\u201cWhen Angel City came up, I was just really excited about it,\u201d she said. \u201cI know Alex. I played against him when he was at Bayern and so I knew he was a great coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three new players have joined Angel City (4-3-6) during the past few months, delivering an infusion talent for a team that sits in 11th place in the 14-team NWSL standings. The league\u2019s top eight teams advance to the playoffs.<\/p>\n
J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir, a forward with Icelandic national team experience, signed with Angel City on May 21. After finishing her stint with Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir joined her first Angel City practice on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Midfielder Evelyn Shores, who most recently played for the University of North Carolina, signed with Angel City on July 10. She has played for the U-23 U.S. women\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n
Goalkeeper Hannah Seabert, who was Sporting Clube de Portugal\u2019s captain earlier this year, signed with Angel City on May 30 and has been training with the team for three weeks.<\/p>\n
Seabert, a Riverside native and Pepperdine alum, spent most of her career playing abroad and wanted to return to the United States.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Angel City goalkeeper Hannah Seabert kicks the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.<\/p>\n
(Icon Sportswire \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as Angel City opened up several years back, I just knew it was a team I wanted to be a part of,\u201d she said of the franchise that began play in 2023. <\/p>\n
When Seabert\u2019s contract with Sporting CP expired, she pursued her goal of joining Angel City. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I came and visited here a couple weeks ago, it felt like a home away from home,\u201d she said. \u201cThe facilities are amazing and the girls were so welcoming. It just felt right when I came here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said the new players earned contracts because they aligned with the vision for the future of the club: winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cWho are the players that we believe represent where we\u2019re going and can play for Angel City when we\u2019re fighting for trophies,\u201d Parsons said, referring to the question Angel City leaders asked before signing any new players.<\/p>\n
While the new players present an infusion of fresh talent, Angel City also is benefiting from the return of a familiar face.<\/p>\n
Forward Jun Endo, who tore her ACL in February 2024, played for the first time in 18 months during a friendly against Bay FC on Saturday. Endo was on the pitch for 30 minutes and scored the only goal of the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re missing a player like Jun Endo for as much time as Angel City has been missing her, of course it affects [the game] because you cannot replace a player like that,\u201d said Straus, the team\u2019s coach. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Angel City\u2019s Jun Endo dribbles the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.<\/p>\n
(Icon Sportswire \/ Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Straus said he expects Angel City to evolve and move closer to achieving its long-term championship goals with the new signees and Endo available to play.<\/p>\n
Angel City, which is in the midst of an international break, plays a friendly Saturday against Carolina Ascent FC and resumes NWSL competition on Aug. 1 at Seattle Reign FC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts not just about filling a roster,\u201d Straus said. \u201cWe need quality. We need people who can make a difference for us and so we hope they will do this for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be good now, but we will be better in January.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ever since she visited Los Angeles with her national team three years ago, Sveind\u00eds Jane J\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir knew she…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":86010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[58081,1582,276,12192,58089,58084,58085,2961,224,5337,58083,58082,5395,58088,58086,58087,3993,3007,2452,1628],"class_list":{"0":"post-86009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-angel-city","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-contract","12":"tag-forward-jun-endo","13":"tag-infusion","14":"tag-jonsdottir","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-national-team","19":"tag-new-player","20":"tag-saturday","21":"tag-seabert","22":"tag-soccer-league","23":"tag-straus","24":"tag-talent","25":"tag-team","26":"tag-week","27":"tag-year"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114902780885503295","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}