The San Diego Wave of the National Women’s Soccer League announced in December that
it would move its home games to the still-under-construction 35,000-seat Snapdragon Stadium on the Mission Valley campus of San Diego State University in September 2022.
In the meantime, the expansion team will utilize the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium for home matches during its inaugural season.
The Wave is currently engaged in the league’s preseason Challenge Cup series through April 23.
Additionally, the San Diego Loyal continues to use the USD stadium pitch for its USL Championship home matches. The Loyal is continuing to grow its fan base with a possible move to Snapdragon Stadium in the future if warranted.
At present, the college facility is a good fit for the minor league soccer franchise, which attracted 5,014 fans to last Saturday’s season opener, a 2-1 victory over Southern California rival L.A. Galaxy II.
The Loyal’s regular season schedule runs through Oct. 15. Torero Stadium is becoming downright crowded at present with the university’s football team as the prime tenant. Thus, the San Diego Legion of Major League Rugby has moved its home games to the SDSU Sports Deck for this season with an eye on moving into Snapdragon Stadium in 2023 as another sports tenant.
Snapdragon Stadium is also becoming crowded even before its official opening on Sept. 3 when the SDSU Aztecs football team will host the University of Arizona in a non-conference NCAA Division I football game.
The new Mission Valley site will serve as the primary venue for the 2023 World Lacrosse Championship scheduled to be hosted in San Diego.
Loyal locos
Those in attendance at last Saturday’s home opener were treated to a flurry of late goals that ultimately decided the outcome of the match in the Loyal’s favor. Thomas Amang, a Cameroon international obtained in a preseason trade with the Colorado Switchbacks FC, opened scoring in the 78th minute of a scoreless deadlock with the Loyal’s first goal of the 2022 season.
Amang sifted between defenders to an open area in the penalty box where he slid to tap in a feel from teammate Tumi Moshobane.
“When Tumi received the ball I then I knew he would hit it to me and then I just did a onetouch and it went in,” Amang said. “But this was a tough one. We created a lot of chances but we couldn’t make it. Our team was different in the second half and the most important thing was for us to get the three points in the end.”
The Galaxy II finished the match with 10 men after Remi Cabral was ejected in the 82nd minute. But that didn’t seem to slow down the L.A. side, which scored on a counter-attack in the 84th minute by Preston Judd to tie the match at 1-1. But the Loyal faithful erupted into another frenzy when the Galaxy II’s Jalen Neal misdirected a shot into his own net for an own goal seven minutes into stoppage time. Amang had managed to get a touch on the ball prior to Neal’s inadvertent game-winning play.
The Loyal played with intensity throughout the match and its constant pressuring eventually paid off. Loyal manager, co-founder and vice-president Landon Donovan was appreciative of the fans’ persistent support during the match.
“That was a real soccer crowd tonight. It felt like a real atmosphere like I was in Europe or playing for the Galaxy,” Donovan said. “It was a great night. I am proud of our guys. Over the
course of the game, we just wore them out. On the last play, they were just tired and couldn’t react.”
The Loyal, which advanced as far as last season’s playoff quarterfinals after missing the playoffs during its inaugural season in 2020, will host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday, March 19, at Torero Stadium (7 p.m. start) in its second match of the season. The first 2,000 fans will receive a free SD Loyal limited edition community scarf.
Website: www.sdloyal.com.
