San Diego Wave strengthens playoff position, defeats Utah Royals 3-2 on the road

The Wave break their winless streak with a come-from-behind 3-2 road victory over the Utah Royals at America First Field on Saturday night, keeping their playoff position on track with the season winding down. 

With only three NWSL matches remaining for the Wave, they came into the match against the Royals holding the eighth and final playoff qualifying spot. Saturday felt like a must-win to keep up the pace. 

Not only in search of points, but the Wave looked to improve on their struggling form, having gone through their last seven matches without a victory.

The last time San Diego FC took all three points in a match was on August 16, when they defeated Bay FC 2-1 on the road at PayPal Park.  

It's the fourth all-time meeting between these two clubs, with San Diego not only defeating the Royals earlier this season 3-2 at Snapdragon Stadium on March 22 but also holding an unbeaten three-game winning record.

It only took nine minutes of the opening whistle for Utah to get on the board, with midfielder Janni Thomsen cutting onto her left foot and bouncing an outside-the-box attempt past diving Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan.

The Wave answered right back with the leveling goal in the 29-minute, as forward Dudinha took advantage of the dangerous counterattack, setting up her left-footed low driven finish into the near post for her second Wave goal. 

Into stoppage time of the first half, the Wave doubled up their goal tally coming off a Royals own goal as a centered corner kick bounced off Utah defender Kate Del Fava as the ball found its way into the goal, with the Wave going into halftime up 2-1.

The homesided Utah Royals came out of the break in search of their own equalizing goal, and it didn’t take long for the scoreboard to read 2-2 after forward Mina Tanaka scored a first-time left-footed finish into the bottom left corner in the 54-minute. 

The continuous offensive pressure and chances created paid off for the Wave, getting the game-winning goal over the line in the 72-minute from midfielder Kenza Dali.

What looked to have been a far distance cross into the box from a right wing position ended up being mishandled by Royals goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn, unable to get a hand on the dangerous ball as it landed directly into the net for the 3-2 score. 

The match remained at that scoreline as the final whistle blew at America First Field with the Wave doubling up on the Utah Royals for the season, repeating the first game's score with another 3-2 win. 

At the post-match press conference, San Diego Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall spoke on the 3-2 come-from-behind win over Utah and on looking forward to the final two regular-season games.

“I think it shows a lot of resilience and the hard work in the group that even if we go one-nil down, that we make good decisions, work really hard. We find our way into the game again.”

“We're at the business end of the season. We said from the beginning, our ambition and goal is to go into the playoffs.“

“We're happy with today, but now we need to recharge, refocus, and be ready for Chicago and next week.”

A vital win and three points added to the season total for the Wave, increasing their playoff cushion to five points at the end of Saturday night, but also climbing up to sixth place on the NWSL standings. 

The 3-2 victory snapped a seven-match winless streak for the Wave, having gone the entirety of September without a win.

The Wave improved their regular season record to nine wins, eight losses, and seven draws, sitting on 34 points on the year.  

It will be a tasty end of the NWSL regular season, with only two teams (Kansas City Current and Washington Spirit) having clinched a spot in the tournament. All coming down to the final pair of games to determine the participants and matchups. 

As for next matchday, the Wave return to Snapdragon Stadium after a couple of games on the road, facing off against the last-place Chicago Stars next Saturday on Oct. 18, set for a 7 p.m. kickoff. 

The Wave will be looking to repeat their dominant result from their first meeting of the season with the Stars, as San Diego left SeatGeek Stadium with an overwhelming 3-0 win back on April 26.