María Sánchez nets in hat trick as Wave completes second-half comeback over Thorns

SAN DIEGO — San Diego Wave FC defeated the Portland Thorns 3-2 in comeback fashion with three goals by María Sánchez in the second half erasing the two-goal deficit for the club’s first-ever home victory in the Concacaf W Champions Cup.

The Wave faced off against an NWSL foe, Portland Thorns, on Wednesday night in their second group stage match of the Concacaf W Champions Cup. This marked the first home game for the Wave in the inaugural competition. 

Both squads came into the match with three points in group B winning their opening group stage fixtures. The Thorns defeated Club América in a 3-1 home match as the Wave took a 2-0 away victory in Panama City vs Santa Fe. 

The last time these two clubs faced each other, the Thorns got the better of the Wave taking a 1-0 home victory in a NWSL match on July 7 at Providence Park. 

Portland struck first in the 26-minute, coming off a counterattack that ended with forward Sophia Smith's right-footed near-post goal and a 1-0 Thorns lead. 

The Wave's best chance of the half came at 38 minutes, when a pass played inside the penalty box found forward Delphine Cascarino. She made a shot on goal, but the Thorns goalkeeper made a goal-preventing single-hand save, maintaining the lead until halftime. 

The Wave went into halftime goalless despite leading in shots, shots on goal, and ball possession. They held a 10-4 advantage in shots with 5 of those shots being on target. The ball possession split stood at 69%-31% for the Wave at the break. 

Another Thorns counterattack in the 54-minute led to forward Reilyn Turner getting an opportunity in front of the goal as she poked it past Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan extending Portland's lead to 2-0. 

Wave Forward Makenzy Doniak drew a penalty in the 65-minute as Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey fouled her as she was dribbling into the penalty area. 

María Sánchez, Wave forward, stepped over the ball as she tucked the penalty away in the 67-minute with a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner putting her squad back into the match and making the score 2-1.

Only two minutes later, Sánchez leveled the game with a header into the goal off a Delphine Cascarino back post near goal cross in the 69-minute. The match was two a piece with 20 minutes plus added time remaining.

Another Wave penalty was awarded in the 82-minute due to a handball. An attempted cross from inside the box by Wave forward Amirah Ali was deflected by Thorns defender Becky Sauerbrunn's left hand causing the ref to blow to the spot. 

Already recording a brace in the match, Sánchez stepped up to take her second penalty of the match as another penalty placed into the bottom right corner of the goal sealed her hat trick and a late 3-2 lead for the Wave in the 85-minute, this time sending the Thorns goalkeeper the wrong way. 

The match ended with a 3-2 scoreline, as the Wave completed a two-goal second-half comeback to claim their second win in Concacaf W Champions Cup play and top group B with six points after two matches played. 

Wave coach Landon Donovan opened up the post-game press conference on his team's comeback performance on the night.

“We were awesome,” Donovan said. “It would have been really cruel to lose that game. We deserved to win and win by a lot. I'm proud of the quick turnaround from Saturday.”

“It's changed,” Donovan said on the team mentality. “And I give them so much credit, during a really difficult year to put that behind them and just keep trusting the process. When you trust the process, the results take care of themselves.”

Donovan talked after the match about María Sánchez's hat trick performance against the Portland Thorns.  

“I'm really proud of Maria and really happy for her,” Donovan said. “She runs, works and puts in all the effort. Then she has so much quality, you saw tonight she could probably have six or seven goals in the last few games.“

Sánchez leads goal scoring in the Concacaf W Champions Cup with four goals in two group-stage matches. 

The Wave look to build on their two-game win streak as they travel to Bridgeview, Illinois, to face the Chicago Red Stars in NWSL play at SeatGeek Stadium on Sept. 21 at 6:30 p.m. With six NWSL matches remaining, the Wave looks to have a final push being six points off the final playoff position with 18 points still up for the taking.