San Diego Wave regained first place in the NWSL standings in front of a sold-out Snapdragon Stadium where 32,000 fans saw the team, led by head coach Casey Stoney, come out with a 1-0 win over Angel City FC. The attendance obliterated the previous record of 25,218 set at Providence Park in a match between the Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage on Aug. 11, 2019.

The Wave took the lead in the 30th minute courtesy of a pinpoint cross into the box by forward Sofia Jakobsson to teammate Jayden Shaw who headed the ball by goalkeeper Dijana Haracic. The game was played with a high level of intensity throughout the 90 minutes with both teams creating opportunities in the first professional soccer match played at Snapdragon.

Angel City had its best chance to tie the game in the 73rd minute when forward Claire Emslie got a penalty call in her favor after the referee ruled that defender Christen Westphal fouled her inside the box. The conversion was taken by forward Savannah McCaskill in the 74th minute but goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan came up with her 21st penalty save of her NWSL career to keep the lead.

Thanks to a stout defense and being able to manage the rest of the match, the Wave came out with the three points, which gives the team 34 over its 20 matches The victory places San Diego Wave one point ahead of both the Houston Dash and Kansas City Current along with being two points ahead of the Portland Thorns with that team having one game in hand.

San Diego Wave qualifies for the playoffs with a draw in either of its final two matches or a draw or loss by Angel City versus Washington plus a draw or loss by North Carolina Courage against Orlando Pride on Wednesday, Sept. 21.

“I said to the team at the end, the most important thing is three points and I’m so proud of them because it keeps us in and around the playoffs and I think that’s so important,” said Stoney. “We are making history. All credit goes to the players because I have an incredible group of women who go out there and get results.”

LOYAL

San Diego Loyal came out with an impressive 3-0 win at Torero Stadium against Phoenix Rising to guarantee the team, led by head coach Landon Donovan, a playoff spot and extend its lead for second place in the western conference over the Colorado Switchbacks to four points.

After a scoreless first half, San Diego Loyal dominated the rest of the game opening the scoring in the 54th minute thanks to a beautiful cross into the box from forward Tumi Moshobane that found teammate Evan Conway who calmly placed it by goalkeeper Ben Lundt. The Loyal extended the lead in the 64th minute when forward Andrew Carleton took a shot from 25 yards out that hit the crossbar but instead of the ball going out of bounds, it when up in the air with Lundt unable to control it as it came down giving forward Kyle Vassell a chance to come and deflect it with his shoulder in the back of the net.

As if things weren’t bad enough for Phoenix at that point, the team, led by new head coach Juan Guerra, went down to 10 men when forward JJ Williams was issued a red card. San Diego Loyal looked like it was going to put the game away in the 77th minute when midfielder Alejandro Guido took a penalty kick. Still, Lundt was able to block both the conversion attempt and the ensuing rebound by Vassell from going in.

The Loyal did not have to wait long for the third goal when recently signed defender Jackson Simba Kasanzu scored on a short-range header on the ensuing corner kick.

“It was a battle in the first half and the second half,” said Conway. “Tumi (Moshobane) played a perfect pass, I just couldn’t ask for anything more and that kind of opened the game up from there. It came at the right time and we closed it out well.”

The win keeps San Diego Loyal mathematically alive for the top seed in the conference although it would need to win its remaining four games and have San Antonio get no more than three points from its remaining five matches. The next game for San Diego Loyal is on Saturday, Sept. 24 as they travel to face the Las Vegas Lights.

ALBION

Albion San Diego defeated the top seed California United Strikers 2-1 at Championship Stadium and are now guaranteed a playoff spot in its rookie season playing in NISA. Albion fell behind in the 12th minute when a miscommunication saw defender Jacob Haupt pass the ball back to the goalkeeper Ben Roach, but the pass came with too much pace and out of Roach’s reach, ending up in the back of the net.

After taking the 1-0 lead into halftime, Cal United saw itself go down to 10 men when defender and captain Garrett Hogbin was issued a red card in the 56th minute. Albion did not have an opportunity to take advantage of being a man up after forward Jonathan Bazaes was issued a red card of his own just two minutes later.

The team, led by head coach Ziggy Korytoski, was able to gather itself and tie the game in the 68th minute thanks to a precise cross from defender Harold Hanson to teammate Alioune Diakhate. Diakhate beat the Cal United defenders and headed the ball into the back of the net despite the best efforts of goalkeeper Jean Antoine scoring his 11th goal of the season, which is second-best in the league.

Albion took the lead in the 74th minute when a corner kick from midfielder Pablo Pelaez found Haupt who jumped straight up and headed the ball before Antoine could punch it out of danger. Both players ended up on the ground after Antoine made contact with the Albion defender, but the play continued with Albion defender Khadim Seye ending up with the possession and scoring from two yards out for the 2-1 lead.

Antoine left the game on a stretcher after laying on the ground for several minutes under the watchful eye and medical staff on-site with the veteran goalkeeper raising his left arm and giving a thumbs up to the fans on the way out. The referee and linesman conferred during the time medical staff was tending to Antoine and decided the goal should stand since no foul was called on either player and a scoring advantage was still present.

A total of 14 minutes of added time was issued to compensate for the stoppage in play with Albion able to keep the home team at bay and close out the game.

“The own goal was unfortunate in the first half but I felt we controlled the space in the game, though neither team controlled many opportunities in the first half,” said Korytoski. “It was disappointing that both teams went to ten men but our guys stayed the course. I was very pleased with how we defended and finished off the game.”

Albion currently sits in third place of the NISA standings extending its lead over fourth place Michigan Stars and closing the gap with second place Chattanooga FC after those two teams tied 0-0 on Sunday. Albion comes back home to play its next match at Canyon Crest Academy on Saturday, Sept. 24 against the Syracuse Pulse.

Héctor Trujillo ha estado cubriendo fútbol comenzando con el equipo de fútbol masculino de la Universidad Estatal de San Diego en 2003 para The Daily Aztec. Graduado de SDSU, donde recibió su licenciatura y maestría, Trujillo tiene una pasión de toda la vida por jugar y escribir sobre el hermoso juego.

Photos courtesy of David Frerker and San Diego Loyal