San Diego Wave enter midseason break top of the table with win against the Chicago Stars

Kenza Dali wore the captain’s armband in San Diego Wave’s 2-0 win against the Chicago Stars. (Photo credit: San Diego Wave FC)

The San Diego Wave earned a 2-0 victory against the Chicago Stars on the road in Evanston, Illinois with an early goal in the third minute by Dudinha and a dagger by Trinity Byars in stoppage time. 

“I think it was great for us to come out with three points here,” Wave rookie Lia Godfrey said. “Playing away is difficult, we played good. I don’t know if it was up to our level, our standards, but I think we had great pressure defensively which was what led to our second goal. We played the way we wanted to play and imposed our style here in Chicago and I think that’s what led to our success.”

The Wave came out strong in the first few minutes earning an early goal in the third minute. The Wave offense had the ball in Chicago’s half along the right side of the pitch, but managed to move it back and to the middle drawing the Chicago defense close leaving Dudinha wide open on the left side.

Godfrey made the pass into open space for Dudinha waiting in the left wing to shoot the ball in hard and low to make it 1-0.

The rest of the first half the Wave maintained the possession advantage and did not let Chicago create many great opportunities despite the home-field advantage. Kimmi Ascanio nearly made it 2-0 a couple times with solid chances with headers, but was unable to convert them into a goal. 

The second half was largely uneventful, but the Wave had to weather a storm for the last 15 minutes of the match that made the ending of the match a bit “stressful,” according to Jonas Eidevall.

San Diego’s defensive pressure ultimately sealed the victory after narrowly avoiding an equalizing goal in stoppage time with an offside trap. In the 13th minute of stoppage time the Wave attackers were playing high against Chicago’s backline forcing Scripps Ranch alum, Sam Staab to make a poor clearance. 

Dudinha headed the clearance to the center for Gia Corley who passed it to Trinity Byars inside the penalty area. Byars controlled the ball with her chest and shot it with her right foot toward the far post to make it 2-0. 

“We can be a team defined by the results, and we can build the narrative for that or we can be a team that is focusing on our performances and understand that the score can take care of itself,” Head Coach Jonas Eidevall said of his players having higher standards despite the victory. “That’s 100% the right mindset on what we need to build on. Our focus should always be on our performance.” 

The Wave have two friendlies announced thus far for the month-long pause. Their first match will be against the Philippine Women’s National Team in San Diego, then will play on the road on June 24, against the Portland Thorns.