San Diego Wave Preview vs. Kansas City Current
Credit: Josh Jimenez/EVT
San Diego Wave vs. Kansas City Current
Torero Stadium – USD
Sunday, August 7 at 2 pm
The San Diego Wave return home and they’ll have their best players who have been on international duty, back at Torero Stadium for the first time since June 12. They’ll play the Kansas City Current in the match.
Last Time Out
The Wave picked up a gritty and spectacular win last weekend in Chicago. The Red Stars, who came into the game just a point behind the Wave, had not lost at home in the 2022 season. San Diego picked up an early lead thanks to Jaedyn Shaw, who is just 17, and it got wild from there. Abby Dahlkemper was given a red card in the 59th minute, and the Red Stars piled on the pressure. Chicago drew a penalty in the 81st minute, but Kailen Sheridan denied Mallory Pugh, before the Wave saw out the victory. The only negative for the Wave is that Dahlkemper will not be available for Sunday’s match.
Meet The Opposition
Kansas City is sixth place in the NWSL, currently holding the final playoff spot. However, they are red-hot having gone unbeaten for their last eight matches. That includes a 2-2 draw with the Wave in June, in which San Diego needed a 90th minute goal from Alex Morgan to salvage the draw. Kansas City features midfielder Sam Mewis, who has starred for the USWNT, scoring 24 goals in 83 caps for the national team. They also have Adrianna Franch, who’s appeared in goal for the USWNT, picking up 10 caps for the squad.
Hungry for more on Sunday 🍕 #WaveFC pic.twitter.com/F8aPAKJDxv
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) August 5, 2022
News and Notes
Kansas City’s 14 goals is one of the lowest totals in the league, but their defense has been solid allowing just 16 on the campaign. Alex Morgan, Taylor Koernick, Kaileen Sheridan, and Naomi Girma have all been away from Torero Stadium for nearly two months having been on international duty. San Diego also fell out of the top spot in the NWSL, with the Portland Thorns draw on Friday putting Portland ahead on goal difference.
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The two sides have played the same amount of matches, so San Diego will have one more match played after Sunday. San Diego needs to take advantage of Portland’s rare slip-up, and continue their strong performance from last time out. The Wave have won consecutive matches just once since May 15, failing to get into a rhythm. They’ve allowed the fewest goals of any NWSL team this year, so it’ll be up to Alex Morgan and company to find a way to break down the Kansas City defense.
This match is the first of three consecutive matches at Torero Stadium, which will be the final three matches before the team moves to Snapdragon Stadium in September.
Sam is a Senior in High School. He has been writing for three years, and started at EVT in June of 2021. He’s headed to Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications in the fall of 2023.