SAN DIEGO — The gates at Snapdragon Stadium opened Saturday at 5 p.m. PT to welcome San Diego Wave FC for its first-ever home game. No less than five minutes later, team president and former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis appeared dancing and taking selfies with the eager fans already trickling in.
She had been there since 3:30 p.m., four and a half hours prior to kickoff, in case you wanted to know how anxious she was for this moment. After all, she was a big part of the reason the home opener was such an anticipated fixture.
“Immense pride. I’m very proud of where we are,” Ellis told Yahoo Sports. “As a coach I used to move through things fairly quickly, I really wanted to pause and take this in today. A lot of hard work has come to this point, obviously on and off the pitch. It’s this culmination moment that’s very special.”
Despite the result, Wave FC weren’t overly pleased with the performance. Angel City played arguably one of its best games of the year and had a perfect shot at the equalizer from the penalty spot in the 74th minute. San Diego goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan came up with a tremendous save and was quickly greeted with the loudest roar as the realization of capping off the perfect night inched closer and “Beat LA” chants filled the air.
The Wave played their first nine home games at the 6,000-seat Torero Stadium at the University of San Diego. So anyone that was at Snapdragon Stadium, even visiting fans that made the trip from Los Angeles, had to feel satisfaction of contributing to the moment. With women’s leagues and sports overlooked far too often, to showcase world-class athletes in a display of that magnitude is a testament of what can transpire with support and belief.
“This combination of both athletic and business performance really creates the foundation that allows for not just San Diego, but the whole league to really infuse a level of enthusiasm into our future that I think is unprecedented,” she told Yahoo Sports.
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