Wave, leading for most of match, settles for draw after late penalty

For the second consecutive match the outcome of a San Diego Wave FC championship was decided near the end of stoppage time This time however fortune did not smile on the home club which had to settle for a - draw against the Portland Thorns During the th minute rookie center back Jayden Perry of the visiting Thorns connected with a left-footed penalty kick from the center of the penalty area The ball whizzed into the net after goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan was faked out by Perry She dove right instead of left while attempting to stop the ball She s one of the best keepers in this league Perry revealed of Sheridan during a post-match interview But as soon as you go up to the penalty kick spot you just have to trust in yourself no matter who s on the other side of that penalty kick I have full trust in myself and confidence that when I go up there I know that I m going to make it Sheridan played in her th NWSL championship Saturday and is just the fourth keeper in league history to reach the milestone The aforementioned penalty kick had been awarded after the Wave s Kristen McNabb fouled the Thorns Sam Coffey during the match s th minute just a scant seconds short of when the match was due to end YOU CAN COUNT ON KIMMI pic twitter com TLcNajc rT San Diego Wave FC sandiegowavefc May Perry who was born and raised in Orange County had a large contingent of family and friends cheering her on at Snapdragon Stadium She managed to save the Thorns from defeat less than two months after making herprofessional debut She signed with Portland in January and played her first tournament with the side March Prior to the game-tying goal Saturday it looked like the Wave was about to have thefirst four-game winning streak in its history San Diego had led nearly the entire match despite defender Kennedy Wesley receiving a red card during the encounter s th minute Wesley who was ejected from the match after tripping an opposing contestant did not play at all during the second half as a outcome San Diego was forced to play -on- for more than minutes of contest time Due to the red card Wesley s also expected to be ineligible for San Diego s next match a road contest against NJ NY Gotham FC on May The Wave led - at halftime with the lone tally coming from -year-old midfielder Kimmi Ascanio who converted a diving header into the lower right corner of the net in order to give San Diego the lead Despite the final result the Wave is still managing to exceed expectations Manycommentators and league observers had expected the rebuilding side to struggle this early and in its initial games it did But the Wave entered Saturday night s match on a three-game win streak after beating Bay FC - in stoppage time on May It won via a game-winning goal by another -year-old rookie Trinity Armstrong who is one of four teenagers on the Wave s roster The Wave has a record of - - and points good enough for fifth place in the -team NWSL standings The Thorns now sit in sixth with a - - record and points Notes Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall who was ailing was not on the sideline during the match Instead he was in a booth and relayed his coaching instructions to assistant coach Jack Jensen who stood in for Eidevall on the sidelines San Diego has scored in each of its last four games with goals Ascanio netted her second professional goal of the season She has scored two goals in the last three games Forward Kyra Carusa made her first appearance since San Diego s season-opener on March after recovering from a lower leg injury