Press scored her first professional goal in 854 days in her 100th NWSL appearance

In a 1-1 draw with the North Carolina Courage Saturday night, veteran forward Christen Press scored her first goal in more than two years at the club level, bagging an effort in the 97th minute.

It had been 854 days since Press had scored, with her last coming on June 11, 2022 in Louisville, the same night she tore her ACL in her right knee.

After four surgeries over the course of two years, she returned this summer for Angel City, and Saturday marked the moment she had been waiting for.

“It’s so funny how these things go that you want to do so bad,” Press said after the match. “I couldn’t event tell you how the goal went. I have no idea. It felt like an out-of-body experience. I’m going to back and watch it and I hope it’s a really, really good goal and I hope I’ll be like ‘that’s a quintessential Christen Press goal and I’ll be really, really proud.’”

Assisted by Katie Zelem, Press drove into the box, beating two defenders before sending home a low-driven effort.

“I’ve been waiting for that opportunity to come when you kind of show who I am as a player," she said.

The two-time World Cup champion, who has 64 goals in 155 appearances for the USWNT, returned to the pitch Angel City in August, and Saturday marked just her seventh appearance this campaign. However, it was her longest cameo off the bench, and she took advantage of the moment presented to her.

The USWNT forward and Angel City have just two matches left in the regular season, an Oct. 20 contest against Utah Royals and their regular season finale against the Portland Thorns on Nov. 1.

Sitting 11th in the league standings, and five points out of a playoff spot, they will need to win-out the remainder of their matches if they want to have any hope of clinching a postseason berth.