Racing Louisville FC, looking to avenge a home loss to Wave FC earlier in the season, came into Snapdragon Stadium and achieved its goal, defeating San Diego 1-0 on Sunday.
The lone goal came during the 59th minute, when Louisville forward Emma Sears found the back of the net via a right footed shot.
The visiting team played tight defense against the home side throughout the match, particularly in the second half, and managed to stifle numerous passes and shots attempted by the Wave.
However, although the teams were locked in a scoreless draw after the first 45 minutes, the first half statistics clearly favored San Diego. The Wave possessed the ball for 67% of the first half.
This was no surprise considering that coming into the game, San Diego held the NWSL’s highest possession rate at 59.1%, while Louisville had the lowest time of possession, at 42%.
During its time with the ball, the Wave made 286 first half passes, compared with just 90 for the opponent. San Diego also registered 10 shots in the first half –including four shots on goal, while Louisville took seven shots total, with just one on goal.
It was more of the same in the second half, with the Wave possessing the ball for 64% of the full 90 minutes.
Despite the loss, the Wave lost no ground in the standings. Coming into the match, San Diego was, and still is in third place in the NWSL table. The team’s record now sits at 8-4, with 5 draws and 29 points. Racing Louisville, meanwhile, improved its record to 7-6-4, with 25 points. It’s now in seventh place in the 14-team NWSL standings.
In the match between San Diego and Louisville earlier this season, the Wave earned a 4-1 road win on April 19.
This was the end of a three-game road trip for Louisville. Both of the previous matches ended in draws.
For San Diego, the loss was the first since a June 6 defeat to the Seattle Reign, which also occurred at home. The Wave is now 4-2-4 in its last 10 matches. Three of its previous five contests ended in draws, along with one win and Sunday’s loss.
In the post-match press conference, Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall said that the loss shouldn’t cause his players to focus on the external and thereby blame the loss on bad luck, poor officiating or other reasons.
“We have to look to ourselves and there are tons of things we can do better,” he said. “That’s where our focus needs to be.”
We’re going to go through the highs and the lows together,” he said of the team and the fans. “My message to them (the fans) is invest in us, keep coming back.”
Despite not scoring on Sunday, three of the Wave’s four French players — Kenza Dali, Perle Morroni and Delphine Cascarino, who are collectively nicknamed the French Connection — have 18 goals and assists combined this season.
That amount is led by Cascarino, who has three goals and five assists in her first full NWSL season since joining from French Première Ligue club OL Lyonnes last July. The trio is also among the Wave’s top five players in minutes played this season.
Up next, the Wave faces the Seattle Reign on the road this Friday. The club then has two consecutive games at Snapdragon Stadium: one versus the Houston Dash at 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 7 and then a 7 p.m. game against NJ/NY Gotham FC on Sept. 12.
Notes: During its Sept. 7 home match, Wave FC will retire the jersey of Alex Morgan, the legendary U.S. Women’s National Team co-captain and ex-Wave player who purchased an ownership stake in the team in May.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
