San Diego Wave coach Jonas Eidevall called Friday night’s match against Racing Louisville “a big challenge.”
Consider the challenge met.
Gia Corley scored in the 27th minute and Ludmila added a goal in the 49th minute, and the visiting Wave won 2-0 to stay among the top teams in the National Women’s Soccer League standings.
While Racing Louisville (7-17-2) is struggling, a win against the team in Kentucky was notable nonetheless. Five of Louisville’s seven wins have come at home.
San Diego improves to 15-8-3, climbing to second place in the 16-team NWSL. The top four finishers host playoff matches, while the top eight make the postseason.
Corley got the scoring started midway through the first half.
Lia Godfrey found Corley down the left side. She drove toward the middle and fired a point-blank shot into the right-hand corner of the goal for the lead. Ludmila’s goal came on a deflection following a shot by Corley.
San Diego was outshot by Racing Louisville 20-12, though the Wave had far more shots on goal (9) than the hosts (1). The Wave had an expected-goal count of 2.94, meaning their performance actually outpaced their production. Sandra Paños had one save to register her third clean sheet in 10 matches with San Diego.
The Wave return to action Oct. 2 with a match against Orlando Pride. At 9-13-3, the Pride are in 11th place in the NWSL.