San Diego Wave extend unbeaten streak to five beating Gotham FC 1-0

17-year-old Kimmi Ascanio scored the lone goal in San Diego Wave’s 1-0 victory over Gotham FC. The goal marked her third goal scored over the past four matches. (Photo credit: San Diego Wave FC)

San Diego Wave FC won their third straight away match with a 1-0 victory over Gotham FC at Sports Illustrated Park in New Jersey. The victory extended their unbeaten streak to five matches and put them in second place in the NWSL standings. 

The Wave seemed lost to start the match completely disoriented by Gotham’s aggressive press that disrupted their style of play.

“Our problem in the first 20 minutes was that we were almost like two different teams. We were not connected with our players,” Eidevall said. “So we had to adjust a couple of our positions to be lower so we could find better passing lanes through their organizations and when we managed to do that I think we had a lot of success.” 

Once the Wave got on the same page they began to create more opportunities to get down the pitch and scored on their first shot of the night. 

It came in the 30th minute after Delphine Cascarino drove the ball through the midfield while drawing the attention of multiple Gotham players. She then passed it to an open Perle Morroni on the left wing with few players to defend. Morroni paused shortly before trying to pass the ball to Kimmi Ascanio making a run. 

The pass hit Ascanio as she ran by, but she collected the ball and took on a defender before sending a shot in with the outside of her right foot to make it 1-0. 

“I just made the run and Perle found me. I saw that I had one player in front of me and I just decided to take her on and hit it however I could and just make sure it went on frame,” said Ascanio. 

Morroni went on to have a  game on both ends of the field keeping Gotham from taking any dangerous shots. 

“She’s a situation solver, Perle Morroni,” Eidevall said. “I think she's a joy to watch play at times because she’s so clever in solving situations, in both offense and in defense.

“I actually think she would be a player as a full back if you were a young player, look at her, what her decision-making is, when to dribble forward, when to pass forward. She’s very good at decision making.”

Ascanio nearly doubled the lead in the second half in the 72nd minute after a good chance in Gotham’s 18-yard box, but hit the top of the woodwork. 

The Wave play their next match at home on Saturday, May 25, against the North Carolina Courage who also feature a possession based style and one of San Diego’s former star midfielders, Jaedyn Shaw.