Three previously injured San Diego Wave players returned to the pitch Friday evening against Bay FC. But the team fell 2-1 to Bay at PayPal Park in San Jose.
Defender Naomi Girma earned her first start since April 27. Defender Abby Dahlkemper came in as a second-half substitute for Girma.
Midfielder Sofia Jakobsson came on as a substitute in the 65th minute. Girma had been out since April 12 and Dahlkemper last played on April 19.
Kyra Carusa opened the scoring for San Diego (3-4-2, 11 points) in the 23rd minute with her second goal of the season, tied for the team lead.
Midfielder Savannah McCaskill hit a corner kick that was bouncing in the box before finding the feet of Carusa. The San Diego native was able to connect with the ball and hit a first-time shot into the bottom left corner.
Bay FC (3-7-0, 9 points) pulled one back in the 55th minute by way of Scarlett Camberos to find the equalizer. The home side then grabbed the go-ahead goal through an own goal that garnered through the pressure of Bay forward Racheal Kundananji in the 87th minute.
“We’ve got to start changing our mentality,” said head coach Casey Stoney. “We’ve got to find a way to win. They scored one goal, and we went to pieces. We can’t afford to do that.”
Alex Morgan (lower leg), Jaedyn Shaw (lower leg) and Makenzy Doniak (lower leg) were unavailable for Friday’s match.
San Diego travels to face Angel City on Thursday, May 23, at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. The match will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.