It took until the eighth minute of second-half stoppage time, but midfielder Emily van Egmond produced the winning goal as the host San Diego Wave beat the Seattle Reign 1-0 on Friday.
It was the Wave’s first victory over the Reign in 10 all-time meetings between the teams, regular season and postseason combined.
After coming on in the second half as a substitute, van Egmond netted her first goal of the year as a flurry of chances from the Wave (1-1-0, 3 points) finally produced a result toward the end of stoppage time.
On the decisive play, the ball pinballed around the Seattle penalty area until it finally ricocheted to van Egmond, who fired a 12-yard, right-footed shot into the bottom right corner.
Before Friday, San Diego had an overall record of 0-7-2 against Seattle (1-2-0, 3 points). The most recent matchup between the teams saw the Reign take down the Wave 1-0 in the semifinals of last year’s playoffs.
Prior to van Egmond’s goal, the best chance by either team came way back in the 40th minute. After receiving the ball on a back pass, Seattle goalkeeper Claudia Dickey fired an errant attempted clearance right to Savannah McCaskill. The San Diego midfielder fired a shot toward an open net from 20 yards out, but the ball was deflected by Reign captain Lauren Barnes, causing it to bounce off the post and roll out of play.
Missed chances such as that one threatened to haunt the Wave. San Diego held a 16-9 advantage in shot attempts, including a 5-2 edge in shots on goal.
Seattle played the match without two veteran starters in the midfield — Jess Fishlock and Quinn. In their absence, Ji So-Yun generated most of the Reign’s attacking chances in the match.
San Diego’s best field player for most of the night was Swedish winger Sofia Jakobsson. However, she couldn’t net her second goal of the year Saturday, though she was involved in several chances after creating space down the right side.
–Field Level Media
