San Diego Wave lose 2-0 against KC Current with poor first half

San Diego Wave forward Chiamaka Okwuchukwu got her first start in the club’s 2-0 loss against KC Current. (Photo by Emmanuel Alonso)

San Diego Wave FC played the undefeated KC Current to a 2-0 loss at Snapdragon stadium on Saturday night placing their record at 1W-1D-2L on the season after four matches. 

“We’re disappointed with our performance. We were not good with what we were trying to implement and that’s obviously very disappointing,” Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall said after the defeat. 

KC Current had the edge from the beginning as their lethal attacking players created many dangerous scoring chances in the first half while none of the Wave players seemed to be on the same page only managing one shot in the first half. 

“(KC Current) have many many threats, you shut down one of them and someone else pops up and scores a goal,” second-year Wave midfielder Savannah McCaskill said. “It’s a really big learning lesson for us that we have to be switched on from minute one. Bought into our gameplan from the very beginning, even if things aren't going great and we are not able to keep the ball as much as we like in those early minutes, fighting through those phases of play will be a huge lesson for us to learn.”

The “threats” proved too much as the Wave directed much of their attention to the left wing for KC Current forward and MVP contender Temwa Chawinga leaving time for skilled offensive-minded players like Debinha open.

Debinha scored first in the 16th minute as KC brought down the ball on the left wing drawing the Wave defense to the near post leaving Debinha open inside the 18-yard box. Debinha’s first touch sent the ball up, but she moved her hips and managed to send in a volley with her right foot that bounced down and past the Wave defense to make it 1-0. 

The Wave were on their heels and the Current kept pressing well, especially without the ball. In the 20th minute the Current created a chance very similar to their first goal where they drew the Wave defense to the left wing before crossing the ball into the box for Debinha. This time Debinha passed the ball to her left to Claire Hutton.

Hutton sent in a strong shot, but the ball deflected off Kristen McNabb and out of play. The referee called for a corner kick but play did not restart for four minutes because of a VAR review. 

The referee awarded the Current with a penalty as the ball hit McNabb in the arm in an unnatural position.  Lo’eau LaBonta took the penalty kick and sent a shot to the top right corner of the goal. Wave captain and goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan dove in the right direction but could do nothing to stop the perfect shot that made the score 2-0. 

Eidevall said after the match during halftime his message to the team was a combination of tactics and telling the team they needed to show more of themselves in terms of effort. 

The message seemingly worked, as they did not let KC shoot another shot and  created some threatening moments in the attacking third. 

The teenage substitutes, Kimmi Ascanio and Melanie Barcenas as well as the veteran Canada National Team striker Adrianna Leon helped provide that impact, but the deficit was too large allowing the Current to comfortably defend and extend their winning streak to four. 

San Diego Wave will play on the road for the next two weeks with their next match taking place on Saturday, April 19, against Racing Louisville.