Tom Krasovic: A San Diego teenager provides hope for crashing Wave

For the struggling San Diego Wave FC, a teenager represents hope.

Melanie Barcenas has magic feet, as verified by her last two matches since returning from a hip injury.

The 16-year-old’s exciting trap-and-shot late in Friday’s match wasn’t enough to end the Wave’s struggles. The goalkeeper knocked away the high-speed shot, and the Portland Thorns broke through for a goal in the 84th minute, leading to the visiting Wave’s 1-0 defeat before an announced crowd of 18,011.

But talent is talent.

It’s clear Barcenas, a Clairemont-area native and former San Diego Surf star, has it.

“Oh, she’s so exciting,” Wave interim coach Paul Buckle said. “It’s not easy coming off the bench for any professional player, but she’s made it look pretty easy.”

Wave defender Hanna Lundkvist says this of Barcenas: “She’s brave and she’s got techniques.”

The Wave are desperate for scoring punch. Look for Barcenas to get more chances beginning Aug. 24, when the National Women’s Soccer League’s regular season resumes following the Paris Olympics.

Plagued by imprecision and disconnection, the 10th-place Wave (3-7-6) have been shut out in their past three-and-half games — including both matches since team president Jill Ellis fired coach Casey Stoney, the defense-first head coach.

Of course, a teen can’t be expected to come to the rescue.

The burden to turn around the offense begins with several veterans, including three accomplished NWSL scorers who are without a goal this season: forwards Alex Morgan, 35, and Maria Sanchez, 28, and midfielder Savannah McCaskill, 27.

Morgan’s drought, which spans 10 matches, appeared to end late in Friday’s first half when she tapped in a loose ball.

Then came a signal from the referee: Morgan was offside.

“That’s how it’s going for us,” said Buckle, who disagreed with the call.

Deep into her second season, Barcenas has shown she might provide a spark during the upcoming 10-game stretch that ends in early November.

She entered in the second half, just as she did in a 3-0 loss a week earlier.

Nearly decking the Thorns, she unloaded perhaps the most powerful shot any opponent has faced in the Wave’s past three matches.

The sequence began when Barcenas, a 5-foot-4 midfielder working at left wing after replacing Sánchez, tamed McCaskill’s smart crossing pass into the box with a perfect first touch. Eluding a defender, Barcenas pivoted and clubbed the bounding ball with her right foot.

Goalkeeper Shelby Hogan, on the way to her seventh shutout this season, punched the laser over the bar.

“Incredible save,” said Buckle.

Two minutes after the fans exhaled, the Thorns had them roaring.

It began with Thorns midfielder Hina Sugita stealing goalkeeper’s Kailen Sheridan’s ill-advised pass by ambushing Wave defender Kristen McNabb near the center stripe.

The sequence ended with 22-year-old Izzy D’Aquila’s one-touch goal from 4 yards, off a crossing pass from Janine Beckie, who saw D’Aquila dart past defenders Abby Dahlkemper and Lundkvist.

The final whistle sent the Wave on a glum, too familiar walk off the pitch.

They’re winless in their nine road matches, a year after winning six road games to record the league’s best away record.

Scoreless in the 300-plus minutes since rookie Mya Jones’ goal at NJ/NY Gotham FC on June 19, winless in the nine matches since they beat last-place Utah on May 8 in Mission Valley, the Wave now will try to regroup.

The layoff and exhibition matches will allow them to work on the finer points of the transition from a defense-first team to one that, in Ellis’ phrase, is “built on attacking.”

Such an overhaul takes more than two weeks.

“We have to keep believing because we did so many things right,” Buckle said. ‘We were brave again. But, we’re just not getting anything for our troubles right now. We were brave with the ball. I’d be nitpicking if I said anything different.

“I’m just desperately disappointed for the players. I said that to them, ‘Football can be cruel sometimes’. But, if we keep playing like we’re playing, it will turn. It will turn for us.”

In pursuit of a playoff bid, NWSL teams are permitted more lives than a cat. Eight of the 14 clubs get in.

Every soccer expert agrees the Wave have more talent – especially on defense led by Naomi Girma – than a handful of fellow stragglers.

All it may take is a two or three wins and a few ties. Six of the 10 matches will come in Mission Valley. Rest will be abundant, and several upcoming opponents lack game-changing firepower.

But it will take more scoring from a Wave team that shows 12 goals in 16 matches.

The Wave know the stakes. They stand as the NWSL’s most disappointing team, given they won the league title last year and were picked first or second by the soccer media and oddsmakers entering this year.

“There’s nothing to say,” said Lundkvist, who was in Sweden last season. “We have to keep going and just keep pushing.”