{"id":413416,"date":"2026-07-27T02:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/413416\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T02:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T02:54:09","slug":"tom-krasovic-wave-in-holding-pattern-as-they-await-stars-debut-emergence-of-other-scorers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/413416\/","title":{"rendered":"Tom Krasovic: Wave in holding pattern as they await star’s debut, emergence of other scorers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Diego Wave\u2019s inability to finish any of their numerous scoring chances Sunday contributed to a 2-0 defeat on a hot and humid afternoon in Mission Valley.<\/a><\/p>\n

Fans sought shade. Photographers saw their cameras and laptops overheat. After the Seattle Reign applied additional heat with goals in the 17th and 20th minutes, the Wave rallied often but couldn\u2019t overcome either their own imprecision or goalkeeper Claudia Dickey\u2019s shot-blocking.<\/p>\n

The big picture is as mixed as mixed can be.<\/p>\n

The Wave can move the ball better than many of their opponents and are no worse than average at creating goal-scoring chances.<\/p>\n

But the Wave feel the injury-induced absences of a pair of excellent goal scorers in Dudinha and Catarina Macario.<\/p>\n

Dudinha had five goals and four assists in 13 matches before suffering a season-ending knee injury while playing for her native Brazil on June 9.<\/p>\n

A world-class forward and attacking midfielder, Macario has yet to play since the team signed her March 27. Her final game with English club Chelsea was Dec. 10, after which physical setbacks sidelined her. In her San Diego introduction, Macario provided no details on when she would resume playing.<\/p>\n

Every team in the National Women\u2019s Soccer League would be sharply reduced in the attack\u2019s final third if it lost finishers as capable as the Brazilian bossa novas Dudinha, 21, and Macario, 26<\/p>\n

The Wave have stayed above water. They went into Sunday\u2019s match in fourth place, positioning them to nail down one of eight playoff berths over the next 13 games.<\/p>\n

But their margins on the field are noticeably thinned.<\/p>\n

Ideally, Macario can return and provide a lift as Dudinha did late season, scoring seven goals in 10 games after general manager Camille Ashton signed her in the summer.<\/p>\n

A former Torrey Pines High School star, Macario has scored 16 goals in 29 matches with the U.S. Women\u2019s National Team.<\/p>\n

Sunday, the Wave did show a crisp give-and-go game. Melanie Barcenas and Gia Corley created difficult tests for Dickey.<\/p>\n

Denying the Wave a crucial 1-0 lead, no teammate could convert on a bright drive and dish by speedster Ludmila that unbalanced Seattle\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Another chapter to Sunday\u2019s story was the Reign\u2019s comfort against the Wave that goes back to the Wave\u2019s inception.<\/p>\n

Seattle tends to trouble San Diego with its size, its defense and its set pieces. This is the franchise that dealt the Wave their worst loss of all, the 1-0 semifinals defeat in San Diego that denied Casey Stoney\u2018s club, which looked weirdly tentative for long stretches, a 2023 NWSL finals berth at Snapdragon Stadium.<\/p>\n

It was more of the same, then, Sunday when Maddie Mercado, a Cathedral Catholic High School alum, drove a perfect header to extend her goal streak to three matches and drop the Wave behind, 1-0, completing a sequence that began with a throw-in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a very tactical, astute side, which are doing basic things really, really well together,\u201d Wave coach Jonas Eidevall said, a nod to Reign coach Laura Harvey, NWSL\u2019s career leader in wins and games who had Stoney\u2019s number.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cLike, it\u2019s a very, very hard team to break down, they have an excellent working mentality. They\u2019re smart, they\u2019re street-smart on the pitch in details.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eidevall said the game served up teaching material that will benefit his team.<\/p>\n

Forming a large circle around their coach afterward, Wave players listened attentively as he addressed them.<\/p>\n

The picture will brighten considerably if one of those players, Macario, who wore street clothes, can make it back this season and show the form that earned her the largest contract in NWSL history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Diego Wave\u2019s inability to finish any of their numerous scoring chances Sunday contributed to a 2-0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413417,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,76,75,1083,127],"class_list":["post-413416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}