Lacking goals, Wave begins second half of season Saturday at Houston – San Diego Union-Tribune

The San Diego Wave FC may be going too far in demonstrating that there is nothing more difficult in football than scoring.

The NWSL club begins the second half of the season on Saturday in Houston looking for more goals, having appeared in the first half’s 13 matches less connected, less creative and less able to shine individually as the best clubs of the 14 national teams. Women’s Football League.

Things could change when the 10th-ranked Wave take on the 11th-ranked Houston Dash.

Given their careers, it would only be a matter of time before Wave forward Alex Morgan, 34, midfielder Savannah McCaskill, 28, and winger María Sánchez, 28, each scored their first goals of the season.

In theory, the Wave’s improved build play and generally stout defense will improve the offense.

But these are just projections. The results were not very evocative of the beautiful game.

The Wave ranks 12th in their league with 12 goals. They have scored more than a goal only twice this season – both times against expansion teams.

Their total of six assists sits one behind the rookie year total of Croix Bethune, a 23-year-old midfielder with the second-place Washington Spirit. Although no Wave player has more than one assist, the league-leading Kansas City Current features four players with multiple assists.

Forward Sophia Smith, 23, of the fifth-place Portland Thorns, has nine goals in 11 matches, which is close to the Wave’s pace of 12 goals in 13 matches. Down three players Wednesday who had scored 10 of their 14 goals, third-place NJ/NY Gotham nonetheless managed two high-quality scores on the way to a 2-1 win over the Wave.

Buoyed by eight scores in eight starts from 24-year-old Zambian forward Barbra Banda, one of several impressive playmakers from Africa to join the NWSL this year, the long-suffering Orlando Pride sit in second place.

Even modest gains in scoring should help San Diego (3-5-5) move into one of eight playoff spots.

Besides the expected upticks among veterans who have each faced challenges, like Morgan’s ankle injury on April 19 that kept her sidelined for a month and McCaskill and Sánchez each acclimating to a new team, the Wave will try to extract gains elsewhere.

“It’s about what we do now to make things better,” coach Casey Stoney said Wednesday after a 2-1 loss to NJ/NY Gotham FC. “The message was that we need to collectively think about how we can improve. It’s my responsibility to make things better.

Freshman Mya Jones scored Wednesday, but the Wave didn’t put another shot on goal during the 90 minutes.

“We need to make slightly better decisions when we have the ball,” Stoney said. “We can hurt the teams a little more.”

Saturday marks the team’s third road game in eight days.

After their June 28 home match against Chicago, several players will travel to the national team’s preparation for the Paris Olympics. They include defender Naomi Girma, Morgan, goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, midfielder Emily van Egmond and midfielder/forward Jaedyn Shaw, 19, who along with striker Makenzy Doniak shares the team lead with three goals.