July 3rd @ Torero Stadium

Records: 

San Diego Wave 5-2-3

Washington Spirit 1-3-6

Last match:

San Diego Wave FC Won vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC 3 – 0

Washington Spirit Tied vs. Racing Louisville FC 2 – 2

Bi-Coastal Battle

Last season’s league winners and this year’s Challenge Cup runners-up Washington Spirit, travel to San Diego this week to face the Wave for their first regular season matchup. 

Absences Abound

Many NWSL teams in July are going to be missing players due to international duty (CONCACAF W Championship, UEFA Women’s Euro England 2022, CONMEBOL Copa America Femenina, Africa Women Cup of Nations, etc.). Remarkably, the Washington Spirit nearly leads the category of number of players away with a whopping seven (OL Reign will be missing eight..), so this weekend’s roster will look a bit different from the one that won them their first championship last season. The club will be without players from every position group (F/M/D/GK) and includes: Ashley Hatch, Ashley Sanchez, Kelley O’Hara, Aubrey Kingsbury, Trinity Rodman, Andi Sullivan, and Emily Sonnett. This mix of talent is what largely led to the team’s championship last year, but will those absences be too much to overcome for the remaining Spirit roster? This match will certainly be a test of the depth of Washington’s roster.

San Diego is not without its own “wave” of absences either. Attackers Alex Morgan, Taylor Kornieck (fresh off her first cap and first goal with the U.S. Women’s National Team), and Sofia Jakobsson will also be away on international duty. Defender Naomi Girma and goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan round out the missing spots from the Wave’s usual starting roster. Wave loses a consistent and league-leading scorer in Morgan, but might have enough existing firepower to make up for the absence (Jodie Taylor, Kelsey Turnbow, Amirah Ali, etc.). Look for the latter players to get more minutes than usual and add some points to the score sheet.

Topsy Turvy Table

Now that we’ve got an accurate picture of the significant roster absences each team will need to deal with, let’s look at the league table…

Expansion side San Diego Wave FC is having a dream first season thus far and currently sits atop the table after ten games (practical midpoint).  Winning the championship in a team’s first season is rare in any sport (though it has been done), but it would be a major feat if the Wave can pull it off by the end. 

Meanwhile, Washington currently sits in the middle of the table (7th out of 12), a seemingly disappointing mathematical start after a championship. With so many absences on the Spirit side of the ball, it will be interesting to see how the team fares against the top team in the league right now. Does Washington have enough ‘replacement’ pieces on its roster to match the fervor of the Wave’s winning ways on their home soil?

Final Thoughts

If the Wave want to retain league supremacy, they’ll have to get through last year’s league winners first (albeit a depleted version this weekend).

These international break games give fans an opportunity to watch some of the lesser known (and often younger) players in action. Players and recent roster additions that are talented and hungry to make an impact for their clubs should make appearances. These are the potential future stars of the league.

This game could be the beginning of an East Coast-West Coast rivalry.