Alyssa Thompson's first career brace gave visiting Angel City FC a 2-1 win over the San Diego Wave to spoil Landon Donovan's NWSL coaching debut on Saturday.
Thompson, 19, did all his damage during a nine-minute span in the first half, scoring in the 20th minute before adding his second goal in the 29th. Angel City (5-9-3, 18 points) snapped a three-game losing streak with the win.
San Diego (3-8-6, 15 points) looked like it was headed to a fourth straight shutout, but Abby Dahlkemper found the back of the net in the seventh minute of second-half stoppage time.
San Diego was playing its first NWSL game since U.S. men's national team legend Donovan was named the club's interim coach last week.
The match also saw the debut of San Diego's new signing Delphine Cascarino, who signed from Lyon last month. The French forward almost made an immediate impact after coming on as a second-half substitute, but her shot was spectacularly deflected off the crossbar by DiDi Haracic.
The match marked another milestone in the form of veteran U.S. women’s national team forward Christen Press’ first NWSL appearance in over 26 months. The 35-year-old Southern California native made her return after four knee surgeries against San Diego in the NWSL x LIGA MX Femenil Summer Cup in early August.
Earlier on Saturday, NJ/NY Gotham FC moved into a tie on points with third-place 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 games.
Shelby Hogan finished with seven saves for the Thorns (8-6-3, 27 points), who are 2-3-2 following a six-game winning streak.
Ann-Katrin Berger made three saves and kept a clean sheet for Gotham.
Information from Field Level Media contributed to this report.
