In a 100-minute-long battle of fouls and failed chances, San Diego drew scoreless to Houston at the Shell Energy Stadium. It was the fourth match-up between the two teams in which San Diego remained unbeaten. The Wave took on the Dash for the last match of their on-the-road stretch. They hoped to head home with a total of four more points. Instead, they’ll head back to southern California with two as tonight’s match marks their second draw in the past week.
Although the game started with promise of a San Diego victory, it turned into a stalemate as both teams failed to find the back of the net. The two teams came out charging with intensity, desperate to end up on the scoreboard. It was a solid performance from the visiting side, better than their previous match against Gotham FC. San Diego immediately applied a high press to Houston, attempting to slow the home side.
The first look at a goal came in the 10th minute with a shot from Dash midfielder Diana Ordóñez. The ball came from outside the box and deflected off a Wave defender, requiring a diving save from Kailen Sheridan. It was the only shot on target Houston had all night. The Wave goalkeeper recorded her 5th clean sheet of the season and her 22nd club career shutout.
kailen called on and answers 🫡 pic.twitter.com/3gN8AxCazh
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) June 23, 2024
San Diego seemed to dominate the first half after the 10th minute outshooting Houston 6-2 and recovering the ball in transitions. They continued to build on attacks and repeatedly entered the attacking third in a controlled manner. It's something they've been working on all season. San Diego maintained its strong defense. They held Houston back in the moments they attempted to break through San Diego’s backline. Both teams were aggressive but it was the Wave that came on top. They had really taken advantage of the Dash's sloppy transitions and possession of the ball in their own 18. At half-time San Diego had out-possessed Houston 51% to 49% and had better passing accuracy (87% to 79%).
The stats favored the Wave, but they didn't fully capitalize off their chances or the Dash's mistakes with ball possession. San Diego needed to take more risks to finish their opportunities. They once again struggled to execute the perfect finish- a common trend in recent games.
The Wave's best chance for a goal came in the 63rd minute with Mya Jones crossing the ball to the far post and falling to Kyra Carusa. Hitting the ball just over the line, Carusa was determined offsides by VAR.
María Sánchez's performance against former team
María Sánchez takes a corner kick against the Houston Dash. Courtesy of San Diego Wave F.C.Sánchez faced off against her former team after being acquired by the Wave midseason. Aside from Carusa's attempt, the Wave came close with Sánchez's infamous corner kicks that found the box but didn't make it in. Although she didn't score, she created good chances for her new team. The Mexican national team captain showed her skills in the 13th minute. She found the ball and created separation from her defenders as she charged down the left flank. Sánchez took a shot putting pressure on the ball off a narrow angle but it was just too wide past the face of the goal.
La Bombi, as she's affectionately called, served as key in many sequences when she dropped down. In the 15th minute, Savannah McCaskill received off half-turn and changed the point of attack by passing the ball to MaKenzy Doniak. The midfielder passed to Sanchez who faced her defender, shooting near the box but the ball was deflected by a Houston player.
Though she's yet to score for San Diego, Sánchez is becoming increasingly familiar with her teammates and has seen an increase in time with the ball. Her impact on the pitch has also grown as she earned her first assist to Jaedyn Shaw against the Washington Spirit.
The Current State of the Wave
Both teams desperately needed a victory. San Diego had yet to win during this stretch and Houston drew to Angel City last Saturday. The Wave hasn’t won any matches on the road this season. They've had an opposite performance from last year when they held the best on-the-road record in the league. In fact, the Wave have struggled to compare to their victorious record last season which saw them lift the NWSL Shield.
The Wave has been winless in the past seven matches going 0-2-5. It's not that the team is bad per se. In recent games, they've improved, creating momentum and being more aggressive on the attacks. They've also maintained a threatening defense led by Naomi Girma and Abby Dahlkemper despite frequent changes to the roster. Yet they score little to no goals, averaging less than one goal per game. While they're struggling to finish offensively, the Wave's defense has been one of the best and was evenly matched with the Dash's. Head Coach Casey Stoney spoke of the strength in San Diego's defensive performance against Houston.
"I thought we gave them [Houston Dash] real problems where we pressed and we hassled, and we got around and got the ball back. We just got to make more of our possession."
Wave FC Head Coach Casey Stoney
Stoney spoke on the talent that the Wave's defensive side has. "I think they're incredible. I think stability with Naomi and Abby was key and having Kailen. She makes a big save in the first half, you know, that ricochets. I think we've got a world-class goalkeeper, and two world-class centrebacks, and being able to change the fullbacks like that and then come in and perform like they did, I think was excellent," Stoney said regarding Girma and Dalhkemper's performances Saturday night.
The Wave remains plagued by their difficulties hitting the perfect last touch but there were moments of progress that have translated from practice to the pitch in Saturday's match. "We were creating. lot more around the top of the box. I think that that final pass was kind of the one thing that we were still trying to find. Whether we were skipping it or putting a ball in a bit quicker or playing to the back post. Sometimes you can get caught up in different patterns but in the flow of the game, that's when you need to make the decision,"said Wave forward Kyra Carusa.
"I think the best thing that I saw amongst our offense was the communication off the ball and in the breaks, especially between all of us," she added.
Stoney added improvements the offense must make for the future.
"We need better creativity and execution and we lack that at the moment. I think we're trying and the players are genuinely trying their hardest. We do lack that and I think our players can feel it too. We just got to keep working. That's all we can do."
Wave FC Coach Casey Stoney
Scheduling Impacts
The Wave found themselves in an incredibly unique situation this week. They were the only NWSL team to play three back-to-back matches on the road in one week. In seven days, the Wave traveled across the country to Washington D.C., then New Jersey, and then to Houston, Texas. A travel schedule this hectic would leave a mark on anyone, but for the Wave, it made things even more difficult to reach their goal of a win.
In a press conference post-match, Stoney shared her thoughts on the schedule and her players. "No other team has had this [3 match stint]. I think it's extremely unfair on the players. I think for player welfare to ask us to go to Washington away, New York away, and then come to Houston in June two days after we've played the previous game is unacceptable. Scheduling-wise it shouldn't have happened. But for that reason, I'm extremely proud of my players tonight. They put an absolute shift in. It was so hot out there. They worked so hard. They controlled the game until the last 10 minutes when we gave away a few set pieces...But huge credit to my players tonight," she said.
Stoney also stressed how important fair scheduling of matches was. "What we've got to consider in all of this is the players, their health, their body, their mind and what we put them through. Travel is brutal in this league. The conditions are brutal in this league. This could have been better. There was no need for this," she said.
Carusa echoed similar sentiments regarding the added impacts of the Wave's three-game stint away. "It's no secret that this 3-game week has been quite hard. But I'd say that, again third game in seven days, and all the travel we've put in between all these games as well as different training environments, having to take travel days as recovery days, it's a lot on anybody, and any one's body. There's nothing that really prepares you to have to jump time zones and take travel days as recovery days and be on the road as long as we have," she said.
Moving Forward
Looking forward, the Wave have a week of rest and training back in San Diego before they take on the Chicago Red Stars (5-2-6, 17 points) at home in Snapdragon Stadium. The Wave (3-5-6, 15 points) will hope to move up from ninth on the league table. It will be the Wave's annual Pride Night match and is set to kick-off at 7:00 PT.
