The Star-News offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
The season is by no means over for the San Diego Wave. The NWSL team closes out regular season play Sunday, Nov. 1, at PayPal Park in San Jose against Bay FC and then hosts a quarterfinal playoff match the following weekend.
The Wave can assure itself of second place in the 16-team table with a draw against the Bay Area team. A runner-up finish (likely to defending league champion Gotham) would guarantee the Wave holds home field advantage in the semifinals as well.
The Wave announced it will host its quarterfinal match on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. at Snapdragon Stadium. An opponent will be determined following the conclusion of Sunday’s match day.
But home field advantage may not be enough as the Wave discovered in last Sunday’s 2-2 draw against the first-year Boston Legacy.
The San Diego team conceded the first goal in the match, seen by a raucous crowd of 15,701 at Snapdragon Stadium, but recovered to take a 2-1 lead on second-half goals by Gia Corley and an own goal by Boston.
The Legacy netted a late equalizing goal to spoil the Wave from moving into a first-place tie with Gotham atop the standings.
It was a totally unsatisfying tie.
The top eight teams in the standings qualify for the single-elimination playoffs. Gotham (17-5-7, 58 points) continues to lea San Diego (17-8-4, 55 points) by three standings points. The Washinton Spirit (16-9-4, 52 points) remains three points behind the Wave.
With one regular season match left on the schedule, the Spirit cannot finish higher than second place, though the Wave could conceivably drop to third place with a loss and Washington victory.
The top four finishers will have home field advantage in the quarterfinals. It’s a scramble involving four teams for the No. 4 seed. The Kansas City Current (15-9-5, 50 points) exited last weekend with a one piont lead over Angel City FC (14-8-7, 49 points) and a three-point lead on both the Utah Royals (14-10-5, 47 points) and Portland Thorns (13-8-8, 47 points).
Kansas City could conceivably finish as high as third place.
The Seattle Reign (13-11-5, 44 points) holds down the final playoff berth but with a tenuous two-point edge over the North Carolina Courage (13-13-3, 42 points). The Denver Summit (11-10-8, 41 points) remains in contention one point behind Seattle.
Bay FC (7-16-6, 27 points) is out of playoff contention in 14th place.
San Diego out-shot Boston 13-11 and held possession for 59 percent of the match. There appeared to be a wider margin in the first half, which ended in a scoreless standoff following dissolution of a Wave goal in the 34th mintue for offside.
The video review reversal took several minutes of dead time. The goal was spectacular as Boston goalkeeper Laurel Ivory made three consecutive stops, including one while on her bak, before Lia Godfrey finally pushed the ball into the net.
But it proved for naught to the chagrin of the large home crowd.
All four goals in the match were scored in the second half.
The Legacy, nicknamed “The Swans,” didn’t waste time as Annie Karich converted a rebound off an initial save by Wave goalkeeper Sandra Paños in the 48th minute.
The action turned to the other end of the field for the next two goals. The hosts knotted the score at 1-1 three minutes later as Melanie Barcenas fed Corley, whose shot banked off the far post into the net.
Another Wave attacking sequence resulted in the Boston own goal to put San Diego ahead 2-1 in the 54th minute. Barcenas connected a pass to Mimi Van Zanten, who played the ball to Kenza Dali, who then slotted a pass across the goalmouth that a Legacy player tipped in at the far post.
The Wave appeared in all but total control at this point. But somehow the march into first place went for naught when the East Coast visitors scored in the 73rd minute on a goal by Alba Caño.
The hosts applied late pressure but could not net the go-ahead goal. Boston played a physical match with 13 fouls to San Diego’s six.
PHOTO GALLERY BY PAUL MARTINEZ
