San Diego Wave FC

San Diego Wave Fútbol Club, commonly referred to as Wave FC, or simply the Wave, is an American professional women's soccer team based in San Diego, California. The club competes in the National Women's Soccer League as an expansion team that began play in the 2022 season. Wave FC is owned by American businessman Ron Burkle.

San Diego Wave FC
Full nameSan Diego Wave Fútbol Club
Nickname(s)Wave FC
FoundedJune 8, 2021 (2021-06-08)
StadiumSnapdragon Stadium
San Diego, California
Capacity32,000
OwnerRon Burkle
PresidentJill Ellis
Head coachCasey Stoney
LeagueNational Women's Soccer League
20231st of 12
WebsiteClub website

The Wave won the NWSL Shield with the league's best record in the 2023 season. This is the team's first trophy.[1]

History

The club is San Diego's first women's professional soccer team since 2003, when the Women's United Soccer Association folded and forced the San Diego Spirit to disband.[2]

Early years

In January 2021, Lisa Baird, the commissioner of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), announced that an expansion team in Sacramento, led by Ron Burkle and in conjunction with Sacramento Republic FC's expansion bid into Major League Soccer, would join the NWSL in 2022.[3] However, Burkle never confirmed the news publicly before exiting the Sacramento Republic's ownership group. Instead, on June 8, 2021, the NWSL announced San Diego as the location for an expansion team owned by Burkle to begin play in 2022.[4] On November 9th, it was announced the club would be called Wave Fútbol Club.[5]

Inaugural season (2022) and early success

San Diego Wave FC officially began play on March 19th, 2022 in the NWSL Challenge Cup against fellow expansion team Angel City FC on the road, where they drew 1-1 after Kaleigh Riehl scored a later equalizer in the 82nd minute. The Wave played their first home match against the Portland Thorns, resulting a 1-0 loss in the University of San Diego's Torero Stadium to a crowd of 6,000. They would go on to record their first ever victory on April 2nd in their second leg against Angel City, thanks to a brace by captain Alex Morgan and goals from Jodie Taylor and Amirah Ali in a 4-2 win. Despite the promising start, the Wave would finish the group stage with two loses and draw, dropping them to third place in the West Division and knocking them out the tournament.

The Wave opened their inaugural regular season on May 1st to a three game win streak, defeating the Houston Dash 1-0, NJ/NY Gotham 4-0, and Chicago Red Stars 2-1 before finally falling to Racing Louisville 1-0. The San Diego Wave sat on the top of the table for 11 weeks before a 2-1 loss to the KC Current dropped them to second on August 7th. They briefly regained the top spot twice on August 27th and September 17th but two draws against Orlando Pride and North Carolina Courage to close out the season saw them finish third, earning them a spot in the first round of the playoffs. In the first round, the Wave faced off against the Chicago Red Stars, winning 2-1 thanks to an Alex Morgan goal in the 110th minute. The Following week, the Wave traveled to Providence Park to play against eventual champions Portland Thorns losing 2-1 following a Crystal Dunn goal in the dying embers of the game.

Four members of the inaugural Wave team won awards for the season; Captain Alex Morgan won the Golden Boot after scoring 15 goals, rookie defender Naomi Girma won both Defender of the Year and Rookie of the Year, Canadian Kailen Sheridan won Goalkeeper of the Year and former English defender Casey Stoney won Coach of the Year.

2023 and NWSL Shield winners

In their second year, the San Diego Wave FC won the NWSL Shield trophy with their 1st place position in the league. The Wave won 11 of their 22 matches, drew 4, and lost 7 for a total of 37 points on the season. San Diego's +9 goal differential (31 scored, 22 allowed) was second-best in the league, behind Portland Thorns' +10 differential. The team's first-place record gave them a first-round playoff bye and a home semi-final game.[1]

Colors and crest
Wordmark also used as part of the San Diego Wave FC identity.

On December 15, 2021, the team revealed its crest for the 2022 season. Press released said, "The crest, encased in a shield, is a symbol of strength, for the city and team, to proudly stand behind. A powerful wave, cresting in the rich blues of the Pacific Ocean, sits front and center as the iconic mark of Wave FC. And under the proud banner of the city’s name, are the vivid colors of the horizon, celebrating the beauty, fun, and vibrant culture of the city and its people."[6]

Sponsorship
Period Kit manufacturer Front sponsor Back sponsor Sleeve sponsor
2022 Nike Kaiser Permanente Pechanga Resort Casino Gatorade
2023 Think Blue San Diego

Will Perform

 Bud Light

Stadium

The team began play at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego for its inaugural season. It moved to Snapdragon Stadium, located in the Mission Valley campus expansion of San Diego State University, for its last two home games of the 2022 season.[7] Wave FC's opener at the new stadium against regional rival and fellow 2022 NWSL entry Angel City FC on September 17 drew a sellout crowd of 32,000, setting a new NWSL single-game attendance record.[8]

Players and staff

Current squad
As of August 25, 2023.[9][10]
No. Pos. Player Nation
1 GK Kailen Sheridan  Canada
2 DF Abby Dahlkemper  United States
3 FW Rachel Hill  United States
4 DF Naomi Girma  United States
5 MF Emily van Egmond  Australia
6 FW Kelsey Turnbow  United States
7 FW Amirah Ali  United States
8 MF Sierra Enge  United States
10 FW Sofia Jakobsson  Sweden
11 FW Jaedyn Shaw  United States
12 MF Giovanna DeMarco  United States
13 FW Alex Morgan  United States
14 DF Kristen McNabb  United States
15 MF Makenzy Doniak  United States
16 DF Madison Pogarch  United States
17 GK Lauren Brzykcy  United States
18 DF Kaleigh Riehl  United States
19 FW Kyra Carusa  Republic of Ireland
20 DF Christen Westphal  United States
22 MF Taylor Kornieck  United States
23 MF Belle Briede  United States
24 MF Danielle Colaprico  United States
25 FW Melanie Barcenas  United States
26 DF Mia Gyau  United States
28 MF Meggie Dougherty Howard  United States
30 GK Shae Yáñez  United States
33 GK Meagan McClelland  United States
34 DF Cheyenne Shorts  United States
42 DF Sydney Cummings  Guyana
46 DF Chai Cortez  United States

Coaching staff
As of March 15, 2022.[11]
Position Staff
Head coach Casey Stoney
Assistant coach Rich Gunney
Assistant coach Victoria Boardman
Goalkeeper coach Louis Hunt

Records

Year-by-year
Season League Regular season Playoffs Challenge Cup Avg. attendance
P W D L F A Pts Pos
2022 NWSL 22 10 6 6 32 21 36 3rd Semi-finals — 8,729
2023 22 11 4 7 31 22 37 1st Semi-finals —

Head coaching record
As of October 23, 2022

Only competitive matches are counted. Includes NWSL regular season, playoffs, and Challenge Cup matches.

All-time San Diego Wave FC coaching stats
Name Nationality From To P W D L GF GA Win%
Casey Stoney  England July 14, 2021 present 30 12 8 10 44 35 040.00

Award winners
See also: NWSL awards

Golden Boot

Defender of the Year

Goalkeeper of the Year

Coach of the Year

Best XI First Team

Honors

References
  1. Stone, Chris (October 15, 2023). "San Diego Wave Wins NWSL Shield in Just 2nd Year: No. 1 in Regular Season". Times of San Diego. Retrieved October 16, 2023.
  2. Zeigler, Mark (June 8, 2021). "Women's pro soccer coming to San Diego in 2022". The San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  3. Kassouf, Jeff (June 8, 2021). "San Diego confirmed as 2022 NWSL expansion market; Ellis to serve as team president". The Equalizer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  4. "San Diego To Be Home to NWSL Expansion Team, Led by Jill Ellis as President". NWSL. June 8, 2021. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on September 4, 2023. Retrieved September 4, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. "San Diego Wave FC Unveils Official Team Crest and Colors". www.sandiegowavefc.com. December 15, 2021. Archived from the original on November 29, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
  7. "NWSL expansion team San Diego Wave FC unveil official crest". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  8. "Match Recap: San Diego tops Angel City in front of capacity crowd for first win at Snapdragon Stadium". National Women's Soccer League. September 18, 2022. Archived from the original on May 18, 2023. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  9. "Roster". San Diego Wave FC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2023. Retrieved August 25, 2023.
  10. "San Diego Wave FC Sign Shea Connors, Chai Cortez and Sydney Cummings as National Team Replacement Players" (Press release). San Diego Wave FC. June 27, 2023. Archived from the original on July 1, 2023. Retrieved June 27, 2023.
  11. "Wave FC Announces Complete Roster Ahead of 2022 Challenge Cup". sandiegowavefc.com. San Diego Wave FC. March 15, 2022. Archived from the original on April 8, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2022.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.