The Chicago Red Stars benefitted from an own goal and then quick-fire scoring from Mallory Swanson and Jameese Joseph to defeat San Diego 3-0 on Friday night and end a five-match winless stretch.
The first-half own goal accounted for the only scoring until Swanson, who has scored in three straight matches, and Joseph tallied goals in the 67th and 69th minutes, respectively.
The Wave fired Casey Stoney, who had been the only coach in the club’s NWSL history that began in 2022, earlier in the week. Paul Buckle, who was an assistant coach for San Diego in 2022, was in his first match as interim coach.
The Wave (3-6-6, 15 points) have an eight-match winless streak. Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan made two saves.
Goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher had four saves for the clean sheet for Chicago (6-7-2, 20 points).
Stoney’s tenure as coach ended on a seven-match winless streak, with the Wave going 0-2-5 in those outings. San Diego had the best record in the league last season.
The offense continued to be a problem for the Wave on Friday night. They’ve scored only 12 goals in 15 matches this season.
The own goal came when the ball deflected off San Diego’s Naomi Girma in the 42nd minute.
Joseph, who substituted into the match at the beginning of the second half, assisted on Swanson’s sixth goal of the season. That was followed by Joseph converting for her first career NWSL goal.
San Diego’s Alex Morgan shot high on a penalty kick in the 74th minute after a hand ball on Chicago’s Sam Staab in the penalty area.
This was the first of two scheduled meetings between the teams this year.
The Wave will try to get settled under a different coach, though only next week’s match at Portland remains before the Olympic break. They’ll have three consecutive home matches when they return to action in late August.
–Field Level Media
