Four goals by Alex Morgan reward enthusiastic Wave crowd, many girls

Girls were an enthusiastic presence Saturday night at the San Diego Wave’s first of 11 home games in the National Women’s Soccer League’s regular season.

Alex Morgan gave them a performance to remember.

The Wave’s star forward scored four goals, her career-best in the NWSL, to send the Wave to a 4-0 victory against Gotham FC at the University of San Diego.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better night for ourselves and for our city,” Morgan said.

“What a great night for the fans,” said coach Casey Stoney.

Many Wave fans are young girls. Saturday, they brought handmade signs to Torero Stadium and flocked to the merchandise tents before the 7 p.m. kickoff. In warmups, they descended to the first row, hollered players’ names and clicked photographs.

When Morgan and rookie Naomi Girma were introduced, they let out piercing cheers. When adults sent up chants, girls joined in and clapped out a beat. “Let’s Go Wave.” “De-fense.” “San Diego.”

And, when Morgan lined a penalty kick into the net, shortly before halftime, creating a 1-0 lead, they went bananas.

Wave players said recently it was a kick that many girls have attended games at Torero Stadium, where the team played three matches in the preseason and about 5,000 fans showed up Saturday.

“It’s really rewarding and fulfilling, and it’s nice to see,” said Jodie Taylor, a striker from England, last month. “It definitely gives us a boost, and we feel it on the pitch.” Taylor added: “It’s great to see so many little girls that are so happy to be here, and you can see the awe in their eyes.”

The Wave represent a new opportunity, locally. They’re the first professional women’s team to arise in San Diego since the Spirit (and their league) folded in 2003.

Wave defender Abby Dahlkemper, who rejoined the starting lineup Saturday, having missed the prior two games with a COVID issue, exited in the first half after taking an upper-body blow in the box. She was able to walk off.

Taylor’s start Saturday came six days after her goal off the bench fueled the 1-0 win at Houston in the season opener. New Jersey-based Gotham, too, was coming off a season-opening win.

Morgan’s first goal was her fifth in eight games with San Diego and first of the regular season. The opportunity came via a hand-ball foul caused by Wave defender Tegan McGrady blasting a shot off a Gotham player.

Rookie Amirah Ali created a second penalty kick for Morgan, who buried it for her third penalty-kick goal, including one in the preseason.

Morgan knocked in two other shots, one after she stole the ball in the box. The four-goal performance coincided with Morgan’s daughter, Charlie, turning two years old on Saturday.

The next game for the Wave (2-0) comes May 15, a 2 p.m. match at USD against Chicago.