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Photo Copyright Denis Poroy for USA TODAY Sports
On July 8, 2023, the Washington Spirit and the San Diego Wave played to a 2-2 draw in Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. The Spirit got on the board early in that match, scoring in the 23rd minute and holding the lead through halftime. San Diego found its equalizer in the 46th, then conceded an own goal, before tying the game in the final minute of regulation.
“This felt like a playoff game,” former head coach Mark Parsons said to reporters after the game in 2023. “We were playing a team that was also desperate for a win. It was intense from the 10th, 12th minute … we had to deal with a lot of stretched pressure.”
But this game last summer wasn’t a playoff game. And neither was June 15th’s game between the Spirit and the Wave in Washington. Sunday night’s match, the team’s third meeting in 14 months, was also not. But in all three, the two sides have played to a hard-fought draw.
The Spirit, who sit in second place in the NWSL table, seem to have found a worthy foe in the 12th-place San Diego Wave. The friction between the two teams may be surprising on the surface, but the details tell a different story.
Three face-offs, three draws
Sunday night’s game between the Spirit and the Wave in San Diego opened up pretty defensively; initially, it was not exciting to watch. Forward Trinity Rodman had one clever chance about 20 minutes in, but it didn’t lead to a goal. The Spirit eventually got on the board with an own goal from San Diego’s Kristen McNabb (and this fluke was technically recorded as the Spirit’s 37th regular season goal, breaking a club single-season record).
Later on, McNabb redeemed herself by scoring off a corner in the 66th minute. The game, brought to 1-1, featured some good chances from both sides as the clock wound down, including notable efforts from Spirit rookies Makenna Morris and Courtney Brown, but no one else was able to break through. The absence of Croix Bethune, who was sidelined for a vague knee injury, loomed large.
The face-off between the two teams a few months ago, on June 15, a game with a higher thrill factor, also resulted in a tie. In this match, played in Washington, D.C., the Spirit came back from behind to beat the Wave. Bethune, playing at her peak, scored a stunning goal in the 96th minute to tie the game in front of a record-breaking home crowd. Bethune’s goal was the second-latest in club history, only second to Ashley Hatch’s 90+10 goal in 2022, against – you guessed it – San Diego.
The third most recent matchup between the two teams, on July 8, 2023, also resulted in a tie, but the sides looked a little different back then. A penalty kick and an own-goal put the Spirit up, but goals from Jaedyn Shaw and Taylor Kornieck kept the California side alive. A 2-2 draw was a victory for a then-eighth-place Washington Spirit, who held even with the team that would ultimately win the 2023 NWSL shield.
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A new NWSL rivalry?
The Spirit now sit at second place in the NWSL standings, while the Wave hover around a meager 12th place. But games against the Wave are the only draws for the Spirit this season. And the reasons for the parity and good competition between the two teams come mainly from shifting strengths for each team that seem to work in tandem with one another.
In 2023, the Wave, bolstered by a dangerous front line, outshot the spirit on their July 8 matchup. Their killer offense was a threat to the entire league last year, but the Spirit’s strong defense and anchor in Andi Sullivan helped the Washington side hold even. In the teams’ two match-ups in 2024, the Spirit, with newfound energy on the front line, have outshot the Wave in both games, as the San Diego team’s forwards have underperformed, to a certain extent.
The Spirit, however, won fewer duels and tackles than the Wave in their competitions and had a slightly lower passing accuracy. While the Spirit have become an offensive threat over the past year, they have sacrificed a little bit of their field organization in the process. In contrast, what the Wave lack in offensive dominance they are making up for in defensive reliability.
These transitions for both teams seem to have led to continued even play when they meet. Battles between Rodman and Girma showcase the elite talent both teams bring and the absence of two dominant scorers, Bethune for the Spirit and Shaw for the Wave, added a new level of parity to the game.
Ultimately, in a league like the NWSL, fans, players, and analysts know that the table can’t tell you everything. Just last week, the Spirit dominated the then-second-place Kansas City Current and overtook their spot on the table with the win. This week, they drew even with a team they cannot seem to beat, a team two seats out of last place on the table. But, like Parsons remarked in 2023, the parity, evenness, and intensity of the competitions between the Spirit and the Wave make this an intriguing matchup no matter what the standings say. Perhaps a new, bi-coastal rivalry is afoot.
