San Diego Wave FC earned a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Utah Royals on Saturday night in front of the home fans at Snapdragon Stadium. The win gives San Diego four points in its first two matches of the NWSL regular season after starting with a 1-1 road draw against Angel City FC.

San Diego was on the front foot the entire first half controlling the pace and creating the better chances with midfielder María Sánchez opening up the scoring in the seventh minute off a beautiful pass from forward Gia Corley, who managed to keep the ball inbounds and found the streaking Sánchez inside the box.

The home team extended the lead in the 37th minute when forward Delphine Cascarino found teammate Adriana Leon on a play that mirrored the opening goal, which beat goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn for the 2-0 lead. The team, led by head coach Jonas Eidevall, took the two-goal lead into halftime as the visitors made some tactical changes along with bringing in former Wave defender Madison Pogarch to start the second half.

The Royals scored in the 61st minute off a left-footed free-kick golazo from 20 yards away by midfielder Claudia Zornoza that beat goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan. Utah tied the match in the 72nd minute when forward Mina Tanaka managed to split the Wave defense slotting her shot into the back of the net.

Just when it looked like Utah had regained all the momentum, McGlynn sent an errant pass that Corley recovered and immediately beat the Utah keeper from 12 yards out to give San Diego a 3-2 lead.

The Wave is tied for second place with Bay FC and Seattle Reign behind first-place Kansas City Current. San Diego will travel to play the defending champion Orlando Pride on Saturday, March 29 at Inter&Co Stadium.

Photo by David Frerker