Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola, left, dribbles as OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle defends during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Jordyn Huitema, left, watches as Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden heads the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola, left, and OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt vie for the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola, left, and OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt vie for the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign defender Sofia Huerta, left, clears the ball as Angel City FC forward Alyssa Thompson defends during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola dribbles the ball during the first half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt, left, watches as Angel City FC midfielder Dani Weatherholt clears the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC forward Alyssa Thompson, right, vies for the ball against OL Reign defender Alana Cook during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC midfielder Dani Weatherholt, left, and OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt chase the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle, left, and Angel City FC midfielder Savannah McCaskill battle for the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden chases the ball during the first half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola reacts during the first half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Jordyn Huitema, left, and Angel City FC defender Megan Reid vie for the ball during the first half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Madison Hammond, top, celebrates her goal with forward Alyssa Thompson during the second half of their 2-1 victory over the OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Mary Alice Vignola, top, celebrates with forward Alyssa Thompson, center, and defender Madison Hammond, after Hammond’s goal during the second half of their 2-1 victory over the OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC forward Scarlett Camberos, left, and OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt vie for the ball during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, left, celebrates with defender Lauren Barnes after scoring on a penalty shot during the second half of their match against Angel City FC on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe celebrates after scoring on a penalty shot during the second half of their match against Angel City FC on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Sarah Gorden, left, and OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer compete for the ball during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC defender Jasmyne Spencer chases the ball during the second half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, left, clears the ball as Angel City FC defender Jasmyne Spencer defends during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC forward Jun Endo, center left, and OL Reign defender Alana Cook vie for the ball during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC forward Katie Johnson, center left, runs while watching for a free kick during the second half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan, left, controls the ball as OL Reign midfielder Olivia Van der Jagt defends during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe, left, slides for the ball against Angel City FC defender Madison Hammond during the second half on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
Angel City FC midfielder Clarisse Le Bihan dribbles the ball during the second half of their match against OL Reign on Sunday night at BMO Stadium. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun)
LOS ANGELES — Angel City Football Club has recorded a close loss to OL Reign, a blowout loss and even a second-half comeback loss in the short history between the teams.
In all, the first seven meetings in the series ended with Angel City winless with only one draw.
Sunday night, Angel City finally broke through against the Seattle-based Reign, holding on for a 2-1 win at BMO Stadium in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000.
The win moves Angel City (5-6-6) to 21 points and ninth place in the standings. Angel City is now three points behind the sixth and final playoff spot in the 12-team league. However, things remained bunched up with four points separating sixth from 10th place. There are five games remaining in the regular season.
“They’re very organized and a well-coached team and they know how to win and we knew that we had to be the best versions of ourselves,” Angel City interim coach Becki Tweed said. “We focused a lot on us. There were some tough times tonight, but we were able to pull through.
“You can see in these last eight-nine games, that we have a plan. We know that teams will try to take our strengths away, but you have to have a Plan A, B or C. They tried to close space on Savannah (McCaskill), but we had the ability to play over the top.”
Angel City took a 1-0 lead into halftime thanks to Clarisse LeBihan’s 14th-minute goal and doubled its lead on Madison Hammond’s goal in the 57th minute.
Hammond contributed to the sequence that led to LeBihan’s goal, with a ball out of midfield that Scarlett Camberos chased down and eluded OL Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Camberos, with three defenders trying to defend the goal, passed to Le Bihan, who scored.
“I would say she had a well-rounded night,” Tweed said of Hammond.
Things did become interesting in the 75th minute when Scarlett Camberos brought down Bethany Balcer, giving OL Reign a penalty kick. Megan Rapinoe stepped up and put her shot under a diving DiDi Haračić, cutting the deficit in half at 2-1.
Last season, Angel City had a 2-0 lead against OL Reign but allowed three second-half goals to get the loss.
“The first half, I thought our quality wasn’t good enough, we didn’t move the ball quick enough,” OL Reign coach Laura Harvey said. “In the second half, I thought we were the better side, we played quicker and I thought we were pushing and if we had five more minutes, I thought we would have got the equalizer.”
However, Angel City was able to hold off any late chances and preserve the three points and increase its unbeaten streak to nine games under interim coach Becki Tweed – 5-0-4 across league play and the Challenge Cup.
Megan Reid had a key block on a shot inside the 18-yard line and later Jasmyne Spencer broke up a Reign attack with a sliding tackle to win the ball.
“It not always pretty, but to hold them off was important and we got the result,” Angel City defender and captain Ali Riley said. “We probably could have been more clinical in the attacking third, I thought we could have been up more, but it’s something we’ll look at and go forward.”
Angel City next plays Friday with a road match against the Kansas City Current, which is two points behind in the standings.
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