Whether it’s a quark of scheduling or the will of the soccer gods, the Loyal will not be the only soccer team that goes head-to-head against a defending champion this week as San Diego Wave will play 2021 NWSL champion Washington Spirit at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 3 at Torero Stadium.

The Wave sits in first place with 18 points. The team is led by USWNT forward Alex Morgan, who leads the league in scoring with 11 goals, and her fellow national team player midfielder Taylor Kornieck, who scored her first goal representing the stars and stripes in a friendly against Colombia on June 26.

“I have no words,” said Kornieck about her first appearance with the national team. “So incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and truly a night I will never forget.”

The team, led by head coach Casey Stoney, is coming off a dominating 3-0 road victory over Gotham FC on June 19 while Washington is having trouble finding the form the team had last year having only one victory in its first 10 NWSL matches this year.

Despite the rough start, the Spirit is currently in seventh place in the standings with the top six teams qualifying for the playoffs and more than half the season left to be played.

The match will also be a homecoming for defender Samantha Staab who was a big reason Washington became champions last year. Before being drafted in the 2019 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) college draft out of Clemson University, the San Diego native and Scripps Ranch High School graduate spent time in the Women’s Premier Soccer League with the San Diego SeaLions in 2017 and San Diego Parceiro Ladies in 2018, along with having the opportunity of participating on the U-23 U.S. women’s national team. In 2018, she was called up to play in the Nordic Tournament, where she was the only non-professional player selected for the U.S. roster.

This will be the first of two meetings between San Diego and Washington with their next match being on Sept. 10 at Audi Field.

“I think we all would agree that we have a long way to go in the season still, and while we may be on the top right now, we have so many games and so many opportunities to keep growing as a team,” said San Diego forward Makenzy Doniak, “I think we’ve shown that up to this point so we’re excited to keep pushing ourselves and have different players step up to the plate.”

Foto cortesía: San Diego Wave FC