zaneratto scored to keep the Current perfect at home on Friday night.
The 1-0 victory secured a sixth consecutive win for Kansas City, which remained atop the NWSL standings. The Current (11-2-0) have won all six of their games at CPKC Stadium. Kansas City hasn’t dropped a game at home since a July 2024 loss to Orlando.
With the score tied 0-0, Lorena leapt to her right to parry a spot kick by Angel City forward Alyssa Thompson in the 56th minute. The ball was tipped onto the crossbar before bobbling out for a corner kick.
It was Lorena’s first penalty save and Thompson’s first failed conversion in the NWSL.
Reigning NWSL MVP Temwa Chawinga broke away on a dribble and had her low shot saved by Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson, only for Zaneratto to scoop up the rebound and the tuck the ball away in the 69th minute.
Zaneratto has five goals, tied for the second-most of any Current player behind Chawinga with eight.
Angel City (5-5-3) is winless in its last five games, and has secured one tie and two losses since Alex Straus took over as coach three weeks ago.
A trio of Angel City players were called up to the women’s national team Wednesday for a pair of friendlies against Ireland and one with Canada.
Sisters Gisele and Alyssa Thompson will be reporting to their fourth training camp together when they arrive Monday in Commerce City, Colo., alongside teammate Angelina Anderson. A goalkeeper, Anderson is one of six players still looking for her first cap with the senior national team, making this 25-women roster one of the most inexperienced in recent USWNT history.
Four players will be training with the national team for the first time.
The U.S. will play Ireland on June 26 at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City and again on June 29 at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati before finishing the FIFA competition window against Canada at Audi Field in Washington on July 2.
“We want to continue to improve our understanding of how we want to play and widen the player pool, and those are some of the key goals of this three-game window,” U.S. coach Emma Hayes said in a statement. “On this roster, we have players with a varied amount of experience, and my priority is to deepen the exposures required for international soccer.
“These are three challenging matches and as always, we want to win, but also to make sure we are ready for the next steps.”
In 13 months, Hayes has given 27 players their first call-up to the senior national team.
Returning to the roster this month will be World Cup and Olympic champion midfielder Rose Lavelle, whose 110 caps and 24 international goals are both tops among players called up this month. Lavelle is returning to the national team after losing more than six months following ankle surgery.
Missing, however, are most of the team’s Europe-based players, among them defenders Emily Fox and Crystal Dunn, midfielders Lindsey Heaps and Korbin Albert, and forward Catarina Macario. Hayes said those players would get the FIFA window off to recuperate after a long club season. Defender Naomi Girma, who missed much of Chelsea’s schedule because of injury, is the only player on the camp roster from outside the NWSL.
Anderson, 24, has played every minute for Angel City this season, allowing 21 goals and making 37 saves. Gisele Thompson, 19, leads the team with four assists while Alyssa, 20, is second with five goals. All three players will be with Angel City (4-5-3) for Friday’s game in Kansas City. The NWSL will then take nearly seven weeks off to allow players to compete for their countries in international competitions such as the Women’s Euro and the Copa América Femenina.
Midfielders: Croix Bethune (Washington Spirit), Sam Coffey (Portland Thorns), Claire Hutton (Kansas City Current), Rose Lavelle (Gotham), Sam Meza (Seattle Reign), Olivia Moultrie (Portland Thorns)
Forwards: Lynn Biyendolo (Seattle Reign), Michelle Cooper (Kansas City Current), Yazmeen Ryan (Houston Dash), Emma Sears (Racing Louisville), Ally Sentnor (Utah Royals), Alyssa Thompson (Angel City)
That’s a rhetorical question, of course. But it’s one that has a basis in fact because girl power is real.
From Joan of Arc to Cassidy Hutchinson, whenever men have proven too cautious, cowardly or complacent to act, women have had the courage to do the right thing. The latest example of this feminine fearlessness came last Saturday, after federal immigration agents launched a series of raids throughout the Southland targeting everyone from schoolchildren to elderly churchgoers.
Within hours of the first arrests, Angel City, a women’s soccer club, became the first local sports franchise to issue a statement, recognizing the “fear and uncertainty” the raids had provoked. A day later LAFC, Angel City’s roommate at BMO Stadium, released a statement of its own.
That was a week and a half ago. But Angel City didn’t stop there. While the collective silence from the Dodgers, the Galaxy, the Lakers, Kings and other teams has been deafening, Angel City has grown defiant, dressing its players and new coach Alexander Straus in T-shirts that renamed the team “Immigrant City Football Club.” On the back the slogan “Los Angeles Is For Everyone /Los Angeles Es Para Todos” was repeated six times.
“The statement was the beginning,” said Chris Fajardo, Angel City’s vice-president of community. “The statement was our way of making sure that our fans, our players, our staff felt seen in that moment.
“The next piece was, I think, true to Angel City. Not just talking the talk but walking the walk.”
Angel City, the most valuable franchise in women’s sports history, has been walking that walk since it launched five years ago with the help of A-list Hollywood investors, including Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera and Jennifer Garner.
Angel City coach Alexander Straus wears a shirt with the words, “Immigrant City Football Club” before Saturday’s match.
(Jen Flores / Angel City FC)
It has used its riches and its unique platform to provide more than 2.3 million meals and more than 33,000 hours for youth and adult education throughout Southern California; to provide equipment and staff for soccer camps for the children of migrants trapped at the U.S.-Mexico border; and to funnel $4.1 million into other community programs in Los Angeles.
But while much of that has happened quietly, last Saturday’s actions were provocative, boldly and publicly taking place in a city still under siege from thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of U.S. Marines.
“We always talk about how we wanted to build a club that was representative of our community. But we built a club where we are part of the community,” said Julie Uhrman, who co-founded the team she now leads as president.
“In moments like this it’s how do we use our platform to drive attention for what’s happening, to create a sense of community and tell our community that we’re there for them.
“Our supporters wanted to do more,” Uhrman added. “And we wanted to support them.”
Angel City’s Sydney Leroux poses for photo before a match against North Carolina on Saturday.
(Ian Maule / NWSL via Getty Images)
So Fajardo reached out to the team’s staff and supporters. What would that next step look like this time?
“We knew we wanted to do shirts but like, is this the right move?” Fajardo said. “Also, let’s talk about language. It had to resonate and it had to be something they felt was true.
“And so it was through conversation that we landed on the Immigrant City Football Club and everybody belongs in L.A.”
That was late Wednesday afternoon. Fajardo needed more than 10,000 shirts to hand out to players and fans by Saturday morning. That led him to Andrew Leigh, president of Jerry Leigh of California, a family-owned clothing manufacturer based in Los Angeles.
“We wanted to be a part of it,” Leigh said. “These were definitely a priority as we believe in the cause and what Angel City stands for.”
That first run of T-shirts was just the start, though. Leigh’s company has made thousands more for the team to sell on its website, with the net proceeds going to Camino Immigration Services, helping fund what the team feels is a pressing need.
The campaign has resounded with the players, many of whom were drawn to Angel City by the club’s commitment to community service and many of whom see this moment as especially personal.
“My mom’s parents came here from China, and it wasn’t easy for them,” captain Ali Riley told the team website. “They had to find a way to make a life here. My dad is first-generation American. Being from Los Angeles, everything we do, everything we play, everything we eat, this is a city of immigrants.”
“It feels so uncertain right now,” she continued, “but to look around the stadium and see these shirts everywhere, it’s like we’re saying, ‘this is our home, we know who we are, and we know what we believe in.”
It has resonated with the supporters as well.
“It is great that they showed support and put it into action,” said Lauren Stribling, a playwright from Santa Clarita and an Angel City season-ticket holder from the club’s inception. “They really showed an empathy for the community they serve.
Shirts with the words “Los Angeles Is For Everyone” in English and Spanish were handed out to fans before Angel City’s game against North Carolina at BMO Stadium on Saturday.
(Jen Flores / Angel City FC)
“They stand up. It makes me proud of the team and makes me a bigger fan.”
And it makes the Dodgers, the Galaxy and the other Southern California franchises who have remained silent look smaller. On the same night Angel City was stepping up, seven miles away the Dodgers were once again stepping back, warning singer Nezza, the daughter of Dominican immigrants, to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in English, not Spanish.
“I didn’t think I would be met with any sort of like, ‘no,’ especially because we’re in L.A. and with everything happening,” said Nezza, whose real name is Vanessa Hernández. “I just felt like I needed to do it.”
So she sang in Spanish. Of course she sang in Spanish.
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Brianna Pinto scored just seven minutes after entering off the bench for the North Carolina Courage in a 2-1 win against Angel City on Saturday.
The Courage (4-5-3) had lost all three of their previous visits to BMO Stadium.
Cortnee Vine had made it 1-0 in the first minute of the game when she slid the ball into the net from a cross by Manaka Matsukubo.
Riley Tiernan scored her seventh goal of the season to bring Angel City (4-5-3) level at 1-1 in the 11th minute, heading in a cross from Gisele Thompson.
The winner came from a scramble in the box in the fifth minute of stoppage time. After Angel City defender Miyabi Moriya blocked a shot on the line, Pinto scooped up the ball and fired it in from five yards out.
Angel City FC players and staff wore T-shirts and read a pregame message declaring their support for immigrants on Saturday, a day of protest against ICE raids throughout Los Angeles.
The front of the black T-shirts read: “Immigrant City Football Club.”
The back featured the phrases: “Los Angeles is for everyone” and “Los Ángeles es Para Todos.”
Angel City players lock arms while standing for the national anthem. Their shirts read “Los Angeles is for everyone.”
(Courtesy of Jen Flores / Angel City FC)
The club was the first of the city’s 11 major professional sports teams to release a statement in support of those impacted by immigration raids during the past week focused on Los Angeles County and surrounding areas.
Angel City gave out “Immigrant City Football Club” shirts to the first 10,000 fans at Saturday’s match against the North Carolina Courage.
Singer Becky G, a founding investor in Angel City, read the following statement as players walked onto the field for introductions before the game:
“At Angel City, we believe in the power of belonging. We know that Los Angeles is stronger because of its diversity and the people and the families who shape it, love it, and call it home.
Angel City FC gave away shirts to fans at BMO Stadium on Saturday, June 14, 2025, supporting immigrants.
