San Diego Wave came out with a hard-fought 2-1 victory on Saturday evening at Snapdragon Stadium over Bay FC in front of the raucous home fans.

The Wave took the lead in the 13th minute when forward Makenzy Doniak took a quick pass from teammate midfielder Kimmi Ascanio inside the box and right-footed her shot past the outstretched arm of goalkeeper Lysianne Proulx. The assist by the 16-year-old Ascanio came in her first start since joining the Wave through the NWSL’s Under-18 entry mechanism last month.

Bay FC almost tied the score in the 21st minute when midfielder Tess Boade was able to take advantage of a turnover and turn it into a breakaway opportunity, but Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan was up to the task of deflecting the shot with her defense knocking the ball out of danger.

The visitors ended up finding the tying goal in the 48th minute when forward Asisat Oshoala was at the right spot after a header by teammate Kayla Sharples rebounded off the crossbar placing her shot from six yards out past Sheridan.

San Diego made a series of substitutions toward the middle of the second half including bringing on Jaedyn Shaw along with María Sánchez and Elyse Bennett to give Casey Stoney’s team a better chance at finding the game-winning score.

Those moves eventually paid off in the 78th minute when Bennett found a streaking Shaw on a beautiful pass that the 19-year-old phenom slotted into the back of the net. Bay FC did not create many more serious chances to find the tying goal as the Wave closed out the final minutes for the much-needed win.

What made the result even more impressive was that San Diego did not have the services of midfielder Melanie Barcenas, forward Sofia Jakobsson, and Alex Morgan. Morgan is still recovering from an ankle injury suffered in the 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride on April 19.

The Wave now gets ready for its upcoming rematch versus the Seattle Reign on Friday, May 3 at Lumen Field.