FootyPop: San Diego Wave Sign Catarina Macario

In this week’s women’s soccer news, the San Diego Wave got a huge signing; Denver Summit made NWSL history; Angel City is on a roll; and more!

High of the Week

The San Diego Wave made a splash signing when they acquired the U.S. Women’s National Team star, Catarina Macario. There have been rumors that this deal was coming, but the club made it official this week. The Wave paid a $300,000 transfer fee to Chelsea in order to bring Macario to the NWSL. The deal brings the star back home. Macario moved to San Diego from Brazil in 2011, so she spent a decent amount of her childhood in the city, and then for college, she stayed in California and attended Stanford.

She also signed a five-year contract with the club, which will pay around $8 million over that time, making it the largest total contract in women’s soccer.

She had spent the last three years in the WSL with Chelsea, appearing in 35 games and scoring seven goals during that time. Before joining Chelsea in 2023, she played for Olympique Lyon for two years, where she scored 19 goals in 27 games and helped the club win the Champions League title in 2022.​

Macario is a huge get for a Wave team that is finding their footing offensively this season. The season has just started, but right now San Diego is sitting in second place, having won three of their first four matches. It’s unclear when Macario might make her debut, but she is in San Diego with her new club and was in attendance for their 2-0 win over the Chicago Stars.

Low of the Week

It’s been a big week for the Denver Summit, but they also got some bad news when they announced that rookie Jasmine Aikey was put on the season-ending injury list with an ACL tear. The season has just started, but we’ve already seen multiple players go down with an ACL injury, which is unfortunately common in the women’s game. Aikey suffered the injury while playing with the United States U-23 team in March.

Aikey was a big signing for the Denver team this offseason, and she was poised to play a big factor in their inaugural season and was likely the frontrunner to win the Rookie of the Year award before the season started.

She attended Stanford from 2022-25, and while playing collegiately, she played pretty much every position except goalkeeper, but she excelled at forward and midfield. In her 89 appearances for the Cardinals, she scored an impressive 43 goals. During her senior year, she was back to playing forward, and she had a stellar season, which led to her being named First Team All-ACC, a First-Team All-American, TopDrawerSoccer National Player of the Year, and the most prestigious award in college soccer, the MAC Hermann Trophy. She also led Stanford to winning the ACC and the ACC Tournament in her last college season.

News of the Week

It was an amazing moment when Denver Summit took the field for the very first time at home this weekend. They crushed the NWSL attendance record with an official count of 63,004, which is amazing to see. The league has come a long way, and it’s great to see a city really embrace the team and the league as a whole. This is what NWSL fans want to see so it was a special moment for fans of the game and the city of Denver. The club didn’t get the win that I’m sure they were hoping for, but they did play to a scoreless draw against the Washington Spirit. Seeing where the league started in terms of attendance and accommodations, it’s amazing to see the continued growth, and adding Denver to the league seems to have been a great choice in expansion location.

This season, the Summit is playing at Empower Field at Mile High, but the club did announce this week that they’ve acquired the land at Santa Fe Yards to build their own soccer-specific stadium for the club.

Denver was one of two expansion teams to join the league this season, with the other being the Boston Legacy, which also had a really impressive showing of 30,207 at their home opener.

Game of the Week

Chelsea and Aston Villa played a back-and-forth game this weekend, but it was ultimately the Blues who walked away with the win. These teams are on opposite sides of the standings, with Chelsea sitting in second, but nine points behind Manchester City, and then Aston Villa is in eighth place and has only earned one win in their last eight games. Despite their poor form, though, Villa came to play this weekend and they almost pulled the upset. Villa got on the board first in just the second minute thanks to Chasity Grant. Then Chelsea woke up and scored three goals in the span of just seven minutes, with Sam Kerr, Lauren James, and Naomi Girma putting the ball in the back of the net. Aston Villa, though, still wasn’t backing down, and Kirsty Hanson scored a four-minute brace to tie the match at three apiece heading into halftime. The score would stay tied until the 82nd minute when Sjoeke Nüsken found the game winner for Chelsea.

Goal of the Week

Sveindís Jónsdóttir has been on a tear to start the season for Angel City, and she found the back of the net again in their 2-1 win over the Houston Dash. The play started with a long throw-in that was headed towards the goal and off the crossbar, and then bounced around the box before finding the feet of Jónsdóttir. She cut inside and then took a long-range shot from the top of the penalty box that went soaring into the back of the net. It was her third goal in three games.

Assist of the Week

Makenzy Robbe had a header assist on the Houston Dash’s lone goal in their loss to Angel City. The cross was sent into the box, and Robbe was able to head it across right into the path of Maggie Graham, who headed it into the back of the net.

Player of the Week

Vivianne Miedema became the first player in WSL history to score 10 or more goals in five different seasons. In Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Manchester United, Miedema scored a brace to move her to 10 goals on the season. Both of her goals came early in the first half, with the first in the 17th minute, and then just two minutes later, she found the back of the net again. Her two goals led City to their third win in four games.

Team of the Week

Angel City has come out looking like a much different team at the start of the season from last year. They’re looking like they could be real title contenders if they keep this form up. In their first three games, they’ve gotten nine points and scored nine goals while only conceding two. They’re sitting at the top of the standings currently thanks to their goal differential. They’ve been a really fun team to watch so far, and if they keep at this pace, they could have a great season. They take on the Orlando Pride this weekend before play is paused for an international break.

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