“That was the story of our season.”
The story of the season is a pair of turnovers in the game’s first 10 minutes that turn into shots directly at Angel City goalkeeper DiDi Haracic from Savannah McCaskill and Mya Jones.
It’s a great play by Haracic to make a save on Maria Sánchez’s shot from inside the box.
It’s Sánchez's header going just wide with a whole half of the net open in the 19th minute and another Sánchez header missed in the 29th minute.
SO CLOSE FOR THE WAVE!
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 24, 2024
María Sánchez with the header but it goes justttttt wide.
📺 @CBSSportsNet pic.twitter.com/2VyLMhG0T7
And for the epic finale:
DiDi Haračić's clutch DOUBLE save in the final moments 😱 pic.twitter.com/UU1H71Xtl2
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 24, 2024
The game-winning header in second-half stoppage time was saved in heroic fashion. The first shot went off the crossbar from Emily van Egmond, the secondary chance on target by Alex Morgan and then a third chance from Abby Dahlkemper where Dahlkemper nearly got kicked in the head by Angel City midfielder Rocky Rodriguez.
Yes, Thursday night at BMO Stadium was the perfect encapsulation of the season so far as Casey Stoney said in the quote atop this story.
A season of almosts.
Of the Wave’s 13 total shots, four were on target, two were blocked and seven were off target.
“I thought when we got in the box, we were dangerous. We created (chances),” Stoney said. “We had 13, 14 shots, maybe more than that, and our best shots didn’t even hit the target so that’s something we need to continue to work on.”
The Wave had 1.49 expected goals in this game, per Stats Perform, with the majority of those chances created in the first half.
The first half was led by three scoring chances for Sánchez, who led the team with 0.66 expected goals.
“Target the back post,” Stoney said about what the team did well in the opening half at BMO Stadium.
“It was pleasing that we targeted the back post. I thought the crossing was excellent at times, but we’ve got to get our headers on frame. We’re going to make the goalkeeper make the saves.”
“I just feel like we pressed really well in the first half. We stepped to the game plan. I think the whole first half, we kind of just had them in their defensive half and we created a lot of shots from that. It’s just kind of putting the ball in the back of the net at this point,” Danielle Colaprico said.
When a team is getting the quality shots, like they did Thursday night, and nothing is finding the net, how do you finally break through?
“The hardest part of the game, in my opinion, is getting that final third right and creating those chances and getting that creative interchange and free-flowing movement,” McCaskill said. “I think you’re finally starting to see that. We just have to put the ball in back of the net. End of story.”
Only two of Angel City’s 11 shots were off target. Kailen Sheridan made saves on five of those and another four shots were blocked.
The back line of Kristen McNabb, Naomi Girma, Dahlkemper and Hanna Lundkvist played the whole 90+ minutes with Girma and Dahlkemper in their second games since coming back from injuries.
“It massively helps in terms of consistency,” Stoney said of the four playing the whole match. “I think Kennedy (Wesley)’s done brilliant when she’s been in. Exceptionally well. I think Abby gave us something different with the ball in behind today and I think she’s got such a good long range and I thought she hurt them with that.
“I think we’ve got, if we can have that consistency with that back four, it just helps in terms of the team in front.”
UP NEXT:
The NWSL is on an international break next week with the final national team matches before the Olympics in July. When the Wave return to play, they’ll welcome the second-place Orlando Pride to Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, June 7, at 7 p.m.
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS:
A hard-fought match ends with both @weareangelcity and @sandiegowavefc splitting points!
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) May 24, 2024
Angel City vs. San Diego Recap presented by @Nationwide pic.twitter.com/jSmizpPoSh
POST-MATCH PRESS CONFERENCE: