San Diego Wave secure first home win of 2026 with 3-1 victory against Portland
San Diego Wave players celebrate the opening goal by Dudinha early in the Wave’s 3-1 victory against the Portland Thorns. (Emmanuel Alonso/Sandiego.futbol)
San Diego Wave won their second match in only three days with an impressive 3-1 victory against the Portland Thorns for their first win at home of the 2026 season.
The Wave entered with a different starting lineup than their previous two matches including Lia Godfrey and Kimmi Ascanio on the pitch to begin the match for Gabi Portilho at the left wing position and Laurina Fazer in the midfield.
“We definitely improved,” Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall said. It was our best attacking game with our style of play so far this season. We were much better connected over the whole pitch and we continue to create chances. That’s our third game in a row where we create a lot of chances. The difference today is we scored on a few more of them.”
San Diego came out in typical Wave fashion pressing high and making it difficult for the opposing midfield and scored in the first five minutes of the match. By minute three the Wave moved the ball quickly up the pitch and took advantage of a disorganized Thorns defense.
Gia Corley was in the midfield and sent a pass to Dudinha on the left wing. Dudinha was given a surprising amount of time and space to control the ball and shoot it with two defenders in front of her who did not make a challenge for the ball. The shot went past both and grazed the Portland goalkeeper, but still found the back of the net.
However, the 1-0 lead didn’t hold for much longer as the Wave had a poor defensive moment of their own. In the Wave’s style of play a lot of the buildout begins with the Wave centerbacks, but the passes were sloppy from both and Portland kept intense pressure on them to start the match leading to a giveaway in a dangerous position.
Kennedy Wesley made a questionable pass to Kristen McNabb with multiple Thorns players in front of her. McNabb didn’t get the greatest first touch and Pietra Tordin stole the ball and entered the Wave penalty area.
Tordin shot the ball just wide of the net, but hit the post which worked perfectly as a pass to herself while Wave’s goalkeeper Leah Freeman was on the ground. Tordin just needed a touch and got it to equalize at 1-1 in the 8th minute.
Both teams settled down and solidified their defenses, but the Wave with their dynamic midfield coupled with dominant possession created another goal in the 27th minute.
Kenza Dali sent a perfect pass on the ground to Gia Corley who entered the penalty area and took a shot right in front of the keeper on the right side that got saved. Ludmila recovered the deflection and shot it too, but it hit the top post and was saved off the goal line. Then Dudinha recovered and had a chance to shoot, but opted to pass the ball to a wide open Lia Godfrey who scored it easily to make it 2-1.
The Wave were strong in the start to the second half, but Portland held them off and began to create some of their own chances. Eventually the Wave managed to seal the game after key substitutions by Eidevall.
Melanie Barcenas and Gabi Portilho came on for Dudinha and Lia Godfrey in the 78th minute and made an impact soon after.
The Wave forced a counter-attacking opportunity in the 83rd minute and Kenza Dali had the ball at the midfield and sent a through ball to Melanie Barcenas behind the Thorns line. Barcenas entered the penalty area and took a shot directly off the goalkeeper, but the deflection stayed in front of her so she put away the second opportunity to make it 3-1.
After an already quick turnaround the Wave will continue their short week and play another match at home on Saturday, March 28, against the Chicago Stars. The Stars most recently lost against the Orlando Pride 3-0.
