KC Current rain on Wave home opener
San Diego Wave FC’s Alex Morgan goes for a shot in a 2-1 loss against KC Current (Photo courtesy of San Diego Wave FC).
San Diego Wave Fútbol Club opened their regular season at Snapdragon Stadium to the largest National Women’s Soccer League home opener crowd announced at 32,066 fans. Their opponent, Kansas City Current, did not care.
The Wave took on a tough defense that took advantage of crucial mistakes and a “lack of conviction” in the final third in a 2-1 defeat to start their regular season.
San Diego came out the gate strong to start the match on the front foot, dominating possession and creating dangerous chances that Kansas City had no counter offensively allowing the Wave to take a lead in the first 20 minutes.
The first goal was similar to their last match as forward Savannah McCaskill took the corner kick and sent it perfectly into the center of the box. Lundkvist jumps for it, but it goes over her to Alex Morgan. The ball bounced off Morgan’s shoulder and the Current goalkeeper made an excellent save to stop the goal, but the ball didn’t deflect far. It landed right in front of forward Sofia Jakobsson who kicked it in easily to make it 1-0 in the 17th minute.
“I saw that some of our players were battling in front of the goal and it just bounced down in front of me and all I was thinking (was) I have to push it over the line, so it was actually one of the easier goals I have scored,” said Jakobsson of the goal. “I am thankful for that and happy to score in the first game of the season.”
The Wave maintained their attack for the next few minutes, but Kansas City began to take back more possession and create better chances, especially with great play by forward Temwa Chawinga.
The Current eventually got on the board just before halftime in the 44th minute after great passes in the Wave’s final third brought up many of their players for support. Isabel Rodriguez shot the ball which deflected slightly off defender Christen Westphal over goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan to equalize at 1-1.
The second half began generally even between the two sides with the Wave having more possession, but were weak in the final third.
The second goal for KC Current came in the 71st minute as forward Bia Zaneratto made a move into the box from the top left corner and was covered by Christen Westphal. Zaneratto tried to go forward, but defender Christen Westphal went for a tackle after the ball passed her in a clear foul. The referee didn’t call it initially and the ball was eventually cleared. After a short VAR check the referee ruled it a penalty.
Captain of the Current, Lo’eau LaBonta, took the penalty and shot it weakly to her right, and Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan jumped in the wrong direction leaving it at what would be the final score of 2-1.
From that point on the Current brought many of their players back for a five-player backline that the Wave head coach and players said after the match was very difficult to deal with.
“I thought we played well, there was a lot of fluidity to our play, I thought we possessed the ball well, it’s the final third,” said head coach Casey Stoney. “I think that final action, final cross, final ball, final finish (is where) we’ve got to improve.”
By the 80th minute it began to pour down rain symbolic for the time as Stoney went on to say that by the end of the match the team had been worn down by the defense and lost their fight and conviction, a sentiment echoed by others on the team.
“We had some fight, we kind of lost it, and I think keeping that for the full 90 will help us become more successful,” forward Amirah Ali said. “At the end they just put so many people at the back, but that’s when you really have to push even more and send more at them.”
The Wave play their next game on Friday, March 29, at home against the rebranded Seattle Reign — a team they’ve never beaten and knocked them out of the 2023 NWSL playoffs in San Diego.
