How Angel City FC Taught Me to Fly

LOS ANGELES—Today, Angel City Football Club is celebrating Kids Day. BMO Stadium has been taken over by toddlers, tweens, and teens for Labor Day Weekend.

Evelyn served as the PA Announcer on Angel City FC's Kid's Day celebration. Photo Credit: ACFC

Today is also the first time I’ve reported from the stadium as an adult, not a kid. It’s an important distinction. I was 16 when I got my start reporting for ACFC. Now I’m 18, already feeling nostalgic. 

The author, Katareena Roska, at her first ACFC game in June 2023.

And finally, today is my last time reporting from BMO for ACFC. In anticipation of college, I’m begrudgingly trading my ACFC 2024 Season Press Pass in for my Northwestern Wildcats and preparing for the switch to the Chicago Red Stars (ACFC's opponent for today's match).

Needless to say, there’s a lot going on today. Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you. 

When I began at ACFC over an entire year ago, the press box was just a tad emptier. The store was less packed, and the seats were less crowded. I sat in the box feeling all sorts of things all at once: bewilderment, excitement, anxiety, pride. Not pride in myself, but pride in the community ACFC had built. What other club would take a chance on a teenage writer from nowhere than the club whose entire identity is built on the idea of volemos?

I stood a little shorter, lacking in both height and confidence. In 2023 ACFC was still a team on the rise, regularly facing league leaders and fighting for their fellow women on and off the field. Up till then, I didn’t have the opportunity to rise just yet. We were both running with an insatiable desire to prove ourselves. As I continued my coverage for ACFC, I found my small but mighty independent publication growing. ACFC made its way through the ranks, qualifying for the NWSL playoffs and ending its season during the first game in a historic run for the club.

Things are a bit different today. Since then, familiar faces have come and go, having traded players like Paige Nielsen and Amandine Henry. Becki Tweed was hired as a permanent coach. Willow Bay and Bob Iger have become the club’s new controlling owners. Tickets are harder to snag and merch more difficult to find. Everyone is watching women’s sports now.

At the same time, Tangent Zine’s staff has expanded with most of the original crew having already left for college. I cut my hair short. I write less these days, more concerned with passing the torch on to the next wave of correspondents at Tangent. 

The author, Katareena Roska, at her last ACFC home game in September 2024.

We’re both figuring things out. But ACFC and I are no longer in the business of little guys—we’ve evolved immensely in just a year. The universe does not permit constancy. Just one thing remains the same: We are still hungry for more.

As ACFC continues soaring throughout the rest of its season, I will be secretly cheering for the City of Angels from the Windy City. And by the way, ACFC proved victorious over the Chicago Red Stars in today's match.

ACFC, you were the first to believe that I could fly. Thanks for giving me my wings. Volemos.