Morgan’s Goal Only Highlight After Reign ‘Bullies’ Wave, Wins in Seattle

The San Diego Wave suffered a 3-1 loss Thursday in Seattle as a flurry of OL Reign targets within the first 11 minutes set the growth Nationwide Ladies’s Soccer League workforce again on its heels.

Reign stays undefeated within the preseason Problem Cup within the Western division.

“We will’t come to the bottom and take quarter-hour to get going, and [today] that’s what it took us, they usually punished us for that,” mentioned Wave head coach Casey Stoney.

“Exterior of that, we had some vibrant spells in moments — we created cheap possibilities, however these first 15 we brought about our personal issues — not making good clearances, taking part in in the appropriate areas, in order that’s actually disappointing.”

Stoney known as it a giant studying expertise, however “we don’t want that lesson once more” after the preseason match at Lumen Area in entrance of a 4,803-person crowd on a cold 43-degree evening. 

Wave (1-2-1, 4 factors) went down early within the second minute of the sport after a nook kick mixup within the field led to a shot by Reign’s Nikki Stanton. A number of deflections off Stanton’s shot left Wave goalkeeper Carly Telford unable to see the ball because it traveled previous her.

Simply minutes later, former NWSL Rookie of the 12 months Bethany Balcer netted one other Reign purpose. Balcer took just a few touches and wound up her left foot about 20-yards outdoors the field, zipping the ball into the underside proper nook previous Wave FC’s Telford.

Stoney mentioned: “The second purpose coming so quick, I feel it shook us, … We’ve bought to verify we cease conceding actually sloppy targets,… We’re virtually gifting targets.” 

The third purpose was scored by Reign’s Sam Hiatt off one other nook kick free ball within the 18th minute, making historical past with the quickest three targets scored in an NWSL recreation from kickoff.  

Within the first quarter-hour, “we had been second finest, and we bought bullied,” the coach added.
 
San Diego’s Alex Morgan answered with a twenty fourth minute purpose from an extended ball performed in by Taylor Kornieck. Morgan collected the ball from Kornieck and fired into the again of the web.

The 32-year-old Morgan leads Wave FC with three targets this season in 4 video games. 

The workforce entered the second half making one substitution — Belle Briede for Abby Dahlkmper — shifting Kristen McNabb into the backline, and Briede into the midfield. 

The Wave’s Amirah Ali subbed in on the 54th minute for Katie Johnson. Ali shortly created an opportunity down the appropriate flank, however hit the goalpost. She had a close to miss once more within the waning minutes.

Naomi Girma and Sofia Jakobsson entered into the match on the sixty fifth minute for Taylor Hansen and Jodie Taylor. Marleen Schimmer entered for Kelsey Turnbow shortly thereafter. 

Late within the second half, as Wave FC maintained possession and elevated the strain. Regardless of a number of possibilities, Wave FC was unable to seek out the web and the sport ended on the 3-1 halftime rating. 

The Wave has a fast turnaround with its subsequent highway match at Windfall Park towards the Portland Thorns on Sunday.