Alex Morgan scores one of her goals against Gotham. (Jonathan Jones-USA TODAY Sports)

HARRISON, N.J. – U.S. women’s national team striker Alex Morgan continued her torrid scoring pace by tallying twice and adding an assist as the San Diego Wave rolled to a 3-0 National Women’s Soccer League triumph over NJ/NY Gotham FC at Red Bull Arena on Sunday afternoon.

Gotham FC (9 points) dropped to 3-4-0 while the Wave (18) improved to 5-2-3.

Morgan, who will play for the USWNT in two friendlies against Colombia this week and in the Concacaf W Championship next month, leads the league with 11 goals and one assist.

“Loved watching them play, loved watching them compete,” Gotham FC head coach Scott Parkinson said. “Created some really good chances and then a sucker punch, and Morgan does what Morgan does when you give her a little bit of time and space and I think it just defeated them.”

Gotham FC had an early push and got its first shot on goal when Ifeoma Onumonu took a one-timer strike that Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan stifled in the seventh minute of the first half.

After turnover inside their own zone, Morgan connected on a shot in the 19th minute to give the visitors a 1-0 lead.

“We obviously want to continue to be the team that we want to be whether we get it right or wrong,” Gotham FC defender Ali Krieger said. “We’re going to continue to build out the backend and do that with confidence.

“Unfortunately, just didn’t go our way on that clearance…But from then on, we did everything as a team whether we do it right or wrong, and we’re going to support each other in that and always have each other’s back, so it’s no one individual mistake. It’s a team effort.”

Paige Monaghan tried to answer soon after but blasted her shot over the crossbar. McCall Zebroni shot one over the crossbar on the half hour.

Nine minutes later, Onumonu fired a shot while falling to the ground, where the ball hit the bottom of the right post and caromed out of the goal rather than in. San Diego made it 2-0 on Morgan’s second goal when she had a nice touch on a centering pass from Sofia Jakobsson in the 43rd minute.

Midge Purce had a good look at the goal early in the second half, missing just wide left in the 50th minute.
Morgan set up Makenzy Doniak in the 68th minute for the third goal.

Gotham FC will take a two-week international break.

“A lot of it’s just regrouping, whether it’s rest or it is a certain skill that we need to work on, functional work and I think it gives us a really good time for small group training as well as defensive/offense finishing,” Caprice Dydasco said. “We’re heading in the right direction. I know the season is long and we see little steps we’re taking. And we just got to keep building on top of them and we can’t be discouraged by this loss.”

The team returns to RBA to host the Chicago Stars on July 2 at 7 p.m.

FOR YOUR SUMMER READING: A book about the highs and lows of the Rochester Lancers

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.