Former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant once said that teams’ records don’t mean anything when it comes to rivalry games. And that certainly proved to be the case during San Diego Wave FC’s game Saturday night at Snapdragon Stadium.
Angel City FC, with one of the worst records in the NWSL at 5-1-6 entering the match, came down from Los Angeles, marched into Snapdragon and shut out the league-leading Wave 2-0 during the teams’ annual “Rivalry Week” game.
“Rivalry Week” is one of the most advertised events in the NWSL each season, where each of the league’s 16 clubs plays what has traditionally been its biggest opponent. And while the San Diego-Angel City rivalry might not be as longstanding or heated as the Padres’ ongoing war with the Los Angeles Dodgers, this weekend’s edition brought out the best in the visitors.
Angel City scored its two goals in the first half, with both being made by Brazilian midfielders. During the 17th minute, Maiara Niehues nailed a header from the right side make the score 1-0. It was her fifth goal of the season and extended her scoring streak to four consecutive matches.
Nine minutes later, Ary Borges doubled Angel City’s lead when, from a nearly prone position, she found the back of the net via a right-footed shot from the center of the box. It was her second goal of the season.
Although neither team scored in the second half, San Diego managed to play better than it did in the initial 45 minutes and took multiple shots on goal. However, ACFC goalkeeper Angelina Anderson had the game of a lifetime, making six acrobatic saves during the match.
Angel City (now 6-1-6 with 19 points on the table) also played stifling defense for much of the match, collapsing on whichever Wave player had the ball, forcing them to kick the ball out and preventing any offensive momentum from San Diego.
The win before of a crowd of 15,881 was the second in a row for ACFC, following senior assistant coach Leif Gunnar Smerud being named interim coach after the June 17 firing of Alexander Straus.
The last time the two clubs played, San Diego beat Angel City 2-1 in Los Angeles on May 9 — the Wave’s only win in the past five head-to-head matches between the two clubs. Angel City’s win on Saturday ensured that the two teams split their 2026 season series.
Despite the loss, Wave FC (9-1-5) remains at the top of the NWSL table with 28 points. However the Portland Thorns (8-3-3, 27 points) could take the lead, or a share of it, with a win or draw when they play the 12th-place Seattle Reign on Sunday afternoon.
San Diego head coach Jonas Eidevall said after Saturday’s match that although the rivalry loss at home is disappointing, he doesn’t expect his team to spend much time focusing on it.
“It’s all about how you react,” he said in the post-game press conference. “How you react in the training week, how you’re gonna react [in the next game] and that’s gonna show how good of a team we are, is the reaction from this performance.”
Notes: Up next, Wave FC plays its first road match of the second half of the season when it travels to face the Kansas City Current on July 17 at CPKC Stadium. The match streams live on Prime Video.
