Gotham vs San Diego Wave came back on Saturday at Snapdragon Stadium with San Diego still first in the National Women’s Soccer League standings. The Wave returned after a month-long hiatus without Dudihna, and Catarina Macario still had no debut timeline.
San Diego entered the day at 8-4-1 and four points ahead of NJ/NY Gotham FC. That is the gap the Wave had to protect while starting the second half of their season without the player who led them with five goals and four assists.
Dudihna’s missing goals
Dudihna’s absence is not a normal rotation issue. She tore her right ACL during a June 9 international friendly against the United States and is out for the season after injuring her knee.
That leaves San Diego without its most productive scorer just as the team resumes league play. The Wave had scored 19 goals, second in the National Women’s Soccer League, and they were trying to keep that pace after a long break and a first home match since Memorial Day weekend.
Macario still waiting
Catarina Macario remains the other unresolved piece. More than three months after signing the most lucrative contract in National Women’s Soccer League history, she still had not made her Wave debut and continued to recover from an injury.
Jonas Eidevall said, "I thought the time off came at a really good place for us, and now it’s been exciting to work with the team here for three weeks, where we have been able to train more together". He also said, "We need to build something new, and not only try to replace the puzzle piece that Dudihna was with something that doesn’t fit the same way".
Gotham FC pressure
Gotham FC arrived with a three-match league winning streak and a defense that had allowed five goals in 11 matches. Only Denver, Kansas City and Boston had scored against Gotham this season, and Denver and Kansas City had each scored twice.
That setup put San Diego in a narrow space: first place, but missing its leading scorer and still waiting on its marquee arrival. Kenza Dali put the loss bluntly, saying, "First of all, I’m really, really sad for her, because a big injury often happens when you are at your best, and she was a really important player for us".
She added, "She is a really important player for us, and I’m quite still angry at the way that this happened, but you need to accept it and move forward." The Wave spent the break adjusting on the field, but who replaces Dudihna in the lineup against Gotham FC and beyond is now the question San Diego has to answer in matches, not in theory.
