Morgan making bid for a trophy
Manny Machado isn’t the only San Diegan wearing No. 13 who has an MVP look.
Alex Morgan’s sixth goal in five games Sunday sent the Wave to a 1-0 victory over the Courage in sweltering North Carolina.
Morgan leads the National Women’s Soccer League in goals and has lifted a Wave (4-1) team that’s outshining its firstyear status.
“She is looking so good right now,” said teammate Tegan McGrady, who played for NWSL-champion Washington last year.
Younger Wave players were surprised Morgan, 32, never has won the NWSL’s MVP award.
She’s better known for winning two World Cups and Olympic gold than for her NWSL exploits, although her left-footed, diagonal laser in the 41st minute Sunday moved her past Carli Lloyd into sixth on the league’s all-time goals list.
“There’s amazing basketball players that have never gotten an MVP award,” McGrady noted. “And, it’s something that she’s absolutely working toward and she would love, but it doesn’t change my perspective on her at all. She’s an amazing forward, and I hope she does get that MVP this year.”
Morgan has said the Wave’s arrival last June thrilled her because she could move to San Diego with her husband and daughter. For the first time since she was 17, when she lived east of Los Angeles, she’s within an hour’s drive of most family members.
The Wave have contributed to Morgan’s San Diego bliss.
Coach Casey Stoney traded for Morgan’s former Orlando teammate Taylor Kornieck, who set up Morgan’s goal Sunday by stealing the ball near midfield and rolling a perfect long pass between two defenders.
In the preseason Morgan brushed off the team’s defensive glitches, saying Stoney would fix them. Sunday, the Wave posted their third shutout. It came just two days after the coach devised a new plan to counter a “box” offense favored by the Courage (0-3).
“I credit my team for their open-mindedness, their coachability and their absolute desire and hard work to win,” said Stoney, who sent defenders McGrady and Naomi Girma to the postgame media chat.
Wave teammates have created three penalty kicks for Morgan, who already is three goals shy of her season high in 2018 with Orlando. With two more victories, Stoney’s club would match the expansionist 2016 Orlando Pride (6-13-1) for whom Morgan had four goals in 15 games.
The Wave are short on shared experience but long on grit. Their coach went the 2,200 miles to Cary, N.C., though she was less than full strength. She said COVID hit her “like an absolute train” the past week, preventing her from attending the 1-0 loss Wednesday in Louisville.
Though her game plan scaled back players’ running, the coach marveled at their effort in 89-degree heat that due to the usual Carolina humidity felt warmer.
“The conditions were unbearable, just sitting on the sideline, let alone playing,” Stoney said. “The 2 o’clock kickoff was interesting to me in these conditions.”
A third consecutive road game, Sunday in (much cooler) Seattle, awaits the Wave.