San Diego Wave earn big three points against North Carolina Courage

San Diego Wave forward Melanie Barcenas unleashes a strong left-footed shot for a goal in the club’s 2-1 win against the North Carolina Courage. (Emmanuel Alonso/Sandiego.futbol)

San Diego Wave FC earned an important three points at home against the North Carolina Courage with a 2-1 victory. The win put the Wave ahead of the Courage in the standings into fourth place with 42 points with six matches left in the regular season.

Gia Corely scored her first goal of the season to open the scoring, then San Diego native Melanie Barcenas went on to score in the second half. The Courage nearly mounted a comeback after a strong goal by NWSL MVP candidate Ashley Sanchez, but the Wave defense held strong to keep the victory.

“I think it was an exciting game of soccer,” said Head Coach Jonas Eidevall. “It was a game between two teams that really wanted to play, and you saw was a battle in the midfield in how you could create overloads, how you needed to move.”

One of the biggest storylines heading into the match was the return of former Wave captain, Kailen Sheridan, to San Diego. The Canadian goalkeeper left the Wave before the start of the season after “mutually agreeing” to terminate her contract with the Wave.

The keeper was even poised to reach a major milestone as the third player in NWSL history to tally 50 NWSL regular season clean sheets. However, the Wave delayed that milestone starting in the 23rd minute with a goal by Gia Corley.

The Wave built a strong attack down the left side of the pitch allowing Brooklyn Courtnall from the left back position to send in a cross into the penalty area. The shot deflected off a few players and landed right in front of Corley to strike the ball with her right to make it 1-0.

Neither side created much more threatening attacks in the first half, but Sandra Paños made a big doubler save around the 30th minute to keep the Courage off the board.

The Wave went on to score off a counter attack in the 72nd minute. Courtnall won a ball from a Courage attacker and sent the ball to the midfield before it down to the right side of the pitch for Melanie Barcenas. The 18-year-old forward took a few touches, then cut to her left and unleashed a shot with her left foot to make it 2-0.

The goal seemingly woke up the attacking play on both sides, but Ashley Sanchez scored hoping to earn the Courage at least one point. The goal came in the 82nd minute in a similar fashion as the Barcenas goal just 10 minutes earlier. Sanchez got a ball down the right side and from the penalty area took one touch to move away from her defender before sending in a great shot with her right foot to the far post to make it 2-1.

The Wave play their next match at home against the Kansas City Current for their second-to-last regular season home match of the season on Friday, September 18.