SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego Wave exited the Concacaf W Champions Cup on the final match day with a 1-0 loss to Club América Femenil, pushing the Wave outside the top two advancing places of Group B.
🦅 @AmericaFemenil termina como líder del Grupo B.#WChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/NnLPSHvtvQ
— Concacaf W (@ConcacafW) October 17, 2024
With the Portland Thorns clinching a spot in the next round the night before, Wednesday night's determined the last semifinal spot.
Coming into the match, San Diego (3-0-0) needed one point to advance in second place, tied for the top spot with Portland on nine points with a game in hand. Trailing only by three points was Club América Femenil (2-0-1) as they needed a victory to advance in the competition.
A tough start to the match for the Wave as they went down to ten players in the 23-minute due to Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan receiving a red card for denying América midfielder Sarah Luebbert a goalscoring opportunity.
Kailen Sheridan came out of her box as a dangerous América long ball found Sarah Luebbert inside their attacking third. Luebbert was brought down by the charging Sheridan as she attempted to dribble around her.
Wave goalkeeper Hillary Beall took over between the sticks with forward Mya Jones taken off to fill in for Sheridan's dismissal.
“That play obviously changes the game so that's difficult,” Wave coach Landon Donovan said on the early red card. “I actually thought we did a really good job just then managing the game very well.”
A mishandled América shot attempt in the 59-minute by subbed on Hillary Beall was followed up by Sarah Luebbert as she tapped the loose ball into the net giving Club América Femenil the 1-0 lead and temporarily putting her squad into the semi-finals.
¡Sarah Luebbert rompe el empate! 🦅#WChampionsCup pic.twitter.com/lAzyFaUyci
— Concacaf W (@ConcacafW) October 17, 2024
“The goal is a tough one to take,” Donovan said. "Obviously, the field's been in bad shape, especially in the goal mouth and I feel bad for Hillary. The ball bounces and moves like four feet, she's probably devastated by it and there's nothing we can do about that.”
The ten-player Wave was unable to find the back of the net with the 30 minutes plus added time that remained and the match concluded with América taking the 1-0 away victory and clinching a spot in the semifinals of the Concacaf W Champions Cup.
San Diego struggled in offensive creation as being a player down for the majority of the match made it difficult for them to gain advantages. Club América Femenil finished the game with a shot advantage of 23-7 and a slight edge in ball possession 57%-43%.
“The game actually got more simple when we went down a player because we had to just allow them to have the ball more,” Donovan said. “The hard part was after conceding the goal, then pushing the game and having to deal with a lot of hard moments. We defended very well in those moments.”
“So I'm proud of them for that, to keep it at one and give us a chance to make a play on the other end,” Donovan said.
Due to the Concacaf W Champions Cup’s first tiebreaker for the group point ties being goal difference, the San Diego Wave ended their campaign with nine points but fell to third place in Group B due to their goal difference margin being less than Portland’s and América’s.
The Wave looks to keep their NWSL playoff hopes alive as they head to Kansas City to face the Current on Oct. 19 in CPKC Stadium at 10 a.m. A must-win match for San Diego (5-12-7) as they sit in twelfth place with 22 points trailing the final playoff spot by six points with only two matches remaining.