Angel City Storm Back From Two Down to Beat Denver Summit 3-2 Behind Ally Sentnor Winner

Eighteen minutes into Saturday night in Centennial, Angel City FC looked finished. Melissa Kössler had poked Denver Summit FC ahead off a corner inside two minutes, Lindsey Heaps had volleyed a second into the bottom left corner, and the visitors were staring at a two-goal hole.

Then the comeback arrived all at once. Sveindís Jónsdóttir, Taylor Suarez and Ally Sentnor scored in an 11-minute burst before halftime, and Angel City held on for a 3-2 win over Denver at Centennial Stadium. The result stretched Angel City's unbeaten run to eight matches, a mark the NWSL says ties a club record, and the club said it lifted the team into fifth place.

A Nightmare Start

Denver needed two minutes to strike. Off a corner, Kössler finished from close range to make it 1-0. Angel City answered with a flurry of near misses: Sentnor dragged a shot just wide in the fourth minute, Jónsdóttir pulled one wide in the seventh, Evelyn Shores headed wide off a corner in the eighth, and Shores rattled the crossbar from the left side of the box in the 13th.

Denver punished the wastefulness. In the 18th minute, Heaps, the Summit captain, met the ball in the middle of the box and volleyed it home with her right foot. Delanie Sheehan forced Angelina Anderson into a save two minutes later, and Denver piled up three corners in quick succession. Ary Borges picked up a yellow card in the 22nd minute for good measure. It was that kind of opening.

Eleven Minutes That Flipped the Night

The first crack came in the 32nd minute. Shores swung a ball across the box, and Jónsdóttir stayed calm in the middle to finish and cut the deficit to 2-1. Per Angel City, it was her ninth goal of the season, pulling her level with Maiara Niehues for the team lead, and Shores' eighth assist set a single-season club record.

Seven minutes later, Gisele Thompson threaded a through ball to Suarez, who slotted it into the bottom left corner to make it 2-2. The club noted it was Suarez's fourth goal in her last five appearances.

And in the 43rd minute, Thompson found Sentnor outside the box. Sentnor took aim with her left foot and sent a shot into the top right corner. Three goals in 11 minutes, which is roughly the runtime of All Too Well (10 Minute Version), and Angel City took a 3-2 lead into the locker room.

Managing the Second Half

Heaps needed treatment right after the restart but stayed on, and Denver tried to rebuild momentum through set pieces. Kössler let fly from more than 35 yards in the 55th minute without troubling anyone. Angel City, meanwhile, kept hunting a fourth. Abby Smith saved from Suarez in the 58th minute and from Jónsdóttir in the 61st, and Angel City had three shots blocked between the 56th and 60th minutes.

Denver won corner after corner in the closing half hour, and in the 75th minute Shores cleared the ball away just in front of goal after a chance for substitute Yuna McCormack, according to Angel City. Emma Regan and her replacement, Devin Lynch, were both booked, and Sentnor was cautioned in the 88th minute. Denver's last real look, a Lynch shot from the middle of the box at 90 minutes, was blocked.

The Stars

Sentnor was the most dangerous player on the field: five shots, the winning goal and a constant willingness to shoot from distance. Thompson was the quiet killer with two assists from the right side of Angel City's attacking line. Shores did a bit of everything, from the crossbar to the record-setting assist to the goalmouth clearance in the second half.

Jónsdóttir finished with three shots, two on target and the goal that started it all, and her interim head coach was effusive. "I don't think there are many players that work harder for a team than Sveindís," Leif Smerud said.

For Denver, Heaps' volley was a beauty, and Kössler's goal was her lone shot on target. Smith made two saves.

The Turning Point

Jónsdóttir's goal changed the emotional math of the match. Before it, Angel City had hit the bar and missed a string of chances. After it, the visitors played like a team that knew the rest was coming. "We scored one goal and we just knew that this was going to be our game," Jónsdóttir said. Smerud put it this way: "The way we responded to a very tough start, sticking to the game plan, not being stressed by being two goals down, was very impressive."

Stats That Matter

• Shots: Angel City 18, Denver 6. On target: 5 to 3.
• Possession: Denver held 58 percent and still got outshot three to one.
• Corners: Denver earned 10 to Angel City's six, but none after the second minute produced a goal.
• Crosses: Denver attempted 23 and completed only four.
• Saves: Smith made two; Anderson needed just one.

What It Means

Angel City improved to 13-7-8 (wins, draws, losses) with 46 points and, after a 3-3 draw with Denver in Los Angeles last month, took the season's second meeting. The club has two regular-season matches remaining, at home against Bay FC and Boston Legacy FC, with the goal of clinching a playoff place. Smerud called it "another really mature away game against a team that is good at home."

Denver dropped to 10-8-10 with 38 points, a painful result after a 3-0 win at Chicago in its previous match. By the end of the weekend, the Summit sat five points behind Seattle Reign FC, which held eighth place, the last playoff spot, with two matches left.

Closing Take

Comebacks like this usually take a half. Angel City did it in a coffee break. The early collapse is a problem worth fixing before the postseason, but the response is the kind of thing playoff teams are made of. "Our mentality is very good," Jónsdóttir said. After Saturday, it is hard to argue.

Stats from ESPN's match data. Postgame quotes as reported by Angel City FC; match notes from Angel City FC and nwslsoccer.com.