2024 San Diego Wave FC season

2024 San Diego Wave FC season

2024 season
Owner	Ron Burkle
President	Jill Ellis
Head coach	Casey Stoney (until Jun 24)[1] Paul Buckle (until Aug 16) Landon Donovan (since Aug 16)[2]
Stadium	Snapdragon Stadium
NWSL	10th
Challenge Cup	Champions
NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup	2nd in Group B
Playoffs	DNQ
CONCACAF W Champions Cup	3rd in Group B
Top goalscorer	League: Jaedyn Shaw (4) All: María Sánchez (6)
Highest home attendance	32,066 (Mar 23 vs KC)
Lowest home attendance	10,289 (May 8 vs UTA)
Average home league attendance	19,575
Biggest win	2–0 (4 times) 3–1 (2 times)
Biggest defeat	0–3 (June 28 vs. CHI) 1–4 (2 times)
Home colors Away colors
← 2023 2025 →
All statistics correct as of November 3, 2024.

The 2024 San Diego Wave FC season is the team's third as a professional women's soccer team. The Wave compete in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top tier of women's soccer in the United States.

In the prior season, the Wave finished the season in 1st place, winning the NWSL Shield with an 11–7–4 record.^[3] In the NWSL Playoffs, the Wave sat out the quarterfinals with a first-round bye before facing a 1–0 defeat at the hands of the OL Reign in their semifinal match.^[4] It was the club's second semifinal playoff defeat in two years.^[5]

On January 23, 2024, the Wave extended head coach Casey Stoney's contract through the 2027 season, with a mutual option for 2028.^[6]

Club general manager Molly Downtain announced her resignation during the offseason, setting a departure date for April 15, 2024. Downtain was named the Wave's general manager in July 2021 and had managed the club in both previous seasons.^[7][8]

On November 21, 2023, the Wave waived defender Mia Gyau as part of the club's end-of-season roster decisions.^[9] Over the following months, the Wave worked to re-sign players, committing forwards Amirah Ali and Kyra Carusa to one-year contracts with options.^[10][11] The club also signed three of their four free agents to new deals, agreeing to two-year contracts with Makenzy Doniak, Christen Westphal, and Emily van Egmond.^[12][13][14] The Wave's fourth free agent, Madison Pogarch, did not re-sign with the club and instead joined 2024 expansion club Utah Royals.^[15]

With the 2024 NWSL expansion draft drawing nearer, the Wave also traded defender Kaleigh Riehl to the Utah Royals in exchange for $60,000 in Allocation Money and draft protection from the expansion club.^[16] The Wave did not trade for draft protection from Bay FC,^[17] resulting in the loss of forward Rachel Hill and midfielder Sierra Enge during the draft at the hands of the fellow Californian club.^[18][19] The Wave later reacquired Enge in a trade with Bay FC and the Houston Dash, sending the Wave's 2024 third-round NWSL Draft pick, $60,000 in allocation money, and midfielder Belle Briede to Houston in exchange for Enge.^[20]

Leading up to the 2024 NWSL Draft, the Wave signed free agent midfielder Savannah McCaskill from Angel City FC on December 20, 2023.^[21] In January 2024, the club transferred goalkeeper Shae Yanez to English club Bristol City^[22] and brought in Hillary Beall from Racing Louisville FC.^[23] Later, the Wave's goalkeeper corps would meet its final change of the offseason, with 2023 draftee Lauren Brzykcy and the club agreeing to a mutual contract termination.^[24]

During the NWSL Draft, the Wave selected Stanford defender Kennedy Wesley as the 12th overall pick. The club also drafted Canadian forward Mya Jones from Memphis as the 42nd overall pick.^[25] Both players later signed 2-year contracts with the Wave.^[26][27] On Draft Day, the club also traded Meggie Dougherty Howard to Angel City in exchange for $40,000 in allocation money.^[28] Ten days later, the Wave sent Taylor Kornieck to Racing Louisville FC for $150,000 in allocation money.

The Wave wrapped up their offseason transactions by bringing in two international players. In February, the club signed Swedish defender Hanna Lundkvist from Atlético Madrid and Australian defender Kaitlyn Torpey from Melbourne City.^[29][30] The transfer fee paid for Torpey was heavily rumored to be a new outbound Australian women's soccer record.^[31][32]

As part of a league-wide refresh, the Wave revealed their 2024 primary and secondary kits on February 27, 2024. The club's primary kit, titled 'Del Sol,' sports orange, pink, and turquoise patterns reminiscent of waves and the San Diego sunset.^[33] Bright pink colors are used for the team's secondary kit, named 'Poderosa'.^[34][35]

The Wave continued to play in Snapdragon Stadium in their second full season of residency. However, during the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, the Wave returned to former home venue Torero Stadium for their first game of the tournament against Bay FC.^[36]

In the Wave's home opener at Snapdragon Stadium, the club set an NWSL home opener attendance record with 32,066 individuals attending the game.^[37]

Poor pitch conditions at Snapdragon Stadium were a source of criticism throughout the 2024 season.^[38][39] Two days before the Wave's season finale, a planned home fixture against Racing Louisville FC, the club announced that the match would be relocated to Lynn Family Stadium in Louisville. Field and player safety concerns were cited as key reasons for the move.^[40][41]

On May 8, 2024, the Wave renewed their partnership with San Diego broadcasters Fox 5 San Diego and KUSI to locally air all eight of the team's non-nationally broadcast matches over the course of the season.^[42]

As of November 23, 2024.^[43]

No.	Pos.	Player	Nation
1	GK	Kailen Sheridan (Third Captain)	Canada
4	DF	Naomi Girma	United States
5	MF	Emily van Egmond	Australia
6	DF	Hanna Lundkvist	Sweden
7	FW	Amirah Ali	United States
11	FW	Jaedyn Shaw	United States
12	DF	Kennedy Wesley	United States
14	DF	Kristen McNabb	United States
15	FW	Makenzy Doniak	United States
16	DF	Kaitlyn Torpey	Australia
17	MF	Kimmi Ascanio	United States
18	FW	Mya Jones	Canada
19	FW	Kyra Carusa	Republic of Ireland
20	DF	Christen Westphal	United States
21	MF	Savannah McCaskill	United States
22	GK	Hillary Beall	United States
23	FW	Elyse Bennett	United States
24	MF	Danielle Colaprico	United States
25	FW	Melanie Barcenas	United States
35	GK	Morgan Messner	United States
69	FW	Delphine Cascarino	France
75	DF	Perle Morroni	France
77	FW	María Sánchez	Mexico
–	FW	Trinity Byars	United States

As of August 17, 2024.^[44][45]

Position	Staff
Head coach	Landon Donovan (interim)
Development Coach	Jackie Bachteler
Assistant Coach/Head of Goalkeeping	Louis Hunt
Technical and Development Coach	Craig Barclay
Director of Recruitment and Analytics	Chris Loxton

Wave FC opened the 2024 preseason at the Coachella Valley Invitational.^[46]

Challenge Cup has been reformatted to open each season as a single contest with the prior campaign’s winner of the NWSL Shield, presented by CarMax, against the reigning NWSL Champion.^[47]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
8	Chicago Red Stars	26	10	2	14	31	38	−7	32	Playoffs
9	Racing Louisville FC	26	7	7	12	33	39	−6	28
10	San Diego Wave FC	26	6	7	13	24	35	−11	25
11	Utah Royals	26	7	4	15	22	40	−18	25
12	Angel City FC	26	7	6	13	29	42	−13	24[a]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	PW	PL	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		LA	SD	AME	BAY
1	Angel City FC	3	2	1	0	0	4	1	+3	8	Advances to knockout stage		—	0–0	2–1	2–0
2	San Diego Wave FC	3	1	0	1	1	3	3	0	4			0–0	—	0–2	3–1
3	Club América	3	1	0	0	2	4	4	0	3			1–2	2–0	—	1–2
4	Bay FC	3	1	0	0	2	3	6	−3	3			0–2	1–3	2–1	—

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		AME	POR	SDW	WFC	SFE
1	América	4	3	0	1	14	3	+11	9	Advance to knockout stage		—	—	—	7–0	5–0
2	Portland Thorns FC	4	3	0	1	13	5	+8	9			3–1	—	—	—	2–1
3	San Diego Wave FC	4	3	0	1	7	3	+4	9			0–1	3–2	—	—	—
4	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	4	1	0	3	2	16	−14	3			—	0–6	0–2	—	—
5	Santa Fe	4	0	0	4	2	11	−9	0			—	—	0–2	1–2	—

San Diego Wave FC qualified as the 2023 National Women's Soccer League Shield winners.

As of match played November 3, 2024

No.	Player	Nat.	Total		NWSL		Challenge Cup		Summer Cup		W Champions Cup
			Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts	Apps	Starts
Goalkeepers
1	Kailen Sheridan		29	29	25	25	1	1	0	0	3	3
22	Hillary Beall		5	3	2	1	0	0	1	1	2	1
35	Morgan Messner		2	2	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0
Defenders
4	Naomi Girma		23	23	20	20	1	1	0	0	2	2
6	Hanna Lundkvist		29	26	23	20	1	1	1	1	4	4
12	Kennedy Wesley		16	14	13	12	0	0	1	1	2	1
14	Kristen McNabb		31	28	24	21	0	0	3	3	4	4
16	Kaitlyn Torpey		17	5	14	4	1	0	0	0	2	1
20	Christen Westphal		22	14	15	8	1	1	3	3	3	2
75	Perle Morroni		8	7	6	5	0	0	0	0	2	2
Midfielders
5	Emily van Egmond		30	23	26	19	1	1	0	0	4	3
17	Kimmi Ascanio		9	3	6	2	0	0	2	0	1	1
21	Savannah McCaskill		25	21	20	16	1	1	3	3	1	0
24	Danielle Colaprico		29	23	23	18	1	0	3	3	2	2
Forwards
7	Amirah Ali		21	5	14	4	1	0	3	0	3	1
11	Jaedyn Shaw		25	16	22	13	1	1	0	0	2	2
15	Makenzy Doniak		32	23	24	17	1	1	3	3	4	2
18	Mya Jones		24	14	19	12	0	0	1	0	4	2
19	Kyra Carusa		19	8	17	7	1	1	0	0	1	0
23	Elyse Bennett		21	6	14	2	1	1	3	2	3	1
25	Melanie Barcenas		16	9	10	6	0	0	3	0	3	3
69	Delphine Cascarino		13	9	10	7	0	0	0	0	3	2
77	María Sánchez		29	24	22	18	0	0	3	3	4	3
–	Trinity Byars		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other players (Departed during season, national team replacement player, etc.)
2	Abby Dahlkemper		17	16	13	12	1	1	3	3	0	0
8	Sierra Enge		4	2	1	1	0	0	3	1	0	0
10	Sofia Jakobsson		15	8	12	6	1	0	1	1	1	1
13	Alex Morgan		18	14	13	10	1	0	3	3	1	1
27	Emma Vanderhyden		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
31	Chai Cortez		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
36	Mackenzie Rath		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
40	Caroline DeLisle		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	NWSL	Challenge Cup	Summer Cup	W Champions Cup	Total
1	77	FW		María Sánchez	1	0	1	4	6
2	11	FW		Jaedyn Shaw	4	0	0	0	4
3	15	FW		Makenzy Doniak	3	0	0	0	3
4	7	FW		Amirah Ali	1	0	1	1	3
5	6	DF		Hanna Lundkvist	2	0	0	0	2
	18	FW		Mya Jones	2	0	0	0	2
	19	FW		Kyra Carusa	2	0	0	0	2
	69	FW		Delphine Cascarino	2	0	0	0	2
6	12	DF		Kennedy Wesley	1	0	1	0	2
	14	DF		Kristen McNabb	1	0	0	1	2
7	2	DF		Abby Dahlkemper	1	0	0	0	1
	5	MF		Emily van Egmond	1	0	0	0	1
	10	FW		Sofia Jakobsson	1	0	0	0	1
	21	MF		Savannah McCaskill	1	0	0	0	1
	25	FW		Melanie Barcenas	1	0	0	0	1
8	13	FW		Alex Morgan	0	1	0	0	1
	16	DF		Kaitlyn Torpey	0	0	0	1	1
Own goals					0	0	0	0	0
Total					24	1	3	7	35

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	NWSL	Challenge Cup	Summer Cup	W Champions Cup	Total
1	77	FW		María Sánchez	4	0	1	0	5
2	69	FW		Delphine Cascarino	3	0	0	1	4
3	17	MF		Kimmi Ascanio	1	0	0	1	2
	21	MF		Savannah McCaskill	1	1	0	0	2
4	6	DF		Hanna Lundkvist	0	0	0	2	2
5	11	FW		Jaedyn Shaw	1	0	0	0	1
	13	FW		Alex Morgan	1	0	0	0	1
	14	FW		Makenzy Doniak	1	0	0	0	1
	23	FW		Elyse Bennett	1	0	0	0	1
6	24	MF		Danielle Colaprico	0	0	1	0	1
Total					13	1	2	4	20

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	NWSL	Challenge Cup	Summer Cup	W Champions Cup	Total
1	1	GK		Kailen Sheridan	6	1	0	1	8
2	22	GK		Hillary Beall	0	0	0	1	1
	35	GK		Morgan Messner	0	0	1	0	1
Total					6	1	1	2	10

Player					NWSL		Challenge Cup		Summer Cup		W Champions Cup		Total
Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name
1	6	DF		Hanna Lundkvist	6	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	7	0
2	14	DF		Kristen McNabb	2	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	1
3	5	MF		Emily van Egmond	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0
4	4	DF		Naomi Girma	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	21	MF		Savannah McCaskill	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
	24	MF		Danielle Colaprico	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
5	1	GK		Kailen Sheridan	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2
6	16	DF		Kaitlyn Torpey	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	23	FW		Elyse Bennett	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	75	DF		Perle Morroni	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
7	2	DF		Abby Dahlkemper	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	11	FW		Jaedyn Shaw	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	12	DF		Kennedy Wesley	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	13	FW		Alex Morgan	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	19	FW		Kyra Carusa	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	20	DF		Christen Westphal	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	77	FW		María Sánchez	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
8	10	FW		Sofia Jakobsson	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0
Total					33	2	0	0	1	0	3	1	37	3

Month	Nat.	Pos.	Player	Ref.
March/April		DF	Naomi Girma	[49]
September		DF	Naomi Girma (2)	[50]

Month	Nat.	Pos.	Player	Ref.
September		DF	Kennedy Wesley	[51]

Wk.	Nat.	Player	Won	Ref.
3		Emily van Egmond	Nom.	[52]
24		Delphine Cascarino	Nom.	[53]

Wk.	Nat.	Player	Won	Ref.
2		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[54]
4		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[55]
5		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[56]
10		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[57]
12		Kailen Sheridan	Won	[58]
16		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[59]
17		Kailen Sheridan	Nom.	[60]

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster.

Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Status	Ref.
1	12	Kennedy Wesley	DF	Stanford	Signed a two-year contract.	[26]
3	42	Mya Jones	FW	Memphis		[27]

Contract options

Date	Player	Pos.	Notes	Ref.
November 20, 2023	Sierra Enge	MF	Option exercised.	[61]

Re-signings

Date	Player	Pos.	Notes	Ref.
December 7, 2023	Amirah Ali	FW	Re-signed to a one-year contract with an option.	[10]
December 21, 2023	Makenzy Doniak	FW	Free agent re-signed to a two-year contract.	[12]
December 28, 2023	Christen Westphal	DF	Free agent re-signed to a two-year contract.	[13]
January 9, 2024	Kyra Carusa	DF	Re-signed to a one-year contract with an option.	[11]
January 10, 2024	Emily van Egmond	MF	Free agent re-signed to a two-year contract.	[14]

Date	Player	Pos.	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 17, 2023	Sierra Enge	MF	Houston Dash	In exchange for midfielder Belle Briede, the Wave’s 2024 natural third-round NWSL Draft pick, and $60,000 in allocation money.	[20]
December 17, 2023	Elyse Bennett	FW	Utah Royals	In exchange for $40,000 in allocation money.	[62]
December 20, 2023	Savannah McCaskill	MF	Angel City	Free agent signing.	[21]
January 8, 2024	Hillary Beall	GK	Racing Louisville FC	In exchange for natural second-round pick in the 2025 NWSL Draft.	[23]
February 1, 2024	Hanna Lundkvist	DF	Atlético Madrid	In exchange for an undisclosed fee.	[29]
February 5, 2024	Kaitlyn Torpey	DF	Melbourne City	In exchange for an undisclosed fee.	[30]
March 13, 2024	Morgan Messner	GK	Chicago Red Stars	Free agent signing.	[63]
March 22, 2024	Kimmi Ascanio	MF	Florida United SC	Signed with NWSL Under-18 Entry Mechanism.	[64]
April 20, 2024	María Sánchez	FW	Houston Dash	In exchange for $300,000 in intra-league transfer funds, $200,000 in allocation money, and a 2024/2025 international roster spot.	[65]
July 18, 2024	Chai Cortez	DF	San Diego Wave FC	Short-term national team replacement player signings.	[66]
	Caroline DeLisle	GK	UCF Knights
July 24, 2024	Delphine Cascarino	FW	Lyon	Free transfer	[67]
July 26, 2024	Emma Vanderhyden	DF	UC Santa Barbara Gauchos	Short-term national team replacement player signing.	[68]
August 22, 2024	Perle Morroni	DF	Lyon	Free transfer	[69]
September 14, 2024	Mackenzie Rath	GK	Minnesota State Mavericks	Short-term injury replacement player signing.	[70]
November 7, 2024	Trinity Byars	FW	Texas Longhorns	Free agent signing.	[71]

Date	Player	Pos.	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
November 20, 2023	Mia Gyau	DF		Waived	[61]
November 20, 2023	Giovanna DeMarco	MF		Out of contract	[61]
November 20, 2023	Madison Pogarch	DF	Utah Royals	Free agent	[61]
November 20, 2023	Kaleigh Riehl	DF		In exchange for $60,000 in Allocation Money and 2024 Expansion Protection from Utah Royals.	[16]
December 15, 2023	Rachel Hill	FW	Bay FC	2024 NWSL Expansion Draft	[18]
December 15, 2023	Sierra Enge	MF
December 17, 2023	Belle Briede	MF	Houston Dash	In exchange for midfielder Sierra Enge.	[20]
January 5, 2024	Shae Yanez	GK	Bristol City	For an undisclosed transfer fee.	[22]
January 12, 2024	Meggie Dougherty Howard	MF	Angel City FC	In exchange for $40,000 in Allocation Money.	[28]
January 22, 2024	Taylor Kornieck	MF	Racing Louisville FC	In exchange for $150,000 in Allocation Money.	[72]
January 29, 2024	Lauren Brzykcy	GK		Mutual contract termination.	[24]
August 3, 2024	Chai Cortez	DF		National team replacement signing released.	[73]
	Emma Vanderhyden	DF
August 9, 2024	Caroline DeLisle	GK			[74]
August 13, 2024	Sierra Enge	DF		Mutual contract termination.	[75]
August 26, 2024	Abby Dahlkemper	DF	Bay FC	In exchange for $50,000 in Allocation Money.	[76]
September 11, 2024	Sofia Jakobsson	FW		Mutual contract termination.	[77]

Date	Player	Pos.	Ref.
January 26, 2024	Kelsey Turnbow	MF	[78]
September 8, 2024	Alex Morgan	FW	[79]

Trialists are non-rostered invitees during preseason and are not automatically signed. The Wave released their preseason roster on January 29, 2024.^[24]

Player	Pos.	Previous club	Notes	Ref.
Gracie Brian	MF	TCU Horned Frogs	Not signed.	[24]
Marley Canales	DF	OL Reign	Not signed.	[24]
Caroline DeLisle	GK	UCF Knights	Signed as a national team replacement player.	[24][66]
Morgan Messner	GK	Chicago Red Stars	Signed to a one-year contract.	[24][63]
Taylor Porter	MF	Portland Thorns FC	Not signed.	[24]