San Diego Wave picks up the pace with two-match winning streak to move into third place in NWSL standings

The National Women’s Soccer League playoffs are a month away. It appears the San Diego Wave is catching fire at the right time of the season.

The Wave extended its winning streak to two games with a 2-0 victory over the Kansas City Current in front of 10,761 spectators last Friday at Snapdragon Stadium.

The timely win moved the San Deigo club into sole possession of third place in the 16-team standings table in a bid to secure home field advantage for the upcoming playoffs.

The Wave (14-8-3, 45 points) moved three standings points ahead of both the Portland Thorns (12-76,42 points) and Utah Royals (13, 9-3, 42 points) and six points ahead of Angel City FC (11-8-6, 39 points) and North Carolina Courage (12-10-3, 39 points).

Kansas City (11-9-5, 38 points) holds down the final playoff spot in eighth place.

What’s in the Wave’s favor? The San Diegans now sit one point behind the second place Washington Spirit (14-7-4, 56 points) and six points arrears of the front-running Gotham FC (15-4,6), 51 points).

The top four teams in the standings secure home field advantage for the single-elimination playoffs. The top eight teams qualify.

The Seattle Reign (11-10,4, 37 points) and Denver Summit (9-8-8, 35 points) are both in hot pursuit of the final playoff spot.

What the Wave needs to overcome? The team has five games left on its regular season schedule — four on the road and one at home.
The locals triumphed on two second-half goals following a scoreless first half. The hosts received some help on the first one in the 50th minut on an own goal by Laney Rouse. Melanie Barcenas crossed to the back post off a pass from Kimmie Ascanio. Mimi Van Zanten had kept the ball alive down the right flank.

The Wave nursed te gift lead until the 91st minute when Kennedy Wesley scored on a header off a free kick by Kenza Dali.

Kansas City played one player down after Rouse received her second yellow card in the 89th minute.

Both teams finished with 15 shots. The Wave controlled possesion 58 to 42 percent, though the visitors logged eight corner kicks to four for the hosts. Sandra Paños was credited with four saves to record rthe shutout victory. She set the tone early with several important saves as Kansas City applied pressure in the opening minutes.

The Current was charged with 12 fouls compared to nine for the Wave. San Diego’s Barcenas and Kristen McNabb both recieved yellow cards.

The Wave travels to Racing Louisville (7-16-2) on Friday, Sept. 25, for another key match as the playoff drama starts to build. Louisville sits a distant 15 points off playoff qualifying.

Standings at www.nwslsoccer.com

Photos by Karla Martinez