San Diego Wave suffered its second-straight home loss of the season on Saturday night falling 1-0 to Orlando Pride on a controversial penalty kick call in the 22nd minute that saw defender Kaleigh Riehl running into coverage just as a pass from Pride forward Julie Doyle made contact with Riehl’s left arm with the referee blowing the whistle immediately.
“If that’s a handball, then the game is dead,” said San Diego head coach Casey Stoney. “Her arms aren’t up, she is running in a natural motion, with no adjustment to the arm, and the whistle went to the mouth quicker than I’ve ever seen in my life. Clearly, there was a desire to give it.”
The Wave was not without its chances that included two shots from forward Alex Morgan that hit the post. The first coming early in the first half after she beat the Orlando defenders and the other in the 60th minute from a free kick just outside the box that midfielder Taylor Kornieck was not able to put away on the rebound.
San Diego got one more chance in the 89th minute but the ball that defender Kristen McNabb headed towards goal ended up hitting the crossbar. To compound matters, starting goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan received a red card for dissent after the match had ended, which makes her unavailable for their final home game at Torero Stadium on Saturday, Aug. 20 versus Houston Dash before moving to play in Snapdragon Stadium on Sept. 17.
Back-up goalkeeper Carly Telford will make her first start since July 15 against Racing Louisville where she came up with several key interventions including a penalty kick save late in the match.
LOYAL
San Diego Loyal fell 1-0 to Birmingham Legion on Saturday evening at Protective Stadium thanks to a goal in the 20th-minute goal by forward Juan Agudelo. Legion was definitely the better team in the first half creating the better chances and forcing San Diego goalkeeper Koke Vegas to make several appearances.
The second half was a more even match with both teams creating a fair amount of opportunities including one from forward Thomas Amang that the Legion defense reacted at the last second to knock out of bounds.
Despite the loss, San Diego remains firmly as the second seed in the Western Conference standings seven points ahead of Colorado Switchbacks and seven points behind San Antonio FC. San Diego now heads off to take on El Paso Locomotive on Saturday, Aug. 20 before returning home to take on Oakland Roots on Wednesday, Aug. 24.
San Diego Loyal and El Paso Locomotive faced each other back on April 3 where the team led by head coach Landon Donovan came out with a 3-2 victory.
ALBION
Albion San Diego will play its first NISA league match since July 2 taking on Maryland Bobcats on Wednesday, Aug. 17 at The Cage on the campus of Cal State San Marcos. The last time the team, led by head coach Ziggy Korytoski, was on the pitch it was crowned Independent Cup Southern California champion after a 3-1 win over Capo FC on July 24 at JSerra Stadium in San Juan Capistrano.
The reason for such a lapse in competitive competition is that NISA has been forced to reschedule or cancel matches that Albion San Diego was set to play at the start of the season. As things stand now, Albion has officially played only eight league matches compared to the 13 matches for West Division leader Cal United Strikers FC while the other division foes, Bay Cities FC and LA Force, have played 12 and 11 matches respectively.
A victory on Wednesday would place Albion San Diego in second place ahead of Bay Cities FC due to a better goal differential. As for Maryland, the team is currently two points behind Michigan Stars for second place in the East Division standings.
Hector Trujillo has been covering soccer starting with the San Diego State University men’s soccer team in 2003 for The Daily Aztec. A graduate of SDSU where he received his B.A. and M.A. degrees, Trujillo has a lifelong passion for playing and writing about the beautiful game.
SD Wave and Albion photos courtesy of David Frerker, SD Loyal courtesy of San Diego Loyal
