San Diego Wave FC 2022 Player Postmortem: Tegan McGrady
Dec 6, 2022 - 9:20 PMTegan McGrady entered the season as San Diego Wave FC’s starting left back, and it was a fresh start for the young pro. Coming off a title-winning season with the Washington Spirit, she had been buried on the depth chart there and endured a tumultuous run of abusive coaches and team owners before getting the NWSL title on her way out the door.
Given San Diego head coach Casey Stoney’s emphasis on providing a supportive environment for players, it seemed like a good landing spot for McGrady, a well-regarded player out of Stanford. And she was a regular, until a surprising trade midseason to the Portland Thorns.
Here are McGrady’s stats with San Diego in 2022:
While it was a surprise that McGrady was traded at all, given her status as a regular in the Wave FC lineup, it was especially surprising considering she wasn’t playing badly. However, I would venture that it was the Thorns who saw McGrady’s value, and likely forced San Diego to send her up north, in exchange for Madison Pogarch. In the end, McGrady’s departure changed San Diego’s lineup quite a bit, with Kristen McNabb moving from midfield, where she had been quite strong to that point in the season, back to her customary left back role. And somewhat surprisingly, Wave FC still played well, even though I think they subtracted overall by doing all of that and trading McGrady.
McGrady was depth for Portland and she didn’t see a ton of playing time down the stretch, and ended up in many ways in a very similar position to her 2021 season — not seeing the field a lot, at a club with plenty of turmoil behind the scenes, but ultimately winning the NWSL title. That’s right, McGrady won back-to-back NWSL Championships, so in that regard, the trade was a success for her. Her team even beat San Diego on their way to the title, which may or may not have been a bit sweeter for her.
All in all, McGrady was a good defending fullback who was also capable of getting forward to contribute in attack, too. Especially at left back, those players don’t grow on trees, and I’m still a bit baffled why San Diego traded her. I like her game and I hope she can eventually find a team where she gets real stability. But she’s got two consecutive league titles so I’m sure she’s happy enough. I remain a fan and will continue to watch Tegan McGrady’s game moving forward with interest.
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