San Diego Wave fire coach Casey Stoney amid 7-game winless streak

By ANNE M. PETERSON
AP Soccer Writer

The San Diego Wave have dismissed coach Casey Stoney amid a seven-game winless streak.

Paul Buckle, who served as an assistant coach for the Wave in 2022, will serve in the interim while the team searches for a new head coach, San Diego announced on Monday.

The Wave are 3-5-6 this season and in 9th place among the 14-team league. San Diego was coming off a scoreless draw at the Houston Dash and hadn’t won since May 8.

“Over the past seasons, Casey has guided us to significant milestones, and her contributions have been instrumental in laying a strong foundation on which to build. The decision to part ways was very hard and not made in haste, but given the ambition of this club, and where we are in our season, we felt a change was necessary at this time,” Wave President Jill Ellis said in a statement.

Stoney was named coach of the Wave before the team’s inaugural season in 2021 and she compiled a 24-15-18 regular-season record. Under her, San Diego won the 2023 Supporters Shield for best regular-season record and the 2024 Challenge Cup match.

Before joining the Wave, Stoney was coach of Manchester City.

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