San Diego Wave on best run in club history; beat NC Courage 5-2
San Diego Wave defender Perle Morroni celebrates her equalizing goal in the 25th minute. The Wave went on to win 5-2 against NC Courage. (Photo credit: Wave FC)
San Diego Wave FC are on the best run in their history.
The Wave are undefeated through their last six matches, the best stretch in club history, following a goal fest against North Carolina Courage in a 5-2 result on Sunday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
The victory marks a complete turnaround for the club compared to the 2024 NWSL season with only six wins in 24 matches, while the 2025 version has already matched that win total through 10 matches.
“We’ve always had that winning mentality and that showed with early-on success with the club, so I think we’ve kind of just built on that underdog gritty mentality,” said defender Kristen McNabb who is one of three players left from the Wave’s inaugural squad. “Also, the soccer we’re playing this year is unbelievable, so I think it’s been really fun to be a part of.”
NC Courage got on the board first after putting forth a well-organized attack coupled with poor defensive marking by the Wave.
The visitors brought the ball down the left wing and were defended on the center and near post of the goal, but Feli Rauch was left wide open on the back post. Another Wave player should have been marking her, but she received a cross and easily headed it into the back of the net to make it 1-0.
The Wave equalized soon after in the 25th minute as they struggled to pass the ball through the middle and instead opted to send a long ball down the right wing for French National Team star, Delphine Cascarino.
Cascarino nearly had a great cross a couple minutes early but put forth another perfect cross into the penalty area for her teammates to score. Perle Morroni found herself in the middle of the box and made a great play with her right foot to equalize the match at 1-1.
The Wave maintained composure and kept pushing on both sides of the ball to take the lead and did so in the 40th minute. While playing out of the back, Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy, passed it to her center back, Kaliegh Kurtz, to relieve the high pressure the Wave put forth.
Wave midfielder Gia Corley saw an opportunity with Kurtz’ back turned to her and stole the pass away easily with a kick. The ball rolled forward for striker Adriana Leon to send into the back of the net with ease to make it 2-1 just before the end of the first half.
The courage came out swinging to start the second half with strong pressure and created a few runs that were near goal-scoring opportunities before equalizing in the 52nd minute.
A cross into the Wave’s box was deflected outward toward Courage attacker, Manaka Matsukubo, who took a strong shot that bounced off former Wave star Jaedyn Shaw. The bounce acted as a perfect pass and second opportunity for Matsukubo to shoot the ball on frame. That shot went low and to Kailen Sheridan’s left to make it 2-2.
The excitement continued as the Wave retaliated quickly in the 54th minute thanks to an earned corner kick by Gia Corley and Delphine Cascarino down the right channel.
Kenza Dali took the corner kick, but passed it short to Savannah McCaskill. The two attempted to move the ball to a better position and eventually did much closer to the goal. Dali sent a long cross toward the back post for Trinity Armstrong who headed the ball down to the opposite side. The ball landed perfectly outside the post for fellow center back Kristen McNabb to tap it in making it 3-2.
Leon added on insurance with another goal to net a brace, in what could have been a very dangerous play. She got a long ball sent down the pitch by right back Hanna Lundkvist. Leon ran to track the ball down forcing the Courage goalkeeper to come off her line. The goalkeeper collided with Leon taking both of them down, but Leon had already gotten her foot to the ball to make it 4-2.
“I was just hoping I’d make it out of there alive, because I saw the goalkeeper coming straight at me and I think I just got a toe on it and luckily it bounced in the back of the net,” Leon said. “I’m glad that both of us are okay, because that was a scary collision.”
María Sánchez scored another after a couple of attempted shots by Melanie Barcenas to make it 5-2 and set the club record for most goals they’ve scored in a match.
“There’s a couple of things we spoke about as a team where we needed to be better at and a lot of those things I think the players did very well today,” said head coach Jonas Eidevall. ”We scored the goals in different ways, but they were all ways that were close to how we like to create chances as a team, so maybe that’s even a little bit more pleasing as a coach.”
The Wave will not play a match this week due to the FIFA international break, which will see many players leave the country, but will return to Snapdragon Stadium on June 6, against the sixth-place Seattle Reign.
