Wave scoreless in draw against Seattle Reign

Wave center back, Kristen McNabb, made her 150th NWSL appearance in the team’s scoreless draw against Seattle Reign. (Photo courtesy San Diego Wave FC)

San Diego Wave FC played the Seattle Reign to a scoreless draw on the road at Lumen Field. The draw extended San Diego’s unbeaten streak on the road to seven.

The draw kept the Wave at third place in the NWSL standings with 30 points, only one behind the Washington Spirit.

“It’s a quite even game when you look at goalscoring opportunities. I think we grow into the game,” Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall said. We start off a little bit slow, but we find our solutions and our rhythm in the game. The more the game goes on, the more dominant we become as well.”

“At the end of today, I think we’re a little bit closer to the victory, and I’m really pleased to see how we handle the second half from a control perspective.”

The Wave did get better as they match went on defensively with a solid performance by the backline that prevented Seattle’s transitional moments from being to dangerous. However, they lacked any great chances or shots to leave Seattle with three points.

Jonas Eidevall featured some lineup changes to protect the health of some players and try out a different dynamic to the frontline. Most interesting was moving Delphine Cascarino to the left wing instead of her more natural position on the right side.

“Sometimes it’s to find a balance to see what’s best for the player, what’s best for the team, (and) we fit the other pieces of the puzzle in as well,” Eidevall said. “Today that was the decision, and we know that the strength of (Cascarino) is that she’s versatile enough to play on both sides.”

The new wrinkle seemed to surprise Seattle initially, but Cascarino lacked a final pass or finishing shot that was promising enough to take the lead.

The Wave return home this weekend on Sunday, September 7, against the Houston Dash for Alex Morgan’s jersey retirement match. Morgan holds the record for most goals scored for the club and became a minority owner of the club following her retirement last season.