SAN DIEGO (April 27, 2024) – San Diego Wave FC (2-2-1, 7 points) defeated Bay FC (2-4-0, 6 points) 2-1 at Snapdragon Stadium on Saturday night. 

Midfielder Makenzy Doniak opened the scoring for the Wave in the 13th minute, recording her first goal in her first start of the 2024 season. Midfielder Kimmi Ascanio began the attack with an ongoing ball to Doniak, who took a touch around her defender and cut inside before hitting a perfectly placed shot that found the back of the net. 

To start the second half, Bay FC immediately went on the attack as a cross was found in the box by Bay defender Kayla Sharples. Sharples’ header went off the crossbar and fell directly to the feet of forward Asisat Oshoala, who calmly slotted the ball to level the match in the 48th minute. 

In the 78th minute, midfielder Savannah McCaskill found the ball in the middle of the field and passed it out wide to second-half substitute Elyse Bennett. The forward hit a flawless pass to Jaedyn Shaw, who finished a close-range shot to earn her first goal of the season and secure the victory at home. 

Next on the schedule: San Diego Wave FC heads to Seattle to face the Reign on Friday, May 3 at Lumen Field. The match will be broadcast on Amazon Prime with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. PT. 

Social: Twitter – @sandiegowavefc | Instagram – @sandiegowavefc | Facebook

Notes:

• Kimmi Ascanio earned her first professional start. The 16-year-old assist made her the third-youngest player to record a goal contribution in a regular-season match in NWSL history. 
• Ascanio (16 years, 3 months, 6 days) is the youngest player to start for San Diego in the regular season. The previous record holder was Jaedyn Shaw at 17 years, 8 months, 10 days. 
• Forward Jaedyn Shaw scored her first goal of the season. With the goal, Shaw joins Alex Morgan as the only two Wave FC players to score 10 or more total goals as a San Diego player in regular season play. 
• Midfielder Makenzy Doniak scored her first goal of the season.
• Forward Elyse Bennett earned her fifth career regular-season assist on her goal to Shaw. 
• The Wave made five changes to the starting lineup from the club’s last match in Orlando on April 20. Ascanio, Kyra Carusa, Makenzy Doniak, Mya Jones, and Kennedy Wesley all earned the start in tonight’s match. Ascanio, Carusa, Doniak, and Jones all earned their first start of the season. 
• Forward Maria Sánchez made her Wave FC debut in the 69th minute. 
• Forward Mya Jones made her Wave FC debut with a start, playing 69 minutes.
• Prior to the match, defender Naomi Girma was honored by State Senator Catherine Blakespear. Blakespear presented Girma with a declaration, honoring the defender for being the 2023 U.S. Soccer Player of the Year. 

Box Score:
San Diego Wave FC 2:1 Bay FC 

Scoring Summary:
SD – Doniak (1) (Ascanio, 1) 13’
BAY – Oshoala (2) 48’
SD – Shaw (1) (Bennett, 1) 78’

Misconduct Summary:
SD – Colaprico 6’ (Caution)
BAY – Kundananji 83’ (Caution)

San Diego Wave FC: GK Sheridan, D McNabb, D Wesley, D Girma ©, D Lundkvist (Torpey 87’), M McCaskill, M Colaprico, M Ascanio (van Egmond HT), F Doniak (Sánchez 69’), F Carusa (Shaw ‘64), F Jones (Bennett 69’)
Subs not used: GK Beall, D Enge, D Westphal, F Ali

Bay FC: GK Proulx, D King, D Dydasco, D Menges, D Sharples, M Bailey, M Castellanos (Anderson 75’), M Boade, F Oshoala (Princess 68’), F Kundananji, F Camberos
Subs not used: GK Rowland, D Beattie, D Malonson, D Moreau, M Anderson, M Shepherd, M Conti

Stats Summary: SD / BAY
Shots: 13 / 22
Shots on Target: 5 / 2
Saves: 2 / 3
Corners: 4 / 9
Fouls: 11 / 9
Offsides: 1 / 1
Possession: 49% / 51% 

Funko Fundays – the celebration for fans of all things Funko – is returning to San Diego Comic-Con this year, and it looks like it’s going to be bigger than ever. At C2E2 today, the company unveiled the first look at Freddy’s Funtastic Voyage, this year’s iteration of the event, which will take place over two days.

They also showed off what appear to be the event team mascots, including Crown Krakens, Pop Bucklers, Proto Pirates, and Blacklight Buccaneers — as well as the treasure-chest themed Box of Fun.

There’s no word on which two nights the event will be, but our best guess would be the traditional Friday night (July 26) and likely Saturday (July 27).

Here’s a look at both, from @flippiefloppies on Twitter:

Additionally, @Distrackers on Twitter got a look at this year’s Funkoville, which is themed to Funko Airways, as Funko continues their 2024 tour of Chicago (C2E2), Mexico (CCXP), San Diego (SDCC), and New York (NYCC). Attendees at C2E2 this weekend were able to get a passport for $5 to be stamped at each location, and that looks to be continuing at SDCC as well.

There’s no word yet on when tickets for this year’s Fundays will go on sale, but they launched on June 9 last year.

Let’s just hope the food is better this year.

Game One: Chihuahuas 7, Tacoma Rainiers 4 (7 innings)

Key Statistics: 1B Donovan Solano, 2-for-4, 2 R, HR (1), 2B, RBI; 2B Nate Mondou, 3-for-4, RBI, SB (2); C Kevin Plawecki, 2-for-3, BB; LF Tim Locastro, 2-for-3, 2 R, HR (1), RBI; RHP Nolan Watson (W, 4-1) 5.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 8 K; RHP Logan Gillaspie (S, 1) IP, H, K

Game Two: Tacoma Rainiers 3, Chihuahuas 1 (7 innings)

Key Statistics: 3B Clay Dungan, 2-for-4, R, HR (3), RBI; 2B Nate Mondou, 2-for-3, 2B; RHP Gabe Mosser, 4 IP, 6 K; LHP Austin Davis (L, 1-2) 0.1 IP, ER, 2 BB, K; RHP Matt Festa, IP, 2 K

Clay Dungan hit his third home run of the year. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)

Prospect Watch: After rain postponed Thursday’s game, El Paso and Tacoma played a pair of seven-inning games Friday night. The Chihuahuas won the first game and lost the second despite allowing just one hit in the nightcap. … Veteran Donovan Solano started at first in game one and doubled and connected on his first homer as a member of the Padres organization. Solano has played gotten off to a hot start in five games with El Paso since joining the organization. The 36-year-old is 5-for-16. … Veteran Nate Mondou tallied five hits on the day – three in game one and two more in the second. Mondou entered Friday hitting .265 but his big night raised his average to .307. The versatile infielder spent most of last season at the Triple-A level in the White Sox organization, where he hit a career-high 13 homers. … Nolan Watson rolled through five innings before running into trouble in the sixth inning, when Tacoma got to him for three runs. Despite that rough patch, it was another solid affair for the former first-rounder. He earned his fourth win of the year, allowing three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 5.1 innings. Watson has never generated many strikeouts, but this year has been different. After striking out eight Friday, the Indianapolis native has punched out 30 in 27 innings. Last season, he struck out 85 batters in 126 innings. Overall, he has a solid 4.67 ERA. … Last week 27-year-old Gabe Mosser made his Triple-A debut with arguably the worst start of his career. Mosser allowed seven runs, recording just one out. On Friday, he bounced back extraordinarily. Mosser breezed through four perfect innings, striking out six along the way. He threw just 57 pitches, 36 for strikes. The solid outing lowered his Triple-A ERA to 14.54. 

Wichita Wind Surge 7, Missions 1

Key Statistics: CF Jakob Marsee, 1-for-3, BB, 2 SB (9, 10); C Brandon Valenzuela, 2-for-3, R, BB; LF Robert Perez Jr., 1-for-3, BB; LHP Robby Snelling (L, 0-1) 2.2 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K; RHP Reggie Lawson, IP, 3 K; LHP Jayvien Sandridge, IP, BB, 3 K

Prospect Watch: The Overlord of MadFriars, John Conniff, is in San Antonio this weekend with on-site coverage. Read his game recap here. 

Homer Bush, Jr. had a pair of infield hits. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)

Great Lakes Loons 5, TinCaps 3

Key Statistics: DH Ethan Salas, 2-for-4, R, BB; CF Homer Bush Jr., 2-for-3, BB, SB (9), CS; 1B Griffin Doersching, 1-for-3, 3 RBI, 2 BB; RF Kai Murphy, 2-for-5; RHP Henry Baez (L, 0-1) 5 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 8 K; RHP Francis Pena, 2 IP, H, BB, K

Ethan Salas reached base three times. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)

Prospect Watch: The TinCaps have had terrible luck with weather this year and Friday night was no exception. The game was delayed over an hour and when it resumed, Fort Wayne lost their fourth straight to the Loons at Parkview Field. … Ethan Salas started at designated hitter and had a pair of singles and a walk. It was his first multi-hit game since the season’s second game nearly three weeks ago. The talented catcher has shown a great eye at the plate thus far but he has just four doubles and zero homers in 70 plate appearances. The 17-year-old is hitting .224/.343/.293 on the season. …  Homer Bush Jr. has struggled, but as the saying goes, speed never slumps. The organization’s fastest player, Bush legged out a pair of infield singles, drew a walk, and went 1-for-2 on stolen base attempts to snap a 1-for-21 stretch over his last eight games. The Grand Canyon University product has failed to notch an extra-base hit in 17 games this year and is hitting just .212/.317/.212. … Kai Murphy had two hits, as he continues to play well in April. Coming into Friday’s game, the 23-year-old had a wRC+ of 117, good for third on the squad. The lefthanded outfielder has walked in 12% of his plate appearances this season. … The evening started off rocky for Henry Baez but he finished strong. Baez allowed the first five Loons to reach base and he trailed 4-0 by the time he recorded his first out. From there forward, Baez retired 15 straight and notched eight strikeouts. It was the first time this season that the 21-year-old completed five innings and his first outing without a walk. In four starts for the TinCaps, Baez has pitched to a 3.86 ERA. He worked his fastball up to 96 in the outing.

Storm 5, Rancho Cucamonga Quakes 2

Key Statistics: C J.D. Gonzalez, 2-for-4, 2 R, 2B; 3B Wyatt Hoffman, 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI; RHP Eric Yost, 4.2 IP, 5 H, ER, 7 K; RHP Xavier Ruiz (W, 1-0) 2 IP, 2 H, ER, BB, 3 K

JD Gonzalez is part of the Padres impressive depth at catcher. (Photo: Jerry Espinoza)

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Prospect Watch: After getting no-hit through the first seven innings, the Storm rallied for five runs in the final two innings for a much-needed comeback win against the Quakes. It’s the third straight game Lake Elsinore has plated at least five runs in the last two innings of the game. … Catcher J.D. Gonzalez rifled a double to right field to open the eighth inning, both breaking up the no-no and notching his first professional hit. He came back with a line drive single the other way to left in the ninth and scored the club’s final run . Last year’s third-rounder is 2-for-9 since joining the Storm. … Third baseman Wyatt Hoffman had a pair of run-scoring singles in the Storm win. The 25-year-old is the elder statesman of the Storm roster. The infielder doesn’t possess much power, but he has put together a .390 on-base percentage in 12 games with the Storm. … After working as a reliever since being drafted last year, righty Eric Yost made his first professional start and threw the ball well. He worked into the fifth inning, allowing just one run on five hits, striking out seven without a walk. The New York native played collegiately at Northeastern, where he pitched to a 4.23 ERA in 15 starts last season. This year, he has struck out 16 batters in 11.2 innings. … Righty Xavier Ruiz pitched the final two innings to earn his first win of the season. The 21-year-old began the year in extended spring training before joining the Storm roster a few weeks ago. In five outings with Lake Elsinore, he has a 3.86 ERA with seven strikeouts in seven innings.