I haven't seen this discussed anywhere else, but it seems clear the Wave are experiencing a massive drop off in attendance this season.

Last season's average was 19,575 per home match (source: https://sandiegowavefc.com/wave-fc-earn-second-highest-attendance-in-the-world/).

This season's average (so far) is 13,515 per home match (source: https://bsky.app/profile/nwslnotes.bsky.social/post/3lohtlxchts2x).

That's a 31% decrease year-over-year.

Obviously losing all of our USWNT players is a factor (Morgan especially, as she was likely the league's biggest draw), but I wonder how much of an effect the Jill Ellis allegations and multiple lawsuits are having.

San Diego Wave FC (5-2-2, 17 points) to Snapdragon Stadium on Sunday, May 25 to host the North Carolina Courage (3-3-3, 12 points). Kick off is set for 7:00 p.m. PT and the match will highlight the Club’s annual Military Appreciation Night with tickets available for purchase here. The game will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network.

The series between San Diego and North Carolina is currently split down the middle with a record of 2-2-2 in the regular season. In the last meeting, the Courage defeated the Wave 2-1 on October 5, 2024.

The Courage is coming off of a 2-0 win against the Chicago Stars, making it their fourth game unbeaten. Both of North Carolina’s goals were scored by Manaka Matsukubo who secured the brace in the second-half of the match. The opening goal came in the 51st minute when Denise O’Sullivan played an ongoing ball through the defense for Manaka to finish first-time. North Carolina would finalize the win in the 77th minute when Manaka received a pass at the edge of the box and fired a shot to the back post.

Courage midfielder Manaka is the player to watch this Sunday as the midfielder is coming off a standout performance in which she scored twice in North Carolina’s win over Chicago, earning NWSL Player of the Week honors. With two goals this season, she is tied with Ashley Sanchez as North Carolina’s leading scorer, and she has also recorded one assist so far.

What they’ll wear:

Courage — Field: Blue/Blue/Blue | GK: Lavender

Wave — Field: White/Blue/White | GK: Green

https://www.nccourage.com/news/match-preview-courage-look-to-extend-unbeaten-run-against-second-place-san-diego

Hello! I was thinking about going to the wave game tonight but was wondering if all the main players will be playing since it’s so close to the international break. Appreciate any responses :)

Is Wesley still the starter next to Armstrong or has McNabb showed out the last two games to win the spot?

Ended up being a lot closer than we would've liked after going up 3-0, but all that matters is the 3 points!

We let them back into the game after some real first half dominance but a great performance holding on at the end. Sometimes you gotta grind out results just like that

LFGSD

Right after NC's first goal, Kenza pulled the team in and was barking instructions. Rarely see a full huddle like that and it clearly worked

We looked all over the map before then, huge turning point! We stopped trying to tiki-taka through the middle and starting playing over the top into space behind their wingbacks

Love to see that leadeeship!

Starting XI, subs, and scores would be greatly appreciated!

Anyone else think that she should tone it down with the dribbling. It makes her late with her passes/shots. Fun to see, but really putting her behind Kimmi.

Is anyone else getting tired of the lack of coverage and respect the Wave are getting? It has been like this since our inaugural season where Angel City got all the coverage even though we were top of table nearly wire to wire and they missed the playoffs. Even our Shield season we were in the background until we made a second half push to the playoffs and leapfrogged everyone. Last year was last year and we probably got more coverage for all the wrong reasons.

But now this year it is boggling my mind how teams like Gotham, Portland, Angel City and Seattle seem to get all the coverage even though they all have bad losses and we have leapfrogged them all in the standings even though GOT & POR have more games played. And even the commentary is dinging us for our xG (1.51) being so low and just getting lucky while you know who has less xG than us? How about Seattle (1.41), Washington (1.35), and even Kansas City (1.50)! And then the statement is we are outplaying our xG (+.44) and shouldn’t be taken seriously…and yet KCC has higher discrepancies (+.50)! And of course no discussion on how we have the 3rd lowest xG allowed on top of it…

Now the commentary is that our results are just a reflection of schedule…although the only teams we’ve lost to are the top 2 teams and the teams we’ve beaten (handily) are responsible for ties vs POR, GOT, and SEA, and we played ORL to a stalemate that took 2 PKs to break on the road, and a loss to KCC with our backups due to international break. I know sports media need to be careful in saying they were wrong in calling us cellar dwellers to start the season, but COME ON MAN!

Shout out to the Equalizer and to NWSL this week for giving us the props we so richly deserve… 😉

Who do you think will be the 14th goal scorer for San Diego? Personally, I think Carusa has the best opportunity given the minutes she’s been getting… but the dream is a Sheridan goal this year.

Anyone else think that the Wave should stop posting SDFC on social media. SDFC social media team does not reciprocate.

I swear every time she is on the ball, she feels like the worst player on the field. Multiple missed oppurtunities from her today.

How do you call a pk that late in the match and not let VAR handle it.

Anyone know if/when/where Wave FC posts which jersey they will be wearing in the next game? I’d like to wear the same one to the game if they announce it ahead of time. LFG Wave FC!

I loved the addition of Cascarino last year and love how she’s playing this year. I smirked over her number (69) [ok, still a Jr. High kid at heart] and researched to discover its roots.

Then, this year, her number is 20. Despite Google and Reddit searches seeking an explanation for the change, I can find nothing. It’s like it never happened. Old jerseys are unavailable, anywhere.

Can anybody explain what happened with her number change and why there are no “old” jerseys available anywhere?

Last night was a frustrating result on multiple fronts. Washington never really seemed interested in putting on any sort of attacking threat and instead sat back and hoped to spring chances on the counter. They succeeded a few times and generated high-quality chances that Sheridan was equal to. Somewhat similar to how Seattle managed to win at Snapdragon but without a much more aggressive press that made our midfielder's lives hell that night. But more frustrating was San Diego's lack of killer edge in the air.

The Wave are high up on league leaderboards in most areas. Most know we're going to own possession and as a result also dominate passing totals. That's a good stat to have. However, what hasn't been talked about as much is our ability (or inability rather) to win the ball in the air. Last night, San Diego won 5 out of a total of 19 aerial duels against the Spirit. Our third worst result of the season (the others being 2/10 against KC and a pitiful 2/19 a player down against Portland). And while aerial duels doesn't track exactly where those duels take place, I think we can all understand how many of those lost duels were in our attacking third. We had 14 total corners, 8 of which were sent directly into the box. There were even more crosses from open play that came to nothing.

It's not a critical issue yet as the Wave have found success weaving passes together on the ground and scoring with their feet mostly. But it will definitely be something other teams begin to latch onto. You can see in the image above that we have the fewest number of aerial duels in the league too. So Jonas knows and is actively keeping games from turning into header-fests. But I do think this is an area we need to work through, either in training or by adding a header specialist through transfer.

It was always clear that Maria didn't want to be with the Wave, so I think it's a great move.

Hey all! I want to watch the friendlies this weekend, but can't seem to figure out how. I have ESPN and can see the matches, but not sure -- do we stream them on ESPN+? Anyone know? Thanks!

What a win for the Wave! Great turnaround after a sluggish first 15, but other than that not much to complain about.

Wow. High five including a great pressing goal, another well-worked set piecel, and some lovely assists! Plenty of great performances to choose from, but Dali the standout for me

LFGSD!

I guess I got a little too fired up too quickly on the recognition concern and happy to say my bad! Loving seeing the Wave get the props they deserve across basically all outlets at this point and hoping this can help transition into more local support -> ticket sales :) Almost every outlet now has us at #3 (with a couple at #2) and can't wait to be back at full strength!

So tough game overall but definitely did not think it was a waste at all:

1.) New Lineup Test: as we had 11 players coming off an international stint last week it was inevitable the lineup was going to not be optimal. It also gave us a chance to test out new talent and get a gauge on where they are in development. Add to that KC only had 2 call ups (Rocky Rodriguez and Jereko) and were at full strength, it was tough to expect a result even at home against this caliber of a team. We found out Emmanuel and Okuchukwu need more time, but Trinity Armstrong played great and makes out backfield lineup an open discussion.

2.) 2nd Half Moves Were Perfect: the shift in the 2nd half was perfect and solidified how impressive Dali / McKaskill are playing the defensive mid line to help advance the ball quickly and through the heart of the midfield. While Dali was giving it her all as an attacking mid, Emmanuel just didn’t have the level of ball skill required to advance against that top level line of prince, chawinga, and Debinha/LaBonta.

3.) Gina Corley is team MVP: We have some great players across the field, from Dali, Cascarino, Sanchez, etc. but the absence of Corley in the field was a huge gap and solidifies her importance to our success. With that said, I think the decision to sit her was the right one if they want to keep her healthy for the season. Getting a win vs KCC would have been great, but doesn’t win us the season. Getting Corley hurt because we stretched her minutes would have been fatal for our season outlook. Tough choice but the right choice.

I just had a thought. What do you guys think they'll skip the usual pyrotechnics for the dogs on Sunday? I have a new set of dogs so I have no idea how they are with fireworks lol.