Carly Telford’s Penalty Kick save in the 72nd minute earns Wave FC a 0-0 draw with Racing Louisville FC.

The word “Chance” essentially sums up Friday Night’s affair between San Diego Wave Futbol Club and Racing Louisville FC before another jammed-packed crowd at Torero Stadium. In a wire-to-wire match, both teams shared points with the match ending in a 0-0 draw. Both Goalkeepers took center stage as Katie Lund and Carly Telford each made big save after big save to keep their clubs in the match, including Telford denying Savannah DeMelo on a Penalty Kick attempt in the 72nd minute. San Diego banks another point at home and improves to 6-3-4 (22 Pts.) to remain two points clear of the Chicago Red Stars for first place in the NWSL table. Louisville with the draw is now 2-5-5 (11 Pts.)

TIME LAPSE (How it happened): After a scoreless first half, both teams traded chances over the course of the first 45 minutes in what was a seesaw battle, the first chance for the deadlock to be broken was in the 50th minute. The Wave generated an offensive burst after a long cross was punched away by Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund. The rebound was left unattended by the defense and the Wave put two more shots on the net that Lund snuffed out, including a heroic effort by Gemma Bonner and the defense knock a for-sure goal off the line out of harm’s way.

WHERE THE TIDE TURNED (The turning point of the match): Louisville’s offensive pressure paid off in the 72nd minute when a Penalty Kick was awarded after Alex Chidiac was taken down in the box. It would be Savannah DeMelo, who had the only goal in the first ever meeting between the two teams back on May 18th, who stood at the penalty spot against Carly Telford and the loud, energetic Wave fans. Telford stoned DeMelo cold on the Penalty Kick attempt and Louisville sent the rebound wide, which sent the Torero Stadium faithful into a frenzy as the save kept the scoreline deadlocked, where it started is where it ended, at 0-0.

.@carlytelford1 is a BRICK WALL tonight 🧱#SDvLOU | #WaveFC pic.twitter.com/dHFu3bG2te

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) July 16, 2022

QUOTES

Carly Telford on the Penalty Kick save: “We did a few penalties yesterday cause our regular penalty taker is away at the minute in Alex [Morgan]. We practiced in training which is good for the girls and good practice for me. I’ve done a lot of research on how people run up to the ball and I thought she was going to whip it to my right, and she [Savannah DeMelo] is a tricky player so she’s good technically so I always feel like good techincal players will try and do something a little bit different. I just gambled and made a good save on it.”

Casey Stoney on Carly Telford stepping up in place of Kailen Sheridan during the International Window: ” It gets rhythm for a goalkeeper. You don’t play for ages and then you get thrown in and it’s difficult. She’s had back-to-back games and she’s proved her worth. Really proud of her and her performance.”

Casey Stoney on getting the Point: “I think we want to be in amongst it in terms of the playoffs so we gotta try to and pick up as many points as we can and this is apoint that we’ll take.”

NEXT MATCH: Following a week off, the Wave hit the road on July 30th to face the Chicago Red Stars in a battle between the two teams jockeying for first place in the NWSL table at Soldier Field at 5pm PDT. San Diego defeated Chicago 2-1 in their first ever meeting back on May 15th in San Diego.