The San Diego Wave achieved many firsts Friday night — including winning its first match of the 2024 season and defeating the Seattle Reign for the first time in regular-season play.
The win came on a goal by Emily van Egmond at Snapdragon Stadium.
In addition, goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan recorded her first clean sheet of the season.
The goal in the 98th minute also occurred at the latest point in a match in the team’s history.
San Diego started the match testing Seattle Reign (1-2-0, 3 points) goalkeeper Claudia Dickey by sending several services into the box. (The Washington team was formerly called OL Reign.)
The most dangerous opportunity came in the 27th minute, when forward Sofia Jakobsson sent a curling cross from the right side to the feet of forward Jaedyn Shaw. The 19-year old directed the ball on frame, but Dickey stepped out to earn the save.
Midfielder Savannah McCaskill had another close chance in the 40th minute when she found an errant pass from Reign. The free agent who was signed this offseason took a shot from 25 yards out that deflected off a Reign defender and hit the post, just narrowly missing.
Forward Alex Morgan headed a ball into the net in the second half, but it was ruled offsides.
The Wave finally found the advantage in the eighth minute of 11 minutes of added time when van Egmond found the ball from Morgan. Near the penalty spot, the Australian international slotted the ball to the corner that sent the ball straight into the net.
Ball possession was nearly evenly split between the teams on a cool but clear pre-storm evening.
Sixteen-year-old midfielder Melanie Barcenas earned her first minutes of the 2024 regular season, Defender Kristen Mcnabb also earned her first start and minutes of the 2024 season after returning from injury.
Attendance was announced as 16,746. (The Padres also had a night game.) But a sour note was sounded on X after the match when the San Diego Sirens support group said three of its banners had gone missing and asked for them back, “no questions asked.”
The banners were returned.
Following an international break, the Wave (1-1-0, 3 points) will travel to face Racing Louisville at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, April 13. The match will be broadcast live on ION.