Angel City FC is off to a blazing hot beginning of the 2026 season. They’ve scored seven goals in two matches, and head into their third at the top of the table. Between set pieces, daring long balls, and deadly combinations, the 2022 expansion side looks like a new team—in a good way. Saturday’s 3-1 defeat of Bay FC was the team’s first win on the road since May, and marks the first time the team has started a season with two wins.
In their home openers, the California teams had both earned three points: Angel City put up a 4-0 rout of the Chicago Stars, while Bay held off newcomer Denver Summit for a 2-0 win. They each came into the derby game looking to prove the prior week’s result wasn’t a fluke.
Angel City’s offense looks to be one of the most dangerous in the league at the moment. Against Bay, Kennedy Fuller, Maiara Niehues, and Sveindís Jónsdóttir combined to create penetrating runs behind the backline, forcing keeper Jordan Silkowitz to make several key saves. Jónsdóttir’s run on an excellent long ball from Fuller in the third minute made for the first goal of the match.
The Icelandic attacker later made a brilliant run into the box, drawing the attention of two defenders and Silkowitz, leaving a wide-open Gisele Thompson to one-touch Jónsdóttir’s perfectly weighted pass into the back of the net.
Not 10 minutes into the second half, left-back Evelyn Shores joined the fun with a great corner, which Jónsdóttir headed through a gap between defenders on the near post for Angel City’s third goal of the match. The goal mirrored Shores’s goal from last week’s match against Chicago, a header off a curling corner from Fuller.
Jónsdóttir was no doubt the star of the match. Her two goals and one assist marked a club record for goal contributions in one match, fans voted her player of the match, and she earned NWSL player of the week. After joining Angel City in May 2025 from Wolfsburg, it appears that Jonsdottir may have found her stride in the NWSL. Angel City will need the striker to keep contributing on offense if they want their success to continue, since they are missing star Jun Endo to injury and rookie phenom Riley Tiernan has yet to find the back of the net in 2026.
While Tiernan started both matches so far this season, she has struggled to keep her powerful shots on frame. The club has high hopes for the young forward after extending her contract through 2028 in January. This season marks a departure from her position as center forward last season, part of a larger tinkering as Angel City adjusts to last year’s midseason loss of star winger Alyssa Thompson. Tiernan will look to sharpen her skills on the flank and get back to her early 2025 finishing form.
On the other end of the pitch, newly acquired defender Emily Sams wore the captain’s armband and held down the backline. She garnered praise from manager Alexander Straus on Wednesday. “Emily, of course, we brought in for the reason that she can bring something to our team that we felt we missed last year,” he said. She paired well with a newly healthy Savy King, who was in turn replaced by veteran defender Sarah Gorden in the 82nd minute. (The appearance was Gorden’s 73rd for Angel City, a club record.) The interplay between three solid center backs, who span the range of age and experience, will prove interesting as the season progresses.
On Wednesday, Straus emphasized that he trusts Sams, King, and Gorden, and suggested that there will be frequent rotation and competition between them. “So that’s what we want—that they fight for the positions every week and we want them to compete in training,” he said. “That being said, I’m really happy with all three’s performances, and all three are ready.”
Faced with a talented offense in Bay’s Christina Girelli, Alex Pfeiffer, and playmaker Claire Hutton, Angel City’s defense allowed very few chances in the first half—a good sign for the line’s chemistry. In the second half, however, Taylor Huff combined for a quick give-and-go with Girelli at the top of the box, touching the ball past King to enable a shot that bested Angel City goalkeeper Angelina Anderson. Huff’s goal got the home fans involved in the game, but Emma Coates’s side was not able to take advantage of the momentum and Angel City successfully contained Bay for the rest of the match.
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Not to be forgotten, the midfield trio of Nealy Martin, Niehues, and offseason signing Ary Borges kept powerful control of the center of the field, combining for passing combinations as well as excellent tackles and defensive work on the other side of the ball. Talented midfielder Hina Sugita is out with a torn ACL; as Straus noted Wednesday, the team will face a lot of productive competition internally for the midfield spots when she returns. Recent acquisitions Martin and Borges are already filling Sugita’s absence, combining wonderfully with Fuller and Jónsdóttir on long balls and quick combinations.
Straus was brought on in June, so the recent offseason was his first with Angel City. After the match against Bay, Sams talked about the benefits of that consistency. “Having Alex from preseason has been a huge step in the right direction for us…. Just being able to work the whole preseason on what we want [and] the kind of team we want to be has been super helpful,” she said.
The Norwegian manager brings tactical expertise and championship-winning experience to Angel City. In addition to having coached in Norway’s youth national team system, he most recently put in a three-year stint at FC Bayern Munich Women, highlighted by back-to-back Bundesliga titles as well as a Supercup der Frauen victory against powerhouse Wolfsburg.
Between competition for starting positions and chemistry on the field, we are starting to get a glimpse of how Straus will make his mark on the team. “We are a team, and it’s team first,” he said on Wednesday. “Sometimes you need to understand, we are all part of something that is bigger than ourselves. That’s very, very important for me when we talk about culture. Sometimes you need to make individual sacrifices for the greater good of the team. That’s the only way I think you can move forward and go from good—that we are now—to become great: that we want to be.”
Angel City, the Houston Dash, and the Portland Thorns were the only teams with a perfect record coming out of matchday 2. But a midweek game saw Portland fall to the San Diego Wave, making this Friday’s clash between Houston and Angel City a bona fide top-of-the-table contest.
Angel City’s backline will have its hands full with Houston’s Kiki Van Zanten, who notched a brace against Boston while combining with Mackenzie Robbe, Kat Rader, and Linda Ullmark for quick transitions. Look to Jónsdóttir, Fuller, Tiernan, and the midfield to keep Angel City’s hopes of a perfect start alive at home on Friday.