San Diego Wave FC’s slump persisted Friday in a 2-0 loss to Gotham. (Photo courtesy of SD Wave FC)
Five days after suffering their worst loss of the season, Wave FC returned to the Snapdragon
Stadium pitch looking to get back in the win column.
Unfortunately for San Diego, the club suffered another shutout loss.
Gotham FC defeated the Wave 2-0 on Friday night, making it the second straight game that
San Diego was unable to find the back of the net as its opponent scored multiple goals.
Gotham forward Esther González collected a brace during the match, scoring during both the
first and second halves.
First, during the match’s 45th minute, she connected with a right-footed shot to make the
score 1-0 in favor of the visitors minutes before the half ended.
Despite trailing after the first 45 minutes, Wave FC won the first-half possession battle,
handling the ball 55% of the time during the first 45 minutes. It also managed more total shots, nine, compared to six for the visitor.
However, San Diego managed only one shot on goal in the first half, compared to three for Gotham.
The first of those three shots resulted in San Diego goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan reaching a
historic milestone in her career, her 600th save in the NWSL, which came during the match’s
50th minute.
With the save, Sheridan became just the second goalkeeper in league history to reach the
achievement, along with longtime Chicago Stars keeper Alyssa Naeher.
For the Wave, Sheridan has recorded 28 clean sheets amongst 252 regular-season saves, including the ones during Friday night’s match.
Sheridan, an eight-year NWSL veteran, spent the first four years of her career with Gotham FC before being traded to the Wave in 2022.
After reaching the milestone, a brief but loud “We believe in Sheridan” chant broke out
in the Supporter Section. But unfortunately for the home crowd, Gotham FC wasn’t finished.
The squad scored its second goal during the 81st minute, a left-footed shot by Gonzalez, further deflating the home crowd.
Full-time match stats show that Wave FC held possession of the ball 56% of the time and
had 15 shots to 12 for the visitors, along with outpacing the opponent in the passing department, with 399 total passes. Gotham had just 234, but played more efficient soccer overall.
The Wave now finds itself in a slump, having suffered a 3-0 home loss against the Houston
Dash on Sunday, which was San Diego’s worst loss of the season – and on the same night
that the team retired star-turned-investor Alex Morgan’s jersey.
“I think we started the second half in a positive way. I think after the second goal, we lost a lot
of the structure,” Wave FC head coach Jonas Eidevall said. “We need to continue to work.”
Wave FC has won just once in its last five matches, plus three loses and one draw. The club
now sits at 8-6, with six draws and 30 points. With the victory, Gotham has moved ahead of San Diego in the standings and now sits at third place. Although it has the same record and points as Wave FC, the club is one spot ahead in the NWSL table due to goal differential.
“These are really important moments as a team,” Eidevall said, adding that tough times can
reveal a lot about individuals and how they handle things as a group.
“We lose as a team, we win as a team,” he said, then said what his club is facing will reveal character. He made a distinction between personality and character, saying that personality is who you think you are and character is who you actually are.
“Football will always reveal your character. It will reveal our character as a team,” he said.
“What I see with the players is that they’re constantly trying to learn, constantly trying to do their best, which is a good starting point.”
Up next, Wave FC faces the Portland Thorns in a Sept. 20 away match that’s set to be
broadcast nationally on the Ion Television network. Then, the club returns home for a Sept. 26
game against the Orlando Pride, before hitting the road again for an Oct. 5 match against Washington Spirit.
Notes: Gotham FC midfielder Jaedyn Shaw, who joined the club from the North Carolina
Courage on Thursday via a record $1.25 million transfer fee, started the second half for GFC,
but was not a factor in the match. Shaw, 20, played for Wave FC for two-and-a-half years before being traded by San Diego to the Courage in January.
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