Column: Wave defeat Eli Manning’s soccer club before big crowd

With Eli Manning on hand, this one was in the bag.

Manning never was able to beat a San Diego football club after spurning the Chargers in the NFL 2004 Draft.

His luck wasn’t going to change when the San Diego Wave FC showed up Sunday in Greater New York — not with the way the Wave were playing defense.

Keeping themselves in good graces with San Diegans whose feelings Eli hurt, the Wave defeated the NJ/NY Gotham’s women’s soccer club whose ownership group Eli joined in August.

The 1-0 victory in Harrison, N.J., on the strength of Makenzy Doniak’s hard roller 30 seconds into the second half and a third consecutive road shutout put the Wave alongside Portland atop the National Women’s Soccer League standings.

The Wave’s defense would’ve pleased Marty Schottenheimer, as would’ve Doniak’s bruising effort that set up her left-footed shot.

Turns out, Wave coach Casey Stoney is the local soccer version of the ex-Bolts coach.

“I’ll take a 1-nil over a 4-3 win any day,” said Stoney, a former center defensive back who captained England’s national team.

StoneyBall doesn’t have the same ring as MartyBall, but with Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan challenged only by shots that any San Diego high school ‘keeper could’ve collected, Stoney could delight in another skunking.

“Americans probably didn’t like it,” she said, “but I don’t think Kailen had an awful lot to do, which I’m really pleased about.”

Showing a feel for offense, too, Stoney entered two reserves into the second-half lineup: forward Doniak, 29, and attacking midfielder Shaw, 18.

A minute later the whole team was celebrating.

Doniak bodied past a defender to collect Shaw’s pinpointed pass at the top of the box, maintained possession while creating an angle left of the goal and netted her second score this season, fifth in 25 matches with the Wave and 17th in her seven-year NWSL career.

What Doniak describes as an “animal mentality” made her a prolific goal scorer at the University of Virginia and served her well Sunday when the 5-foot-7 1/2 forward bumped aside a defender and held her off.

“That’s one of my strengths as a forward is using my body,” she said.

Shaw is a Dallas Cowboys fan who has strong opinions about her football team, correctly saying owner Jerry Jones is part of the problem.

She’s not a fan of QB Dak Prescott, but he would appreciate the passing touch Shaw has shown in the past two matches. As Stoney has given her more duty in the attacking midfield “10” position, Shaw has looked like a natural there.

“She’s a fantastic final ball passer,” said Doniak.

Shaw has entered in the second half of the past two matches and feathered gorgeous anticipatory passes, the ball going where a forward was running.

So although it was Shaw’s finishing touch that stood out last summer when she played higher up and scored in her first three matches as a professional, she’s now showing the makings of a complete game that figures to land her in the 2027 World Cup.

“Listen,” Stoney said, “there ain’t many players that can pick a through ball in behind with the quality that she can, and we know that.” The coach added: “And her defensive responsibility tonight was spot on.”

Poking fun at Eli is a San Diego tradition the QB no doubt anticipated when he steered wide of the Chargers.

Winning two Super Bowls with the Giants, he got the last laugh on the San Diegans who razzed him in Mission Valley and his hints about organizational issues may in fact have been on point, given the dysfunction between Schottenheimer and General Manager A.J. Smith that was later revealed.

Doing Eli’s soccer club a financial favor, Gotham’s schedule brought Alex Morgan some 2,400 miles east just seven weeks ahead of the World Cup’s first match.

Gotham sold more than 15,000 tickets for Sunday’s match, blowing away its franchise attendance record. Fans could be heard screaming for Morgan during the CBS Sports Network telecast.

Gotham marketed Morgan in its ticket campaign, a decision that Casey twice described as “interesting” in her postgame comments.

“But, I also know the Alex Morgan effect,” she said, “because I’ve seen it for 18 months now. Everywhere she goes, she’s a global name that young girls want to come and watch. My little girl’s got her name on the back of her shirt. So, it’s an (aspirational) thing and what a great player to look up to.”