Stoppage time stunner ends Seattle’s Reign over Wave
San Diego Wave FC midfielder Emily Van Egmond sends in the shot that would be the game-winning goal in the eighth minute of stoppage time to beat the Seattle Reign 1-0. (Photo courtesy of San Diego Wave FC)
The Seattle Reign has historically been San Diego Wave’s kryptonite. Across nine matches in all competitions the past two years the Wave lost seven times and drew twice. The Reign even ended San Diego’s season last year in the National Women’s Soccer League semifinals.
The Wave finally turned their fortunes and ended the winless streak with a stoppage time game-winning goal to beat the Reign 1-0 in front of an announced crowd of 16,746 fans.
Head Coach Casey Stoney said after the match that she was very aware of her team’s record against Seattle and was glad they “beat them at last.”
“I take a huge amount of pride in the players, because I thought they were outstanding tonight. I thought we won draws all over the pitch, and I thought we defended our box really well,” said Stoney. “We attacked, created chances, we could’ve been up one or two in the first half.”
Part of their strong attack was a great performance by Sofia Jakobsson as a right winger who was constantly creating chances and pressing high to create issues for the Reign. This match she was joined by fellow Swedish national team player Hanna Lundkvist who played a great game in her natural right back position.
“I think it helps they can speak the same language,” Stoney said. “I thought (Lundkvist) was outstanding tonight. Her positioning and the way we found her from the back was good. First half we skipped lines a little too much, and she was getting pressed, and I thought in the second half we were better in terms of our adjustments of going into the midfield to go out.
“(Jakobsson) knew exactly what Hanna was doing and Hanna knew what (Jakobsson) was doing. (Jakobsson) was stretching lines for us, which helped and (Lundkvist) was able to get on the ball and create,” said Stoney. “I thought they had a very good connection, (it’s) something to build on.”
“We weren’t walking off that field without three points,” midfielder Danielle Colaprico said after the match. They continued to press high and be dangerous in the opposing half taking advantage of a gassed Seattle defense they had worn down after 90 minutes.
Just after regular time Kyra Carusa ran down the pitch to save a ball headed out of bounds to send a cross to the middle. The cross was perfect and forward Alex Morgan headed it in with ease, however as Carusa and Morgan began to celebrate and fans let out their colored smoke, the line referee called it out of bounds leaving the match scoreless.
The lone goal came in the eighth minute of 11 minutes of stoppage time when Danielle Colaprico got the ball at the edge of the penalty area and juked a defender perfectly, for an open opportunity to pass the ball to a dangerous position in front of the goal. Colaprico’s pass was originally intended for Emily Van Egmond, but it first deflected off Alex Morgan toward Savannah McCaskill who tried to maintain possession. Instead she slid and tapped it forward slightly toward Morgan. The ball bounced off Morgan right in front of Van Egmond who smashed it in with her right foot to make it what would be the final score of 1-0.
“I love playing with (Van Egmond), I feel like we read each other very well. We’re both soccer-minded midfielders and like to keep the ball and combine a bit, so it’s a relationship on the field that’s evolving each game,” said Colaprico. “You can feel that in the last play, as I cut the ball back I saw her pop at the top of the ‘six’ area and that’s kind of where I was crossing it to.”
The Wave now enter an international break with 10 players being called up for their national teams. The Wave won’t play again until April 13, when they play an away game against Racing Louisville broadcasted on Ion. Their next home game isn’t until April 27, when they take on the newly created expansion team, Bay FC.
