Spoiled by sunny Southern California weather, the San Diego Wave encountered something they rarely see during a soccer season — rain.
The 1½ inches dumped on the nation’s capital Sunday couldn’t drown San Diego’s surge, and came nowhere near cooling off the National Women’s Soccer League’s hottest road team.
Midfielder Lia Godfrey fired home a goal in the 60th minute, and the Wave beat the Washington Spirit 1-0 on a rain-soaked Mid-Atlantic afternoon. Godfrey’s fifth goal of the season was her fourth game-winner, a franchise record for clinching scores in a season.
Godfrey said the Wave were “locked in from the beginning,” even after seeing rain in the forecast. The club snapped Washington’s 13-match streak without a loss while holding star Trinity Rodman scoreless on two shot attempts.
“We were like, ‘We’re going to do this. We’re ready for this. We’re going to do this. This rain is not going to affect us,’” she said with a smile. “And I don’t think it did.”
The San Diego Wave’s Lia Godfrey, left, battles a Washington Spirit defender during Sunday’s 1-0 win over at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. (San Diego Wave)
The win improved the Wave to 10-6-2 this season, keeping them in fourth place in the NWSL standings. Few teams in the league have played better this season on the road than San Diego, which has won more matches away from Snapdragon Stadium (six) than at home (four). The Spirit drop to second place in the league, one point behind NJ/NY Gotham FC.
The Wave’s East Coast odyssey continues Friday with a match at now-first-place Gotham. San Diego will return home Aug. 14 for the first of three consecutive Friday home matches. The club will face the expansion Denver Summit, Utah Royals and Racing Louisville before the calendar rolls to September.
Notable
The Wave acquired defender Brooklyn Courtnall on loan from Bay FC on Friday, though she did not see the field in Sunday’s win.
A Los Angeles native who played collegiately at USC, Courtnall comes from a famous family.
Her father, Russ Courtnall, played more than 1,000 games in the NHL; so did her uncle, Geoff Courtnall. Brooklyn Courtnall’s mom, Paris Vaughan, is an actress. Her older sister, Ally Kendricks, is a former UCLA soccer and track standout turned model who is married to longtime NFL linebacker Eric Kendricks.