First place San Diego Wave looks to bounce back from a stinging 2-1 loss to fellow expansion team and NWSL rival Angel City FC as they take on Racing Louisville at 7 p.m. on Friday, July 15, at Torero Stadium.
“I looked at the stats after the game, and we dominated in large areas,” said San Diego head coach Casey Stoney. “Albeit, we caused our own problems on both goals. We know that’s solvable, and we created chances arguably to win the game and didn’t take them. We need to build on that obviously to get maximum points on Friday.”
Despite the defeat, San Diego was able to stay on top of the standing thanks to a dramatic 2-2 draw between second-place Chicago and seventh-place Kansas City last week.
As for the Wave’s upcoming opponent, this will be the second time both teams face each other this season with Louisville winning their previous game played at Lynn Family Stadium on May 18 by a score of 1-0.
“We know that Louisville will be a great opponent, just like all the other opponents that we play,” said Wave defender Kaleigh Riehl. “We’ve been watching a lot of videos about some of their tendencies and how we want to approach the game. Last game wasn’t our best game, so we’re looking at some changes to make both tactically and mentality-wise.”
The team will still be without several of its key players including the top goal-scorer in the league Alex Morgan, midfielder Taylor Kornieck, defender Naomi Girma, and goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, all of whom are representing their respective national teams in the semifinals of the CONCACAF Women’s Championship currently underway.
The match vs Racing Louisville is being called “Tile IX Night” to honor the federal civil rights law that was passed as part of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibiting sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.
After attempts from previous administrations tried to weaken Title IX, Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) emerged as the leader in the U.S. House of Representatives to protect the law, and it was later renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act following her death in 2002.
Photo courtesy: David Frerker
