San Diego Wave players celebrate goal by Hanna Lundkvist. Photo courtesy San Diego Wave
San Diego Wave players celebrate goal by Hanna Lundkvist. Photo courtesy San Diego Wave

San Diego Wave defender Hanna Lundkvist earned her first NWSL goal in a 1-1 draw Sunday afternoon against NJ/NY Gotham at Snapdragon Stadium.

Gotham (3-2-3, 13 points) opened the scoring in the 25th minute when forward Jenna Nighswonger sent a pass to forward Ella Stevens who took a touch and turned herself to goal to hit a volley into the back of the net.  

In the 64th minute, following continuous attacking pressure from San Diego (3-3-2, 11 points), Lundkvist scored when midfielder Savannah McCaskill hit an in-swinging corner kick at Lundkvist. 

San Diego Wave defender scored her first NWSL goal at Snapdragon Stadium. Photo courtesy San Diego Wave
San Diego Wave defender Hanna Lundkvist scored her first NWSL goal at Snapdragon Stadium. Photo courtesy San Diego Wave

Lundkvist, a Swedish player, soared over her defenders and headed the ball to level the match and earn the point at home.

“It was super exciting, of course, to score my first goal,” Lundkvist said. ”It wasn’t the prettiest goal. I was not 100% sure it was me who scored it, but, yeah, it’s super nice to have it and that it meant a point for us and was super important.”

Melanie Barceans (hip), Abby Dahlkemper (thigh), Naomi Girma (thigh), Sofia Jakobsson (lower leg) and Alex Morgan (lower leg) were unavailable for San Diego. 

San Diego Wave travels to face Bay FC on Friday, May 17, at Paypal Park in San Jose. The match will be broadcast on NWSL+ with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m..