San Diego Wave beat Utah Royals, 3-2, in home opener

SAN DIEGO -- A momentum-swinging Saturday night Snapdragon Stadium home opener ended in a 3-2 victory for the San Diego Wave earning their first victory of the 2025 NWSL regular season.

“Yeah playing at home is like nothing else,” Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan said on playing in front of the home supporters. “I think playing in front of our fans in San Diego, they love it, we love it, we feel their energy, we feed off of it, we feel connected to the people here and I think that's so important."

"So being able to come here, play here and win here is really important for us," Sheridan said.

With both clubs finishing their season openers collecting one point from their 1-1 draws, an opportunity to claim their first three points from a victory was in the cards on Saturday night as the Wave hosted the Royals for the season home opener. 

San Diego saw success in 2024 against Utah defeating them in both home and away NWSL fixtures with a 4-1 combined score. 

After keeping the ball in bounds, San Diego Wave midfielder Gia Corley dribbled into the penalty area, firing a low-driven cross into the goal box where forward María Sánchez tapped the ball into an empty net giving San Diego the quick lead at the seven-minute mark

María Sánchez recorded her first goal of the 2025 NWSL season and the Wave's first home goal of the league campaign. 

Another fast start for the Wave as their last match against Angel City saw them score in the opening six minutes of the game. 

The Wave doubled up their lead in the 37-minute with newly acquired forward Adriana Leon finding the net late in the first half.

A counterattack led by Wave forward Delphine Cascarino saw her dribble from the middle of the pitch in the penalty box placing another low-driven cross into the goal area with the pass meeting Leon’s tapped touch into another uncontested net.

After her return to the NWSL, Adriana Leon marked her first goal for the San Diego Wave on Saturday night and the first of the 2025 season.

It was a one-sided affair in the first half as the Wave dominated the first 45 minutes with a 2-goal lead, controlling the match tempo and possession with a 65%-35% advantage. 

A strong defensive 45 minutes for the Wave only allowing one shot, none on frame threatening the goalkeeper.

The first 15 minutes of the second half saw a more aggressive offense push up the field for the Royals, earning a freekick right outside the box in a dangerous area in the 61-minute.

Royals midfielder Claudia Zornoza got her squad right back into the match off that freekick opportunity with a looping left-footed setpiece finish over the Wave wall and into the side netting out of reach for Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan making the score 2-1.

The continuing offense confidence for the Royals paid off as a slipped-through ball pass into the penalty box found Tanaka running in behind the Wave defensive line as she fired a shot around Sheridan and into the near post to level the match at 2-2 in the 72-minute. 

A costly kickoff error in the 74-minute by Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn saw a misplaced pass right outside the penalty box intercepted by Gia Corley as she took advantage of the keeper’s mistake and placed a shot into the top left corner of the goal as the Wave regained the lead 3-2. 

After finding the net in last Sunday's match against Angel City FC, Gia Corley tallied her second goal of the 2025 NWSL season off back-to-back games. 

The Wave saw out the remainder of the match as they held on to their slim one-goal advantage to win their Snapdragon Stadium home opener and earn their first victory of the 2025 NWSL season. 

The Royals' second-half offensive surge made for a competitive and level match as the first-half one-sided statistics for the Wave were brought closer with possession ending in a 54%-46% Wave victory and sharing the total shots at 11-11. 

At the post-match press conference, Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall spoke on his teams' performance of both halves against Utah Royals FC. 

“It’s a game that's probably best summarized by looking at it, that's the two different halves because they're quite different,” Eidevall said. “I think the first half is, all in all, a performance that I'm very pleased with. I think we have good patience and control in our build-up and were playing the ball forward at the right moment.”

“Now, second half it's a little bit different story,” Eidevall said. “I think they obviously don't change so much tactically but they change the intensity, that they do things which was something that we expected. We're not very good in the second half with handling that, we're a little bit too slow in order to take our positions. Our technical execution is a little bit sloppy as well.”

Head coach Jonas Eidevall earned his first victory in charge of the San Diego Wave, a start in the right direction for the Eidevall-led squad as they look to avoid last season's home struggles of finding victories and creating goals.

“Gia deserves a lot of credit and praise for her first two games,” Eidevall said on Gia Corley’s form and start of the season for the Wave. 

“She doesn't look like she's a new player to the league that hasn't played any games in the NWSL so far," Eidevall said. "And of course, she's been able to contribute with both goals and assists but also really a lot of both good attacking play and pressing actions for the team.”

Next Saturday lies a major test for the San Diego Wave as they head to Orlando, Flordia to face the reign NWSL champions, the Orlando Pride, on March 29 at Inter & Co Stadium at a 9 a.m. kickoff time.