SAN DIEGO (Aug. 19, 2024) – San Diego Wave FC travels to Panama City to face Santa Fe FC on Tuesday, Aug. 20 for their first group stage match of the inaugural Concacaf W Champions Cup. The match will take place at Estadio Rommel Fernández with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. PT.
The match will mark the first-ever meeting between San Diego and Santa Fe FC. The Panama side competes in the Liga de Fútbol Femenino league which is the highest division of women’s soccer in Panama. The league’s calendar is split between two tournaments, the Apertura and the Clausura, which run through different five-month periods of the year. Santa Fe FC is the only team from the league to secure a spot in the Concacaf W Champions Cup and they qualified by winning the 2024 Apertura Championship on May 14.
Last Time Out
In San Diego’s last match, the club fell to Angel City FC in penalty kicks after a scoreless match on Aug. 1 at Titan Stadium. In the dying minutes of the match, second-half substitute Melanie Barcenas created multiple dangerous opportunities for the Wave in an effort to earn the game-winner. In the 94th minute, the 16-year-old received a perfectly paced ball through Angel City’s defense from midfielder Savannah McCaskill. Barcenas took a touch to her left foot before firing a shot to the near post that was punched away by goalkeeper DiDi Haracic. Nearly 30 seconds later the midfielder dribbled at the backline and fired a shot that bounced off the crossbar and was cleared away by the Los Angeles defense.
Santa Fe FC is coming off back-to-back wins earned in the first two matches of their season that kicked off on July 31. In the last match, the club earned a 3-0 win over Chorrillo FC on Aug. 10. The team opened the scoring in the eighth minute of the match with a goal from Mayqueling Márquez who signed with Santa Fe FC on Aug. 7. In the 79th minute, Alison Onodera added to the scoresheet and minutes later, María Murillo scored in the 85th minute for the final goal of the match.
Players to Watch
Forward María Sánchez scored her first Wave FC goal in the NWSL x Liga MX Summer Cup on July 26 since signing with the club on April 20. The Mexican international also earned her second assist for the club with a goal scored by defender Kennedy Wesley in the match against Bay FC. Throughout the tournament, Sánchez started in all three matches for the club, totaling 254 minutes and recording seven shots with four on target.
Santa Fe FC’s Arlén Hernández helped the team to a 4-2 win over Inter Panamá CF on July 31. Hernández scored two goals in the match with her first coming in the 66th minute to find the equalizer for Santa Fe who was trailing 2-1 after halftime. Hernández then found a second goal in the 86th minute to secure the win for the team.
How to Watch
Concacaf W Champions Cup matches will be available on CBS Sports platforms Paramount+, CBS Sports Network and CBS Sports Golazo Network (English), and ESPN Deportes (Spanish) in the United States. For Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, matches will be broadcast on ESPN.
For all other territories, including Canada, the competition will be available on Concacaf’s Official YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/concacaf).
