By women's professional soccer standards, gold has been struck in eastern Mission Valley since Jill Ellis and Ron Burkle founded the Wave and moved to San Diego State's new stadium.
The crowd of 32,066 the Wave announced last week was the largest for a home opener in the National Women's Soccer League in its 12-year history, just days before the team's record-breaking $112 million sale. stopped.
Couple that with new top-selling jerseys, and you don't have to be Coco Chanel or Donna Karan to proclaim a huge upgrade from the past two seasons. The business side of Wave got off to a fast start in 2024.
New football opportunities arrived Friday night at Snapdragon Stadium as the rebuilt Wave Club (0-1) took on the Reign portion of the Seattle Reign (1-1). Scored the franchise's first win with 10 tries. When it comes to waves, I can't be too literal about it.
“We've never beaten Reign,” Wave coach Casey Stoney said this week, bringing up the topic. “So on Friday night I have to do something I've never done before.”
If you can't beat them, sign one of their players.
“New year, new team. Last year I played in 21 games against Seattle, but I missed the NWSL semifinals in November when we won 1-0,” said former Rain forward and Wave newcomer Elise Bennett. . 5th place in San Diego. “There's a lot we can do to take advantage of them in different spaces. Every team presents different problems. We know Seattle is a great team. They always have been. It's just using different ways to score goals and win games.”
Elise Bennett, 23, of the San Diego Wave, battles for the ball with Ro'O LaBonta, 10, of the Kansas City Currents during the second half of last week's game.
(Dennis Poloy)
The Wave, who studied last week's 2-1 loss to the Kansas City Current, will look to finish better on offense. He had the ball 70 percent of the time in the second half last week, but didn't score.
“We need to make sure we win the draw, play fast, play fast,” Stoney said. Furthermore, she added: “We have to build up belief and confidence because the results didn't go our way. But it wasn't a terrible performance.”
The Wave got an early goal from forward Sofia Jacobson, completing a sequence that started with a corner kick from rookie Savannah McCaskill and took another step forward with an on-goal shot from Alex Morgan.
League MVP candidate Naomi Girma had another smooth game, working with Abby Dahlkemper in an outstanding pair of central defenders.
The Lane lost 2-1 to Chicago that night. A week earlier, Seattle won its home opener against Washington, 1-0.
A fan waves a sign during last week's NWSL soccer game between the Kansas City Current and the San Diego Wave.
(Dennis Poloy)
At about the same time that the Wave was sold, the Reign was sold for about half its selling price for $58 million to a private equity firm and Major League Soccer's Seattle Sounders.
Seattle, once known as OL Reign, faces a major challenge in overcoming the offseason departure of three star players. One is retired forward Megan Rapinoe, who understands how to attack Stoney's defense, and U.S. Women's National Team midfielders Rose Lovell and Emily Sonnett, who are versatile players. Joined New Jersey/New York Gotham.
The person who can ease the drastic decline may be South Korean star Ji So-yoon, 33, who scored a great goal last week.
The 5-foot-3 1/2 midfielder had 24 goals and 18 assists in 82 games as part of five seasons in which he won the Super League Championship with English powerhouse Chelsea. Among her Super League opponents was Stoney, who described her as “super talented”.
The Wave have proven time and time again that they can shut out any team's leading scorer. Against Reign, the Wave's inability to penetrate coach Laura Harvey's well-organized, physical defense has been a recurring problem.
A potential solution could be Jadyn Shaw, 19, who continues to develop. Despite limited minutes in the opening game with just 27 minutes, 13 touches and one shot, the 19-year-old Shaw has now scored four goals in nine games with the U.S. national team since Harvey's club. They shut out the Wave in the playoffs.
