After a 14-day break between matches due to the international period, the Wave get a short week ahead of their Friday night match against the first-place Orlando Pride.
It poses a new threat in Orlando forward Barbra Banda, who has eight goals in seven appearances (six starts) this season. Banda made her NWSL debut against the Wave on April 19, playing in the final 30 minutes of that match, and the Pride have not lost since then. They outscored opponents 15-6 in seven matches since Banda’s debut.
The 24-year-old Zambia native leads the league with three braces this season.
“Very aware of the talent that she's got. Technically good, intelligent, quick, strong, powerful, scoring goals,” Casey Stoney said about Banda. “All we can do is see it as a challenge.
“I think we go into this game as underdogs … We're going to have to be at our best to get a result. We know that. But I feel like we've got some good ideas going into this game. We know the threats they've got, and it's how we can use our threats against them.”
MORE NOTES:
• 10 Wave players played with their national teams in the latest international break, and didn’t get back to San Diego until Wednesday.
During that time, forwards Alex Morgan, Jaedyn Shaw and defender Naomi Girma played with the U.S. national team in Colorado and Minnesota. Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan played for the Canada national team in Canada. Midfielders Emily van Egmond and Kaitlyn Torpey played for the Australia national team in Australia. Forward Maria Sanchez played for the Mexico national team in Canada. Forward Sofia Jakobsson and defender Hanna Lundkvist for the Sweden national team in Sweden. Forward Kyra Carusa played for the Ireland national team in Sweden.
“We know it was coming. All we can do is on board those players recover and well from [Tuesday] night’s game, make sure they're prepped and ready to go for Friday and do the best job we can possibly do to make sure that we can, you know, try and get a result against the team that's in form at the moment,” Stoney said.
• Torpey and van Egmond were named to the Australian national team roster for the upcoming Olympics this summer in Paris.
It’ll be van Egmond’s third time making the Olympics roster with Australia since she became a mainstay on the national team in 2010. It’ll be Torpey’s first.
“I'm really pleased for both Em and Torps. I think, you know, Olympics is such an incredible experience, having played in one myself,” Stoney said. “I think it would be an invaluable experience for a player like [Torpey] to be part of a major tournament and to continue in the vein that she has with international football. Like, it's an honor to represent your country and I'm pleased and proud of both of them. And, you know, we've got some games to win here before they go. But we'll be massively supporting them on the way.”
• Sheridan is two saves away from her 500th career regular-season save. She would become the third goalkeeper in NWSL history to reach the milestone.