Alyssa Thompson’s first career brace lifted lift visiting Angel City FC to a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Wave to spoil Landon Donovan’s debut as coach in the NWSL on Saturday.
Thompson, 19, did all of her damage during a nine-minute span in the first half, scoring in the 20th minute before adding her second goal in the 29th. Angel City (5-9-3, 18 points) snapped a three-match losing streak with the victory.
It looked like San Diego (3-8-6, 15 points), was going to be shut out for the fourth straight match, but Abby Dahlkemper found the back of the net in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time.
San Diego was playing its first match in the NWSL since U.S. men’s national team legend Donovan was named the club’s interim coach last week.
The game also saw a debut for new San Diego signing Delphine Cascarino following her signing from Lyon last month. The France forward almost made an immediate impact after coming off the bench in the second half but had a shot spectacularly tipped onto the crossbar DiDi Haracic.
The game saw another milestone in the form of a first NWSL appearance in more than 26 months for longtime U.S. women’s national team forward Christen Press. The 35-year-old Southern California native made her return following four knee surgeries against San Diego in the NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup at the start of August.
Earlier on Saturday, NJ/NY Gotham FC moved level on points with third-placed Washington Spirit with a 2-0 win over the visiting Portland Thorns.
Ella Stevens scored in the seventh minute and Yazmeen Ryan doubled Gotham’s lead in the 70th, giving Gotham (10-3-4, 34 points) its ninth win in 12 matches.
Shelby Hogan finished with seven saves for the Thorns (8-6-3, 27 points), who are 2-3-2 on the heels of a six-match winning streak.
Ann-Katrin Berger made three saves to come away with a clean sheet for Gotham.
Information from Field Level Media contributed to this report.