Back-to-Back Heartbreakers for Wave, This Time a Loss to Host NJ/NY Gotham

The last couple of minutes have been distressing for the San Diego Wave the past two games.

Maycee Bell, a rookie for NJ/NY Gotham (8-2-3, 27 points), hit the back of the net in the 90+ minute to hand the Wave (3-5-5, 14 points) a 2-1 loss in New Jersey.

At their previous National Women’s Soccer League match, the Washington Spirit scored in the final 30 seconds to tie San Diego.

Wave head coach Casey Stoney said: “We’ve drawn too many — we’ve lost too many now. And we’re falling away from the pack, so it’s not good enough. But I thought we were much better in the second half once we sorted our defensive shape … slightly better decisions.”

Gotham has nearly twice as many points as the ninth-place Wave, with only three wins. KC Current and Orlando Pride both have started the season with eight wins and no losses.

But it was a good night for rookies, as Wave forward Mya Jones scored her first professional career goal in her seventh start of the season.

The home side got on the scoreboard first when forward Rose Lavelle hit a rocket from the top of the box in the first half’s extra time.

San Diego leveled the score just two minutes into the second half when Jones scored. After intercepting a pass from Gotham goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger, the rookie beat her defender on the dribble and charged toward the goal.

Jones held off her defender and hit a well-placed, left-footed strike into the near corner for the goal.

As the match was closing out, however, Gotham‘s Bell received a cross and hit the far corner to secure three points.

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan earned her 50th regular season appearance and 50th start for San Diego. Sheridan previously made 80 starts for NJ/NY Gotham (Sky Blue FC) from 2017-21 and holds every goalkeeping record for the club.

After the match, Jones said: “So I was like, all right, I’m just gonna try my hardest to win this ball. And I think I just got lucky to win that. And then I was like, all right, put it in the back of the net.”

Stoney didn’t think there was anything she could say to the team afterward.

“To feel like that twice in a matter of days, there’s nothing I can say to recover,” she said. “It’s about what we do now to make us better.”

The Wave next travels to Houston to play the Dash for the final game of the three-game away stretch. The match, broadcast on ion, is at 4:30 p.m. Pacific on Saturday, June 22, at Shell Energy Stadium.