San Diego Wave lose Southern California derby 2-0 against Angel City
Kimmi Ascanio controls the ball in the midfield in the Wave’s 2-0 loss against Angel City FC. (Photo credit: San Diego Wave FC)
San Diego Wave lost their Southern California rivalry match 2-0 against Angel City FC at home in front of the largest crowd of the season, at 15,881. The result is the largest margin of defeat the Wave have against their rivals, but San Diego remains atop the NWSL standings.
“We’re not good enough in the first half, not from a technical level in the game,” Eidevall said. “That puts us into a lot of problems, and that’s something we have to look ourselves in the mirror and say with the way that we are playing, we have to have higher standards than what we had in the first half.”
The Wave held the possession advantage, but created much less opportunities on the offensive end, and allowed the visiting offense to get into the attacking third easily and take quality chances.
The first goal for Angel City came in the 17th minute after a long ball went down the right wing. Evelyn Shores ran with the ball and just before the ball would go out of play she crossed the ball into the penalty area. Wave goalkeeper Luisa Agudelo, in her second NWSL match, inched back on the line and jumped for the ball, but was unable to control it.
The ball landed in front of the back post perfectly for Maira Niehues to head it in. Perle Morroni attempted to clear the ball, but she hit Niehues in the face. Niehues was down for a few minutes before play restarted and Morroni was given a yellow card for the offense.
The second goal came from another one of Angel City’s Brazillian midfielders, Ary Borges in the 26th minute. Kristen McNabb cleared a ball with ACFC’s tall striker, Svendís Jóndsóttir running directly at her. Jóndsóttir can take long throw-ins treating them like set pieces, and the Icelandic forward threw the ball to a crowded area forcing the ball backward in front of Borges. She shot the ball toward the center of the goal where Agudelo stood, but the keeper couldn’t make the save making the score 2-0 in favor of the visiting team.
The Wave came out as a better team in the second half, but ACFC were fine conceding control of the ball and allowing the offensive pressure to come to them.
San Diego had a couple of good chances to score, but no one could convert their opportunities.
The Wave even earned a penalty in the 85th minute, but extended a streak of failed penalty kicks to five. The last time the Wave succeeded in a penalty kick attempt in a regular season match was a Jaedyn Shaw goal on May 8, 2024.
Kimmi Ascanio earned the chance after getting hip checked by Ary Borges inside the box. Lia Godfrey took the kick and hit the left post after the goalkeeper jumped in the opposite direction. The ball continued rolling and hit the goalkeeper’s back, but did not go into the back of the net as it rolled even further down the line.
The Wave had a few more chances in the final few minutes plus four minutes of stoppage time, but couldn’t stop the shutout.
“It’s unfortunately part of the business, [and] some days we’re not getting our best performances,” Eidevall said. “We’re very disappointed with that, but as in life, it’s all about how you react to this here now. How you react during the training week, and how you are going to react against Kansas City, and that’s going to show what kind of team we are.”
The Wave play their next match on Friday, July 17, on the road against the sixth place Kansas City Current.
