The reason to fire a head coach is to improve the team’s performance.
Wave fans are still waiting for the payoff.
The club stands 0-3 since Jill Ellis fired Casey Stoney in June, with Saturday’s 2-1 home-field loss to Angel City being the third defeat.
It was the club’s first NWSL match under Landon Donovan, the second interim coach.
It’s too soon to glean much into still-nascent attempts by Donovan and players to effect a successful “attacking” style Ellis sought when she fired Stoney, a defensive expert, and replaced her with two interim coaches with offensive backgrounds.
Keep this in mind, too: In the ever-forgiving NWSL, where more than half the teams advance to the postseason, there’s still ample opportunity for the Wave (3-8-6) to snag a playoff spot.
But if Ellis hadn’t sacked Stoney, the Wave probably would’ve been better off in the past three matches and the playoff race.
Consider: they had had no 0-3 tumbles in Stoney’s first season, when they became the first expansion team in the NWSL to reach the playoffs.
Nor did they drop three consecutive matches in the 14 games under Stoney this year, despite the schedule being tougher than what her successors, beginning with Paul Buckle, have inherited. Nor did they lose two in a row under Stoney.
Whatever the immediate improvements – if any – Ellis may have expected from firing a coach whose contract she’d extended through 2027 just six months earlier, they’ve not yet paid off on the scoreboard.
Four days after the coaching change, the post-Stoney era began with a season-high three goals allowed and no goals against a subpar Chicago defense.
A 1-0 loss at Portland followed, bringing on the seven-week break to accommodate the Paris Olympics.
Saturday’s loss, before another good-sized announced crowd (20,500) at Snapdragon Stadium, owed to the Wave allowing two first-half goals, something they’d not done this season.
Giving the fans a lift beyond handout of Naomi Girma bobblheads at the gates, the Wave scored in the match’s final minute.
María Sánchez curled a perfect free kick into the box, left to right.
Abby Dahlkemper headed it crisply for her first goal this season.
It was the first Wave goal in … what felt like forever.
Actually it was June 19, a mere four matches earlier, when rookie Mya Jones connected in a 2-1 loss at Gotham FC.
Next Sunday, when they’ll return to Mission Valley to face the Washington Spirit, the Wave will seek their first victory since … what feels like a eternity.
It’s been since May 8, a span of 10 winless games.
Realistic optimism
Delphine Cascarino stood out in her Wave debut Saturday.
A recent signee who played seven seasons in France’s top league, Cascarino entered in the second half and nearly scored off a lengthy drive, denied only by a terrific save. Later, the 27-year-old evaded two defenders with lateral agility, leading to a second dangerous shot.
“She’s special,” Donovan said. “She changed the game significantly. We’re excited to get her fit.”
The Wave didn’t have a great chance to win Saturday’s match because they lacked so many contributors. Two weeks after they were in Paris for the Olympics, Girma and Jaedyn Shaw were unavailable. Also absent were regulars Savannah McCaskill, Kyra Carusa and Danielle Colaprico.
(But the Wave don’t get a free pass for failing to earn a tie.)
Because no other lower-tier team has heated up, the 11th-place Wave stand within four points – just a victory and a tie – from tying Racing Louisville for the eighth and final playoff spot. Nine games still remain in a season that began April 3 and runs into November, giving Donovan and the players nine weeks to grow together.
Donovan, who reminded folks that he’s driven by performance more than results, said his players “will learn a lot” from Saturday’s match. “That’s a great starting point,” he said.
Dahlkemper praised Donovan, saying “he’s going to help us score goals, he’s going to bring aggressiveness, he’s going to bring enthusiasm.”
But will they win games?
Lucky as leprechauns to still be in the playoff race after having scored only 13 goals in 17 matches and winning none of their past 10 matches, the Wave will have to collect a few more W’s to reach their third postseason in three seasons.
Otherwise, the defending regular-season champs will go down as the NWSL’s most disappointing team.
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