Angel City bets on future, signing Evelyn Shores: ‘When we break through, it’s going to be spectacular’

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Midfielder Evelyn Shores made headlines with her million-dollar goal at The Soccer Tournament (TST) this year in Cary, North Carolina, and her last-minute winner for the under-23 U.S. women’s national team in Germany two weeks earlier.

Now, the 20-year-old is choosing to leave the University of North Carolina early to join Angel City FC in Los Angeles. After speaking with several NWSL teams, the young midfielder visited Angel City three weeks ago, toured the facilities, attended a match at the club’s BMO Stadium and knew LA was where she wanted to begin her professional career.

“Everyone was super welcoming,” Shores tells The Athletic. “It felt like home away from home. It just made me really want to be a part of what’s going on here.”

Shores joins a club in transition. Since arriving in January, sporting director Mark Parsons has laid out a three-year roadmap for the evolution of a team that’s only in its fourth season of NWSL play: excitement and promise by the end of 2025, trophy contention by 2026 and titles in hand by 2027 — in perpetuity, of course.

“Evelyn had a lot of options,” Parsons tells The Athletic. “But she saw what we’re building here, what’s still underground, and decided to start her career with us. And not in January, like we expected, but six months earlier.”

Her choice to join the club this summer rather than wait until after the 2025 NCAA season concludes in December was unexpected but not surprising. “I had a great conversation with (Angel City head coach) Alex (Straus),” she explained. “He’s super-knowledgeable, and he seems like he is going in a great direction with the club, so I’m really excited to get on the field and play for him.”

Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, Shores played both midfield and full-back at youth national team level and impressed coaches with her game-reading ability, positional awareness and confidence in high-pressure moments. Her standout performance in last year’s NCAA tournament, which culminated in the 23rd College Cup title for the North Carolina program, caught the attention of long-time USWNT midfielder Heather O’Reilly, who invited her to join the U.S. women’s team at this summer’s TST.

“Her ability to receive the ball and know where she wants to go, to be able to link play with passes, be able to break lines with passes, to be able to break lines on the dribble and get into areas too, where she’s gone from building the attack to creating opportunities,” Parsons says of Shores’ strengths. “And most importantly, she plays with purpose.”

Evelyn Shores is leaving college early to join Angel City. (Angel City FC)

Leaving college early was not an easy decision. “But at the end of the day, I wanted to be a part of what they have going on here in LA, and that was the best decision for me at the time,” Shores says. She is planning to finish her degree by taking online classes.

Shores is the latest addition to Angel City’s youth-focused rebuild.

This year, the club has also brought in standout rookie forward Riley Tiernan, Brazilian midfielder Maiara Niehues and defender Savy King — all are 22 or under. Angel City leads the 2025 NWSL in minutes given to players in that age bracket. The young core is led by sisters Gisele (aged 19) and Alyssa Thompson (20), both LA natives.

Shores doesn’t hide her excitement about joining Angel City. Her former North Carolina teammate Savvy King and fellow under-23 national team players in the Thompson sisters and Tiernan all add a sense of familiarity to the move. She’s also excited to share a locker room with one of her longtime idols, Christen Press.

“It’s not just about getting younger for the sake of it,” Parsons says. “We need balance — veterans who’ve seen everything and kids who don’t even notice pressure. But we’ve cut our average roster age down to around 25, and we’re giving our young players real, meaningful minutes.”

Parsons sees every appearance by Tiernan or King as an investment not just in their own development as players, but in the club’s long-term value creation strategy: “If we’re doing this right, when a player does eventually move on, it’s not for less than we brought them in for. That’s how smart clubs operate globally.”

At the midway point of the regular season, Angel City’s growing pains have been visible, especially after losing key players King and Claire Emslie to injuries. Though the team currently sits 11th (of 14) in the table, three points outside of the eight playoff spots, Parsons is unfazed.

“Yeah, we’ve taken some hits, but that’s the cost of building something real,” he says.

If that sounds like someone playing a long game, it’s because he is: “I told the staff that we’re in the tunnel, digging. Not much oxygen, no sunlight, but we’re getting close. And when we break through, it’s going to be spectacular.”

Shores agrees.

Her early arrival signals not just her ambition, but a belief that Angel City’s future is worth betting on.

(Top photo: Anthony Sorbellini / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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