Angel City Protected IX Part I

The NWSL Expansion Draft is coming up on December 15th and each team is allowed to protect nine players from being drafted by Utah or Bay FC. This felt like a good topic for my first post as it lets me take a look back at the past season, as well as taking a look at the future of the team. I’ll list the nine players that I would protect if it were up to me, with a some thoughts on each player. This post will include GK and DEF with a second to follow on MID and FWD. I’ll have a separate post to talk about some of the notable names that I did not include. Some of these players are not under contract for next season, so please take it as a given that I’d offer them an extension as well as protected status. All statistics are from FBref.com.

GK Angelina Anderson - This is maybe my least confident pick, mostly due to the fact that we saw her in so few games. But let’s start at the beginning. ACFC spent one of only two draft picks on her in the 2023 draft, despite having two quality keepers on the roster already, and several positions of need in other areas. I took this to mean that the scouting staff really views her as an exceptional talent, but honestly didn’t expect her to even play a minute this year.

By the end of the season, though, she’s starting in our first playoff game. So clearly the coaching staff has some confidence in her as well. In the games she did play, I felt like she had some mistakes in her, most notably giving up the goal from Adriana in the Orlando match on 10/2/23.

But when we dig into the stats, and admitting that Anderson has an incredibly small sample size, she’s way above Haracic. In all competitions Haracic has a Goals Against per 90 min (GA90) of 1.47 versus Anderson’s GA90 of 0.8. Save Percentage is 75.8% for Haracic and 86.7% for Anderson. But let’s get even deeper. Post shot expected goals per shot on target (or the likelihood that a shot on frame will go in) is pretty similar: Haracic with .25 and Anderson with .21. So let’s look at Post Shot Expected Goals minus Goals allowed (PSxG+-), or how many goals does a keeper let in versus what we might expect them to let in. Haracic allowed 28 goals from an PSxG of 27.8, giving a PSxG+- of -.2. So basically she allowed as many goals as we might expect. Anderson allowed 4 goals from a PSxG of 7.1, giving her a PSxG+- of 3.1, or in other words, she saved 3 more goals than we could rightly expect her to. And one final stat: defensive action outside penalty area/90, or how involved does she get making plays outside the box. Haracic is at 0.2/90, while Anderson is at 1.2/90! So definitely way more of a sweeper keeper. Again, small sample size, but I’m now convinced that she’s the keeper of the future. The club just extended her contract too, so they clearly see her the same way.

DEF Sarah Gordon - I’m not going to get into too much depth here. Sarah Gordon played every minute of the regular season. She’s nominated for NWSL Defender of the Year. She’s a crucial part of the team. We absolutely cannot allow another team to take her. One unexpected stat, though: she was second on the team in passes into the final third.

DEF Paige Nielsen - Nielsen was one of my most improved players of the 2023 season. Third on the team in minutes played, second in tackles and tackles won behind Ali Riley, first in interceptions, first in aerial duels won, and first in clearances. Actually, she was fourth in the whole league in clearances. 90th percentile in tackles, and 97th percentile in ball recoveries amongst CBs in the top 9 leagues. I think that a good CB partnership is crucial for a good team. Let’s not break this one up.

DEF MA Vignola - Vignola missed most of the 2022 season with injury, so she is obviously another of my most improved players, which probably underscores a key criteria for me: ACFC should protect the players that are projected to be as good or better in 2024 as they were in 2023. I thought that Gordon had a campaign about as good as anyone could hope for, but Andersen, Nielsen, and Vignola I would hope and expect to do even better in 2024.

For Vignola, I think that’s largely about eliminating individual errors. Her two penalties conceded led the team, even if one of them was an absolutely terrible call by the officials. I feel like she can work a little bit more on her defensive positioning. That said, I think that she has a power and explosiveness that most full backs are lacking, and that shows in her role, and is also reflected by her recent call up to the USWNT. Per FBref’s comparison tool, we can see that compared to other fullbacks across the top nine women’s leagues, Vignola ranks in the 92nd percentile or better in goals, non-penalty xG, shots, shots on target, touches in the attacking penalty area, take-ons (both attempted and successful), progressive carries, and carries into the penalty area. On Angel City, she actually ranks third in progressive carries and carries into the final third, and second in progressive carry distance. She’s a key part of Angel City moving the ball up field, and also in overloading defenses in the final third. Her game winning goal in the 2-1 win in San Diego, and her assist to McCaskill in the 5-1 win against Portland are great examples of that threat. She’s a unique player and Angel City need to keep her in the squad. And since they just gave her an extension, I’m guessing they agree.

Part II will look at the midfield and attackers.