The San Diego Wave lose their away game against the OL Reign in their second match-up of the season.
On Sunday, the Wave followed their away trip in Seattle, Washington, where they faced the Reign who San Diego had defeated early in the season 1-0 at Torero Stadium.
Wave FC entered this match being on top of the league table with a 4-1-0 record and with best goal differential (+6) in the NWSL (8 GF to 2 GA).
Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle capitalized on a ball that was headed into the back of the net from a free-kick by Sofia Huerta in the 75th minute, which concluded in the one and only goal of the match in favor of the Pacific Northwestern team.
However, Wave head coach Casey Stoney says she saw her team control the tempo for the majority of the game, but the one clear opportunity by the opponent was just enough to outdid the game the Wave were displaying.
“I actually thought for large periods of the game, we controlled it. Albeit, we didn’t really create enough chances with the amount of control we had,” Wave FC coach Casey Stoney said. “Obviously, it was their set piece that outdid us. Listen, there were so many positives to take in terms of the way we retained the ball. We need to work on ball retention purposes, and work on set pieces as well to make sure we continue to pick up points.”
Wave FC forward Jodie Taylor spoke after the game, holding accountability of committing the foul that eventually led to the game-winning goal for the opponent.
Taylor said Lavelle deserves credit for the header goal, but she's still disappointed that they conceded and lost by a set-piece play.
“It was disappointing to give up a soft foul,” Wave FC forward Jodie Taylor said. “We did not necessarily need to make the foul they scored off of. It was a great goal by Rose (Lavelle), I do not take that away from her at all, but the game has its fine margins and it’s just disappointing to concede a set-piece goal.”
