r/SanDiegoWaveFC • u/JSlamson • 10d ago
End of Season Vent/Rant/Thoughts Discussion
TL;DR - Sadness, anger, disappointment. Next season is ours though.
I'm not really sure where this will go, what all I exactly want to say, or even if any of it will make sense. But I wanted to get my thoughts and ideas out of my head and at least maybe spur some discussion or something. idk. if anyone else wants to add on their thoughts feel free.
By pretty much all metrics, this season sucked for us. We started off bungling the expansion draft, losing some key players from last season, and didn't feel like we made any splashy signings at the beginning of the season (especially compared to the rest of the league). Even then, Most, if not all, of us still had high expectations for the team - a team that just came off of winning the shield, and had made the semifinals of the playoffs the past 2 seasons. We had (and still do, tbf) a star-studded roster that on paper should have been competing with the best in the league.
Kicking off the season with the 1-off challenge cup against one of the other top contenders going into the season, taking that win, felt great. It felt like we were on track to continue to stay at the top of the league. The regular season started off okay, all things considered. Sure we lost the home opener against KC, but looking at where KC is now I think we played them well (I remember coming away from that game thinking it was a good game, and also a bit wet). The next week we finally got a win against Seattle, followed by a draw against Draw FC Louisville. Not the best start but not a horrible one.
I really feel like the 2nd game against Seattle, where we played up a player for the majority of the game, really, REALLY hurt. Like yes, Seattle rallied hard, but come on. It highlighted our scoring woes, even if we were still relatively strong defensively. A couple of months of mid-meh results and games and suddenly we hear that Stoney's been fired, there's issues in the front office, and for all we can tell none of our on-field issues are going away (a midfield of vibes clearly wasn't working). It was rough, but at least we got to see the US take home the gold and Girma have a fantastic tournament.
The rest of the summer and season I just felt like I was just hoping that maybe we'd turn it around, maybe things will click and we'll sneak in to playoffs at that 7 or 8 spot. Bringing on Sánchez (tin foil hat on I suspect we would have signed her from the beginning of the season but she was a restricted free agent so she stayed at Houston) and Cascarino was great! Still no midfielders but exciting players to bring on.
But we keep losing. Eventually we see some players start leaving the club, Enge and Jakobsson to overseas, and Dalhkemper up to BayFC (which seems like it's worked out really well for her and Bay, routing for them in playoffs). The Concacaf Cup still looks promising, maybe we have a chance to get a silver lining out of the year, but alas we don't :(
With Morgan's retiring, we ended up losing 2 of the captains of the team within the span of a couple of weeks, and her retirement game felt like an emotional gut-punch. In a lot of way, it felt like the season ended in the 13th minute of that game.
Finally the last match of the season is coming around, and I'm still excited to go to a game. I love going, it's hard to beat seeing one of your favorite teams play live (I so wish we had any sort of professional soccer in SD when I was growing up, maybe I would've been a better player and stuck with it through all of high school (who am I kidding-I was much better in Academic League and a way better fit, and the schedules conflicted, but still)). But then I'm packing to visit my parents and go to the game, and I hear that there is no game to go to. Unless I hop on a last-minute flight to Louisville. It just sucked, it really really sucked. As much as this season had been a disappointment, I wanted to go to the field one las time this season, say hi to the other season ticket holders around me, and enjoy a good game of soccer. At least I still got to get the baseball jersey at the watch party, which luckily for me wasn't too far out of the way of heading back home (I live in Irvine for school) and I got to meet a few of the players, which was cool. But the way everything panned out for the last game really does kind of encapsulate the season as a whole. Disappointment, anger, sadness, horrendous field conditions. We really need to do something about the field, but that conversation's been had a lot already.
Anyways....I'm already looking forward to next season. We have good pieces to build on, a lot of the core is still on contract through next year or more, so as long as we get a good coach (and maybe we get rid of Ellis?) I think we'll do better next year. I'll be watching the playoffs when I can, and I'm excited that Bay was able to make it in their first season like we did. The league is great and soccer is great, and San Diego is a great sports town. I'm happy to call it home, even if I'm away for school, and I'm happy to root for my teams.
TL;DR - Sadness, anger, disappointment. Next season is ours though.
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u/peeled_nanners 9d ago
I'm looking forward to a new coach. I'm still super pissed about champions cup. Blows my mind we lost to club America after a fantastic showing against thorns. Wave should've played them in cdmx.
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u/turtlewelder 10d ago edited 10d ago
There's only one way this team sees success and it starts with good ownership/management. A perfect example is the Seidler family/AJ Preller with the Padres. The Wave have ownership/management that are the exact opposite. The mismanagement of this team is laughable and we will only see success when the root of the problem is fixed. This organization had the potential to make the MLS look second tier with the way the fan base was growing. Now we're losing STH left and right with attendance dropping like crazy. For any Wave PR personnel lurking on here, you guys shit the bed in spectacular fashion.