Maiara Niehues scored her first-ever NWSL goal on a header in the 77th minute as Angel City helped their playoff chances with a 2-1 victory over Bay FC at Los Angeles on Monday.
Rookie Riley Tiernan also scored for Angel City (6-7-5, 23 points), who slid into ninth place in the standings and one point behind eighth-place Gotham FC, who hold the final playoff spot.
Hannah Seabert made five saves for the hosts.
Angel City is set to face Gotham City on Sunday in Harrison, N.J.
Rachel Hill scored a goal for Bay FC (4-9-5, 17 points), who fell to 0-5-2 in their past seven matches. Jordan Silkowitz made two saves for Bay FC.
Niehues’ goal came off a corner kick, with Miyabi Moriya sending the ball toward the center of the penalty area. Niehues delivered on a looping header that was out of the reach of Silkowitz.
Niehues and Moriya both came on as substitutes in the 59th minute.
Angel City took a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute when Tiernan worked her way in from the left sideline, cut into the penalty area, stopped abruptly near the penalty spot, switched to her left foot and scored past Silkowitz. It was her eighth tally of the season.
Bay FC tied the score in the 37th minute, when Hill received a pass from Tess Boade, took a shot that was saved by Seabert and scored on the rebound, her second of the season.
–Field Level Media
