San Diego Wave coach Landon Donovan might disagree, but the TV announcer of Wednesday night’s nonleague match with the Portland Thorns said it plainly:
“They’ve crawled back from the dead.”
Storming back from a 2-0 deficit at Snapdragon Stadium, the Wave scored three goals in the second half thanks to two penalty kicks by Wave midfielder María Sánchez and her third goal for the night.
Sophia Smith and Reilyn Turner gave the Thorns the lead, but Sánchez sent San Diego to its second win in the second group stage match of the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup.
With the exception of two or three moments defensively, Donovan said, “we were awesome tonight. It would have been really, really cruel to lose that game.”
He said San Diego deserved to win “and win by a lot probably. So I’m proud of the quick turnaround from Saturday” when the Wave beat host Utah 2-1.
Sánchez started the comeback when she scored a dominant left-footed penalty kick effort in the 67th minute.
Midfielder Makenzy Doniak was taken down in the box and the Mexican international took the kick from the spot.
Just 90 seconds later, forward Delphine Cascarino beat two Portland players and went to the end line. The French international hit a cross into the box that Sánchez towered over her defender and struck with her head, powering it past Portland goalkeeper Shelby Hogan.
Donovan said he enjoyed being around Sánchez.
“She’s very humble, her teammates love her, she runs and works and puts in all the effort,” he told reporters. “And then she has so much quality, like you saw tonight.”
San Diego earned its second penalty of the evening in the 85th minute when forward Amirah Ali took a shot that hit the hand of a Portland defender. Sánchez stepped up again and went to the same spot to beat Hogan.
Donovan praised his team’s new attitude, saying that when the Wave was down 1-0 to Angel City this season, he could see in their energy and demeanor “here we go again, and they just expected they were gonna lose.”
But when down 2-0 in the second half Wednesday, the coach saw a change.
“They’ve done everything I’ve asked since day one and more and they’re starting to believe — and that’s a huge deal,” he said.
Donovan was asked about a recent team meeting, where he let players share feelings about the tumult of this year.
“Everything in life comes down to human beings,” he said. “When the human being is happy, they perform better. So my job is to create an elite environment so that they can perform at a high level.
“They needed the opportunity to let me know and just get everything out in the open about how hard it’s been for them this year and what it’s been like to go through that.”
Next on the schedule: San Diego heads on the road to face the Chicago Red Stars in regular season play at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 21. The match will air live on ION.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)