San Diego Wave tops the North Carolina Courage 5-2 in record-breaking fashion

SAN DIEGO -- The Wave’s Sunday night meeting with the Courage ended in a scoring party, with their 5-2 victory over North Carolina recording the club's most ever goals in a single match and the club's longest unbeaten streak. 

Looking to continue their unbeaten form, the San Diego Wave returned home to Snapdragon Stadium for their Military Appreciation Night NWSL matchup against the North Carolina Courage. 

The Wave came into the matchday in fourth place in the NWSL standings, having earned 17 points from their five-win, two-loss and two-draw league record in 2025. 

Last Friday, the Wave traveled to Harrison, New Jersey, for their league match against Gotham FC at Red Bull Arena. San Diego left the Garden State with all three points, taking the slim 1-0 victory off the back of 17-year-old Kimmi Ascanio's sole goal. 

San Diego’s win last Friday pushed their unbeaten streak to five matches without tasting defeat, with their last loss taking place back on April 12 against the Kansas City Current, the NWSL table leaders. 

North Carolina took care of business last Saturday, defeating the Chicago Stars 2-0 for the home victory. 

The Courage, on 12 points earned in league play, came into Sunday night's match with a three-win, three-loss and three-draw record, looked to extend their own recent unbeaten streak to five consecutive matches without a loss. 

The Courage struck first within the opening 15-minutes, as off a counterattack, defender Ryan Williams’ far post cross found defender Feli Rauch unmarked, sending a low diving header back across the goal and into the net for the opening goal in the 12-minute. 

San Diego got right back into the match in the 25-minute as Wave defender Hanna Lundkvist sent an over-the-top long ball from her own defensive half into space for forward Delphine Cascarino running down the right wing. 

Cascarino brought the ball down and dribbled into the penalty area, rolling a cross into the center of the box. The cross was met by defender Perle Morroni, as she lifted her shot over diving Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy and into the middle of the goal for the equalizing 1-1 goal. 

A memorable equalizing goal for Morroni, as she netted her first goal in the NWSL and her first for the club. 

Cascarino’s cross for Morroni's goal pushed her assist tally to a league-leading four assists on the season. 

The Wave took their first lead minutes before heading into the locker rooms for halftime. Wave forward Gia Corley started the action after nicking the ball off a Courage defender near the penalty area.

Forward Adriana Leon gained possession inside the box and slotted a shot into the bottom left side of the goal for the 2-1 lead in the 40-minute. Courage goalkeeper Murphy got a hand on the shot attempt, but couldn’t push it far enough wide off target. 

Adriana Leon's 40-minute goal against North Carolina claimed her second goal of the NWSL season. 

Courage midfielder and reigning NWSL player of the week, Manaka Matsukubo, got her squad back on level terms, 2-2, in the 51-minute as she followed up her initial deflected shot attempt with a first-time side netting finish. 

It only took 3 minutes for the Wave to grab the lead again, as a high and far post cross by Wave midfielder Kenza Dali found defender Trinity Armstrong inside the box. 

Armstrong recentered the ball across the goal with defender Kristen McNabb getting the tapping finish to regain the lead at 3-2 in the 54-minute. 

The first goal of the season for McNabb. 

Wave’s Lundkvist had another crucial long ball into space, this time assisting Adriana Leon’s second goal of the night.  

Lundkvist's lofted pass found Leon right outside the center of the penalty box, as Leon got the finishing touch with Courage goalkeeper Murphy coming out of the box in hopes of winning the ball first. 

Leon’s bouncing goal pushed the Wave's advantage to two goals, as they led 4-2 at the 60-minute mark. 

Leon doubled up on her goal tally for the night, marking her third goal for the season. 

“That's the beauty of the sport, you're often doing a lot of runs that you don't really see end product on,” Wave forward Adriana Leon said on her pressing and runs that led to her multi-goal night. "I think tonight it was just really nice to see that the pressing finally paid off."

A six-minute stoppage of play would follow due to a Leon and Murphy collision on the scoring play. Murphy remained down after the goal and would be attended to, but would remain in the match after an on-pitch check-up with the Courage medical staff. 

Subbed on Wave forward María Sánchez put the icing on the cake, with an attack started by a dribble and pass by midfielder Melanie Barcenas, Sánchez found the back of the net in the 95-minute as the final score saw the Wave take the 5-2 victory. 

Sánchez recorded her second goal of the season.

With their Sunday night victory over the North Carolina Courage,  the San Diego Wave moved up to second place in the NWSL standings. Sitting on 20 points with a six-win, two-loss and two draw overall record for the year. 

Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall spoke at the post-match press conference on the identity and resilience shown by his squad in their 5-2 victory over the Courage. 

“It's important for us, if we want to continue to win football matches, we need to create goal-scoring opportunities.”

“I do think from where we want to be as a club and the players that we have, that we should be good on the ball, we should be able to express ourselves on the ball. We should be able to create on our own ability, and not on opponents' mistakes.”

“Not only today, but during the season, I think we responded well, both when we scored and when we conceded. So that's a good sign of mental strength.”

A record-breaking match for the Wave, as they recorded their largest goal tally in a single match with five goals on the night, as well as earning the club's longest unbeaten streak at six matches. 

“It's just a culmination of all of our hard work,” Wave defender Kristen McNabb on her team's consistency leading to positive results. “I think we have done such a good job of establishing an identity, and we've been true to that every week, and I think we've built on every performance every week.”

With an approaching Women's Soccer International Break starting on May 26, the San Diego Wave will have a near two-week layover, as their next match sees them back at Snapdragon Stadium to host Seattle Reign FC in NWSL play on June 6 for a 7 p.m. kickoff. 

The Wave hopes to continue their historic unbeaten form after the international break, with the opportunity to push their streak up to seven consecutive matches without a defeat.