a 3-pack recap
I had originally planned to do a writeup after the 3-1 loss to the Washington Spirit. The result felt expected considering the form of each team; Wavé eeked out a couple wins and then looked lifeless against a winless Orlando Pride. The Spirit were coming off two tough draws despite their offense finally finding its rhythm behind Trinity Rodman.
Anyway, that post was going to read something like: PRIDE, SPIRIT MISSING FROM WAVE (ha ha get it, because the team names and they lost two games by a goal differential of 6-2).
It would have been very rude and untrue! But the team names lent themselves to that nonsense and I didn’t want to pass it up. Well, it was passed up because this is a serious space [it is not, I am lying again smh].
OK, let's talk about the last 3 games that took our Wavé from 3rd to 5th. First, we need a primer for what has influenced the current stretch of bad play. Alex Morgan has not looked healthy since the loss to OL Reign last month. Taylor Kornieck, coming off her best game of the season against Portland in a Challenge Cup win, has been sidelined with an abdominal injury (4/19). Emily van Egmond has been missing since the win against Angel City almost a month ago.
I improperly said this about her in a post earlier this season:
“EvE is great in the sense you don’t notice her in games at times. She isn’t doing anything outstanding, but also isn’t getting caught missing defensive assignments; a solid player…”
This was in regard to looking for a more dynamic option at her position…
I AM SO SORRY WE NEED YOU BACK SO BAD WE ARE IN DIRE NEED OF THE CONSISTENT MIDFIELD PLAY.
Back to the 3-1 loss against Orlando. SDWFC came out to a refreshingly cracking start. Jaedyn Shaw opened the scoring in the 12th minute, but both her and Sofia Jakobsson had chances to do so earlier. If there was any positive take from their bad run of games, it was that Shaw can and should be playing as a free-roaming mid, attacking defenders and pushing into spaces in the middle of the field, not isolated on the wings. After the fast start, Orlando were able to seize momentum with ANOTHER goal against San Diego off a corner kick. Not ideal!
What happened next was typical stuff of a team playing under pressure to chase a game. All it takes is some luck to turn the game upside down and Pride got that magic via this golazo:
When Wave started sending numbers forward, it seemed every dispossession led to an outnumbered counter by Orlando and eventually landed them a 3rd goal.
One of the results from the depleted roster was seeing 15-year-old Melanie Barcenas make her debut. I don’t know if it was as much lack of depth as maybe Casey Stoney trying to light fire into some of the players. Regardless, she had some bright moments running fearlessly at defenders at times and being shifty on the ball. She also had some clear moments when the game was faster than she is probably used to, getting dispossessed unnecessarily in the middle of the field. Overall, it was a bright and promising start, and with more games some of those unnecessary stepovers will turn to quicker passes or progressive touches. Hoping she gets important minutes in the Challenge Cup when players are away for the World Cup.
Anyway, it’s very clear this depleted Wave roster is not built to chase games. And they would have to do more of the same against Washington.
Usually when I can’t catch a game, I’ll rewatch the replay. I was passively watching the match against Spirit at work and it was probably one of the more dominant matches I’ve seen Wave suffer against. Trinity Rodman is reaching a scary form just before the World Cup and Ashley Sanchez seemed to find space in the attacking third on every possession. I turned it off after her goal and didn’t bother watching a replay. Not much to say about this one, just got beat by the current league leaders in good form.
Finally, on a better note, SDWFC looked so good ON THE ROAD against a KC Current team who was the preseason favorite to top the league. Stoney sent out a 4-2-1-3 that saw Sierra Enge get her first regular season start, alongside Danielle Colaprico in the midfield. Jakobsson and Rachel Hill played next to Morgan, who finally looked healthy, and Isabella Briede got the start, positioned behind her.
Healthy Alex Morgan was a menace. She was pressing better, committing to aerial duels with more confidence (won 6 of 7), and found space to shoot. Hoping she goes on a nice run of form after this game.
Hill got her 5th start in a row and finally made her presence felt. While the goal didn’t come, she had two HUGE opportunities; one off a Jakobsson low cross that sailed over the goal (0.6 xG) and another where she was 1v1 with a defender and had her shot blocked. Despite not finding the net, she did well tracking down a few long balls, getting in dangerous spaces and set Morgan for an open shot on goal just outside the box.
Hometown hero Enge had a solid game but was very lucky not to be sent off with a second yellow TWICE. The first booking was a pretty soft card compared to the other two the ref decided to ignore. I don’t know how she escaped a second yellow with a nasty butcher hack at Michelle Cooper’s lower knee. Enge was called for another foul shortly after and somehow Stoney decided to let her stay on the field. I know the bench was thin but Madison Pogarch could (should!) have replaced her and Hill could have played the full 90 at that point. Thankfully luck was on the Wave side and they finished the game with 11.
One of the coolest things from the game was Wave’s commitment to scoring another goal in the dying minutes. Late into the 7+ minutes of stoppage time, substitute Amirah Ali (72nd min., Jakobsson) drew a foul near the corner flag. Instead of playing a short pass and killing the game in the corner, Pogarch hit a cross into the box that found Morgan, but she couldn’t get the shot on target. Seconds later, Naomi Girma found an open Morgan on the right flank who started a counter that found Shaw (57th min., Briede) open at the top of the box and sent Ali through. Ali had a chance to one-time a shot but chose a cutback that didn’t work and led to her shot being blocked.
The most frustrating part of that match was probably the Hill and Ali chances not challenging the keeper. Speaking of keepers…
KAILEN MFING SHERIDAN
After consecutive games conceding 3 goals (and arguably off-character performances), she came up huge, with the most impressive save being this:
I mentioned not watching the replay of the Spirit game but had to go back and watch the final two goals of the game just now. The third one on ANOTHER corner kick was woof. Sheridan may have tweaked something on the initial Rodman goal, so I’m going to blame a possible injury on mispaying that corner. But yeah, she needed this KC game to get her usual swagger back I think.
All in all, the tough stretch of results were heavily impacted by injuries and lack of roster depth. Overall, the depth can hang, as it showed in the 1-0 Challenge Cup win against the Thorns. But there are two positions where they can’t afford to lose multiple players at a time: midfield and centerback. [Sana sana, colita de rana to Abby Dahlkemper]
This is the latest update I’ve seen on the injury front:
Not sure where Kornieck is fitness wise, but with no Kelsey Turnbow (who missed last week’s match), that brings the midfield down 2 regular starters and 1 regular substitutes. Not ideal! Makenzy Doniak looks to be back, which alleviates some of the strain at midfield. Not sure how many minutes Doniak can go, so I can see Barcenas getting some minutes against Houston if they need to chase a goal late or Stoney wants to break a draw and steal 3 points. Should be a good, tough match.
NEXT MATCH - Houston Dash (2-3-2, 9 pts, 7th), May 20
The Dash’s slow start is due to navigating probably the toughest opening schedule in the league. They’ve faced Washington, OL Reign and Portland (twice), and taken 5 points from those matches. Houston has scored the 2nd least amount of goals in the league (5), but are also tied for 2nd in fewest goals conceded (6).
It’s going to be hot. It’s going to be humid. Legs will be tired and roster depth will be tested. The backline and Colaprico will have their hands full trying to stop the menacing Mexican pairing of Maria Sanchez and Diana Ordóñez. Considering how bad San Diego has been at defending corners, someone needs to keep the 5’11” Ordóñez even looking at a ball in the air. That, or a braver Sheridan patrolling the sky.
