Amid a league-record 10 penalties, the Seattle Reign defeated the San Diego Wave, 2-1 on Friday night, thanks to Veronica Latsko’s scored reverse header in the 89th minute at Lumen Field.
The victory snapped the Reign’s five-game losing streak after the Wave played most of the night with a one-woman advantage. The injury-plagued Wave fell to ninth place in the NWSL.
It also marked the 100th regular-season match appearance for Reign captain, Lauren Barnes, who set the league record.
Nine minutes into the match, Seattle’s Tziarra King was shown a straight red card for striking San Diego’s Hanna Lundkvist in the face. Two minutes later, San Diego native Kyra Carusa scored her first goal for the Wave, slotting it home on the rebound after her initial attempt hit the top of the goalpost.
The Wave were unable to hold the lead through the first half after a poor play from goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan, who left the box with a lazy pass and lost the ball to a quick-footed Bethany Balcer. She intercepted it and scored into an empty net in the 33rd minute, leveling the score at 1-1.
The short-handed Reign were the more assertive team for most of the second half. Sheridan stopped a free kick from Reign sub So-Yun Ji in the 77th minute.
But 12 minutes later Ji served up another free kick aimed straight to Latsko who was able to redirect it with a reverse header into the far corner for the final and most stunning goal of the night.
The Wave, still without Alex Morgan, Naomi Girma, and Abby Dahlkemper, host the Utah Royals at Snapdragon Stadium on Wednesday.
