Young stars shine in San Diego Wave's 3-0 victory in Chiicago

CHICAGO -- The San Diego Wave added another on-the-road victory to its record after a 3-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars. Under a sea of bright lights, the Wave's Melanie Barcenas, Trinity Armstrong and Kimmi Ascanio made history as the first trio of 17-year-olds to make an NWSL starting lineup. All three were starters for the USWNT's U-17 team during the 2024 U-17 Women's World Cup.

Starting strong in the first half, San Diego opened scoring in the 31st minute following a corner kick by Barcenas. The ball was poorly cleared by a Red Stars defender and was deflected off Armstrong. Hanna Lundkvist gained possession and sent a pass deep into the left corner, flying past Chicago keeper Alyssa Naeher. 

After a back-and-forth hour during which both teams saw chances of scoring, the Wave doubled their lead in the 81st minute. San Diego's offense broke past Chicago's counterpressure. María Sánchez crossed the ball to Adriana Leon, whose attempt was initially blocked by Naeher but later deflected off defender Sam Staab and into the net for an own goal.

San Diego continued to dominate, pushing high and fast against Chicago's struggling defense. The visitors had out-possessed the Red Stars 63% to 37% and had 5/9 shots on target compared to the home side's 4/12 shots on target. 

In the final minutes of stoppage time, San Diego added a third goal to the scoresheet. After Kenza Dali's shot was pushed wide by Naeher, Leon recovered the loose ball and provided a perfect pass to Ascanio. She finished with a sleek outside-of-the-foot shot into the side netting for her first professional goal since joining the NWSL and the Wave last March. 

“It’s a huge moment for me,” Ascanio said postgame. “This is my second year in the league, and to finally put it in the back of the net meant so much to me, especially with the people that surrounded me… that’s just been my goal for a while. I’m very, very happy to be able to do that.”

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan had another great night. Sheridan earned the team's first clean sheet of the season, with four saves throughout the night. In the 23rd minute, Sheridan saved a low-driven shot from outside the box by Ally Schlegel. Sheridan was called upon again in the 73rd minute, pushing Catherine Barry wide and saving the shutout. 

The Wave has shown improvement since the beginning of the season. They seem to have worked on the scoring issues that plagued the team and managed to adapt well to head coach Jonas Eidevall's system following the three coaching changes that took place during the 2024 season. 

"When I talk about us developing, us growing into this season, it's not only attacking, it's also defending. It's no secret we've been giving away a little bit too many cheap penalties and easy situations around the box...We worked hard and improved on that, so today was better," said Eidevall on developing the Wave's defense. 

San Diego has scored 12 goals in its six matches. Tonight's match result brings the total of goals scored on the road this season to eight, with seven occurring in the past two weeks. It also moved the club to fifth on the league table (3-1-2,10 points).

The Wave returns home on Monday, May 2, to take on Northern California rivals Bay FC at Snapdragon Stadium.