Angel City FC players take part in Harvard-Westlake vs. Chaminade girls soccer showdown

STUDIO CITY — Four Angel City FC stars held a special meet-and-greet event ahead of an intense Mission League girls soccer matchup Monday.

Angel City’s Ali Riley, Lily Nabet, Gisele Thompson and Alyssa Thompson met with fans at Harvard-Westlake ahead of the Wolverines’ league battle with Chaminade.

The Angel City Night event served as a homecoming for the three players who are Harvard-Westlake alums — the Thompson sisters and Riley, who is the Angel City captain — while Nabet is a former Chaminade standout.

“It’s amazing,” Nabet said. “I actually trained at the Chaminade field in the offseason, so it’s like so good to see them actually play, especially against Harvard-Westlake, the biggest rivalry game that they’ll play. I always had so much fun coming here. So it’s amazing to be here, see everyone, be a part of this community.”

Hundreds of fans lined up for a chance to meet the soccer stars. Every person in line received an autographed photo or got their ACFC memorabilia signed by all four pros.

“It’s really special,” Riley said. “It’s so important to remember where you came from and it brings me back to a very long time ago, and just thinking about everything that’s happened since.”

Each fan also received a free raffle ticket for multiple chances at an ACFC autographed jersey.

Riley was elated to be back on campus and seeing familiar faces after recently having her childhood home destroyed in the Palisades fire. The captain said she has seen an overwhelming force of support since the tragedy.

“Incredible,” Riley said on the support from her fans and teammates. “I think LA is such a strong city. And then the Angel City community, the Harvard-Westlake community, the Stanford community, I just have felt so much love. My parents have felt so much love and so much support. And again, that makes us then want to give back. We’ve been so supported.”

Riley also captains New Zealand’s national team, and has traveled extensively during her career. So for her, playing locally with Angel City FC has been nothing short of a dream.

“Being at Angel City is a dream come true,” Riley said. “Being able to play in front of my family and give back to the communities that raised me and that means so much to me, especially now with everything that’s going on in our city.”

The stars spent time with each young fan that came up to their table. They had advice and encouragement for anyone who expressed interest in playing soccer at any level.

“One piece of advice would be not to compare yourself to anyone, because everyone’s journey is different,“ Alyssa Thompson said.

Nabet also shared her best piece of advice for children.

“Something I wish someone told me growing up is whatever it is, if you want to do it, there’s no one on this planet that can stop you from doing it, and there’s people around you that will help you,” Nabet said. She said to make sure to “vocalize it,” whatever you want to do.

“I never really vocalized that wanted to do soccer,” she said, “and I kind of took the hard path … and just like put my head down and did it. There were a lot of people there that could have supported me.”

Alyssa Thompson, the first overall pick in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Draft, has also done plenty of traveling over the last few years. She was excited to give back and be back on the field where she played before becoming a domestic and international star with the USWNT.

“It’s really important, just because I would have loved this when I was younger,” Alyssa Thompson said. “So being able to just be inspiration and role model for so many young boys and girls is really exciting. I’m honestly honored that I get to do that.”

While the event was special, especially for the Wolverines family, Harvard-Westlake’s girls soccer team suffered its first loss in the Mission League, a 3-2 setback against Chaminade.

It was a tale of two halves for the Eagles (8-8-3, 5-3-2), whjo erased a two-goal deficit and jumped back in front with an impressive second-half performance.

Chaminade junior Natalie Kokenda drilled two penalty kicks, including the go-ahead goal in the 70th minute that officially locked the Eagles into the CIF-SS postseason.

The Wolverines (15-3-1, 6-1) jumped to a 2-0 lead after goals from Gemma Ozturk and junior Kaia Santomarco-King.

Ozturk buried a penalty after 33 minutes, four minutes ahead of Santomarco’s sensational goal. The junior reeled in a through ball over the top, beat her defender and chipped in the score over Chaminade freshman goalkeeper Allyson Ortiz.

Harvard-Westlake remains in the driver’s seat for yet another Mission League title but will need one more win or draw to secure the title. The Wolverines return to action Wednesday for what is now a league championship match with Notre Dame.

ACFC heads to the Coachella Valley in two weeks for preseason workouts. It will open the regular season at BMO Stadium on March 16 against San Diego Wave FC.

Riley has seen the game grow exponentially over the last few decades. More young girls and boys are interested in the National Women’s Soccer League, which has shown young players that there will be opportunities for them.

“There’s so much more access to the game, and there’s more opportunities for women, and that’s obviously going to trickle down,” Riley said. “More little girls are able to grow up thinking that, believing, knowing that they could play professionally and have that seed planted from such a young age. And that’s what the ’99 World Cup did for me. That was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime event, whereas now players can see Angel City week in and week out, and have that visibility and that representation.

“I think looking at the diversity of the team and of the little girls who come to the games, and also having little boys here who want our autographs, I just think it shows how much the game has grown, and like the culture is really shifting.”