Coming off a 2024 season that saw a lot of coaching thrash and a 10th place finish, not many expected the Wave’s jump in performance in the 2025 season leading to them finishing the season 6th in the table and making it into the playoffs. 

The 2024-25 offseason saw nine new players join the Wave, and Jonas Eidevall being hired as the new head coach; the club was also busy in the Secondary Transfer Window with the additions of Brazilian attacking midfielder Dudinha and French midfielder Laurina Fazer. 

The Wave scored 17 more goals in the 2025 season compared to the 2024 season and were third in the league for goals scored. 

San Diego is in a good position to have another solid offseason and build their momentum from 2025 into the 2026 season. 

The Positives

The Wave embraced their scoring by committee vibes with 16 different players for 38 goals and three players – Kenza Dali, Delphine Cascarino, and Dudinha — each having five goals. The club was tied for 2nd in goals scored/90 with the Spirit. 

The Wave had some really good moves this season to set themselves up for success in the 2026 season including signing French midfielder Kenza Dali to a 2-year contract in January, and the additions of Dudinha and Fazer to 3-year contracts in July. 

The Negatives

The biggest thing that the Wave need to work on is consistency throughout the match (and across matches) and not letting opponents back into the match. The Wave dropped 11 points from a winning position throughout the season and only gained 6 points from a losing position. 

One of the other things for the club to work on is tightening up the defense. Although they had a positive goal differential, they were 7th in goals conceded/90, 9th in save percentage, and tied-10th in clean sheets with 5. They were also the only of the five clubs that conceded 5+ penalties to not have a single save. 

Although the Wave had the fewest number of crosses into the penalty area allowed in the season with 223, they also had the lowest stoppage percentage at 3.1%. 

Roster Flexibility 

With only 17 players rostered for 2026 — including Colombian defender Sintia Cabezas who is on loan through the end of the Liga F season in June — the Wave have a lot of opportunity to add players through the offseason. 

Unfortunately, with seven of their eight international spots already occupied, it’s going to limit where they are recruiting their players from — or they’ll need to be trading for further international spots. 

They have not re-signed any of their 10 free agents since the list was released July 1st. 

Offseason Priorities

The Wave only have five players currently signed through the 2027 season, and a lot of the core players have either 2027 options or are free agents. The club needs to prioritize signing players to long-term contracts in order to avoid the bidding wars that come with free agency. 

Looking at the current 2026 roster, the Wave is lacking depth in the midfield and in the attack and on top of extensions, should be looking toward free agency to help fill the gaps. 

With so many new players to the squad over the last year and a half, the preseason will be pivotal in building team chemistry and continuing to progress into the 2026 season.