Nearly 51 weeks ago, the San Diego Wave traveled to Texas and, well, nothing happened and everything happened.
The Wave and Houston Dash played to a scoreless draw, leading San Diego coach Casey Stoney to criticize the National Women’s Soccer League’s schedule. The club’s three-games-in-seven-days road trip to Washington D.C., New Jersey and Houston was “unacceptable” and “unfair to players,” Stoney said at the time.
Stoney was fired two days later.
The Wave hired an interim coach (and then another one), changed their offense and floundered to the worst season in the franchise’s young history.
The Wave returned to Houston on Friday night and, well, last year seemed like a long time ago.
Kenza Dali scored in the 17th minute, Adriana Leon added a goal 20 minutes later and María Sánchez scored against her former team, and the Wave beat the Dash 3-2. San Diego has won four consecutive matches on the road; at 7-3-2; they’re four points behind the Kansas City Current for first place in the NWSL. Kansas City plays Racing Louisville on Saturday.
The club led 3-0 before surrendering a pair of late goals. Barbara Olivieri scored in the 61st minute; Yazmeen Ryan’s goal seven minutes later made it a one-score game.
San Diego has just one match left, a June 22 tilt against the Washington Spirit, before the NWSL’s international break hits. The club will play a pair of exhibitions against the Utah Royals in July and is otherwise idle until Aug. 2, when it faces the North Carolina Courage in Cary, N.C.
The club will carry a four-match road winning streak into the showdown against former Wave star Jaedyn Shaw, now in her first season with the Courage. The Wave beat Racing Louisville, the Chicago Stars and NJ/NY Gotham FC by a combined score of 8-1 before Friday’s win in Texas.
