We in San Diego may have rare soccer expertise in our midst.
San Diego Wave FC’s general manager, Camille Ashton, is a Stanford graduate and ex-player who arrived a year ago. The coach Ashton signed in January, Jonas Eidevall, is a trilingual Swede who had much success in England’s top league.
All of a sudden, the Wave (6-2-2) are playing beautiful soccer like never before in their four seasons.
The Wave scored a franchise-record five goals in Sunday’s home win over the North Carolina Courage. San Diego has scored 16 goals within its six-game unbeaten streak; its 21 goals this season rank second in the 14-team league behind Ashton’s former team, the Kansas City Current, who have 22.
The second-place club entertains on offense far more than any of the previous three Wave squads — including two that reached the National Women’s Soccer League’s semifinals.
Ashton brought in several players who’ve made a big difference. The GM seems to have a feel for the international talent pool, and for what traits work best for the type of soccer she has in mind.
Players from Europe and Africa have improved the Wave’s roster. So have American newcomers like Trinity Armstrong, who at 17 starts at center back and makes plays in the attack.
Ashton’s sports background may explain her success at evaluating and recruiting players from other countries. She played in three European leagues and the NWSL following a Stanford career in which she was a versatile member of the program’s first national championship team. Working two-plus years as a talent manager with World Wrestling Entertainment may have spiced up Ashton’s soccer game, too. The 35-year-old said the WWE job’s many organizational demands prepared her well for building a soccer club.
Eidevall? He seems to own a soccer magical wand.
Already, the Wave are sharing the ball better than their opponents, solving problems faster and scoring goals off a variety of high-speed chess moves.
It’s a crisp, European brand of soccer, featuring a trio of savvy French players who arrived either late last season (striker Delphine Cascarino and defender Perle Morroni) or this offseason (Kenza Dali, a former striker/attacking midfielder Eidevall moved to defensive midfielder).
The fun quotient has soared, too.
“Our team is exciting to watch,” said one of the newcomers, Canada’s Adriana Leon, a 32-year-old striker and February arrival who has played in England’s top league, two Olympics and the 2023 World Cup. She was named the NWSL Player of the Week on Wednesday.
“We just have so many good, creative, attacking players,” said defender Kristen McNabb, 31, who ed the franchise entering its first season.
The best description of what makes the Wave much more enjoyable to watch than previous Wave squads, especially compared to last year’s stagnant and disted offense, came from Morroni.
“The danger can come from anywhere,” Morroni said last week, “and that’s our strength.”
Vive La ! would be an apt team motto.
All three French players have a knack for driving past opponents, creating an explosive complement to the team’s diverse ing game.
Morroni’s total of 19 successful drives — take-ons — leads the league and differentiates the 27-year-old from almost every other defender in the NWSL.
Cascarino, a right wing, has the best ball skills, by far, of anyone who has ever played for the Wave.
Her 17 successful take-ons are tied for third in the NWSL, and her goals-plus-assists total (7) is tied for seventh. At 22, she played in each of ’s four matches at the 2019 World Cup, including the 2-1 quarterfinals loss to the Americans.
A severe knee injury sustained with her French club team in May 2023 kept her out of that year’s World Cup. But if she stays on this trajectory, Cascarino will challenge for a spot on ’s 2027 squad.
Tapping into rare stamina, the 33-year-old Dali, sixth in successful drives, has shown the broad skill set that made her a playmaker and goal-scorer in European leagues.
The Wave lead the NWSL in successful take-ons, yet the team also stands first with a 49.7% success rate on its league-best total of one-on-one attacks. This threat puts opponents on the defensive, opening up other tactics.
Players are also crashing to the net at the right time, a strength of 17-year-old forward Kimmi Ascanio, a Floridian whose three goals have her tied with Leon for most on the team.
The new-look Wave are generating much more offense out of their back line than any of the previous three Wave teams.
A goal apiece have come from center backs Armstrong and Kennedy Wesley. The savvy Morroni has a goal and three assists, and McNabb scored her first goal Sunday. And tireless fullback Hanna Lundkvist, a 22-year-old Swede, has a goal and an assist.
Former Wave star Naomi Girma, the great shutdown center back now with England’s Chelsea, may have been able to do likewise. But she was seldom asked to move into the attack. Girma had no goals or assists in 58 games with those defense-first Wave teams.
Under Ashton and Eidevall, a vast number of players have become threats to create goals within a fast-paced style that also leads the league in possession. A league-best 13 Wave players have scored. The team’s league-best total of 18 assists blows aways the field, with the runner-up at 12 assists.
It’s clear now why third-year midfielder Melanie Barcenas touted the expressive European approach the team had adopted in the preseason. Barcenas, a 17-year-old who grew up in San Diego, has contributed a goal and assist to the varied attack, which has also received two goals from German import Gia Corley, 23, and two goals from holdover Maria Sánchez, 29.
“It suits us, it suits the crowd and the city,” said Eidevall, 42, who is fluent in English, Swedish and Danish. “This is a football community. There is a lot of ion for the game here. It’s important that when we play, that we have a way that appeals to the city, and how we do it now, it does.”
Ten games down. Sixteen to go, beginning with a June 6 home match against Seattle.
