Angel City FC inaugural training camp like the first week of school

Just two weeks into her professional career and Hope Breslin is already comfortable.

“The 70 degrees are certainly better than the two feet of snow they’re dealing with back home,” she said.

Angel City FC opened training camp Tuesday at Pepperdine University.

The Illinois grad, originally from New York, was selected in the third round of the NWSL Draft by Angel City FC. She was officially signed to a one-year contract with an option.

Breslin played five years at Illinois and scored seven goals in 2021.

“In college, I played midfield and forward, wherever I was needed,” she said. “I’m a very technical player with good vision. I felt like I thrived in that environment and I’m excited to bring all of my skills here.”

She also arrives with some familiarity, at least with the coaching staff. Breslin spent time with the Gotham FC’s reserves team, where Angel City FC coach Freya Coombe was in charge of the first team.

“Some of the drills we’re during, I’ve seen before,” she said. “It’s been a nice experience.”

The biggest adjustment, according to Breslin, has been the speed and, of course, working out the nerves.

“I think a lot of people are dealing with nerves,” she said. “It’s a whole new club, but as the weeks go on, we’ll be able to adjust and play the way we want.”

Breslin, who will be 23 next month, started soccer as early as 5, and by her freshman year of high school, she knew she wanted to attend Illinois. Now, the journey has taken her to the professional level.

“It’s an amazing feeling being around so many of the players that I’ve watched for years,” she said. “They want you to succeed and to be able to learn from them will be an awesome feeling and will help me grow as a player.”

First-week takeaways

Breslin likened the first week of camp to the first week of school, with everybody learning names and getting to know each other.

Coombe was glad to move beyond the Zoom calls.

“Meeting the players in person was just incredible,”  she said. “It was nice to finally meet in person after seeing Zoom screens, telephone calls, and things like that.

“Now it’s real. It’s very real. The ball is being kicked and seeing that first ball roll at training was unbelievable.”

Roster size

ACFC has only 25 players on its preseason roster. Coombe says there’s a reason.

“We wanted to start preseason with a roster that looks a little bit like the roster that we’re going to have in the season,” she said. “For us, it’s important that we don’t have a ton of people that we’ve offered contracts to and then trade away. We’ve been very consistent and we’ve told our players that we won’t be trading players out this season.

“With us being a new team, we wanted to provide a really strong environment for them where it wasn’t a case of we’ve got 40 people and then we’re whittling down that group. We wanted them to come in, start to form relationships, get to know each other, and harness the strength of that group and that unit to be able to move on and play through this season.”