The San Diego Wave\u2019s ever-evolving roster will include Melanie Barcenas after all.<\/p>\n
The club announced Wednesday it has re-signed the Clairemont native for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
Just 18 years old, Barcenas has already been a key part of the Wave\u2019s history. The forward signed with San Diego in 2023 at age 15, becoming the youngest player at the time to agree to terms with a National Women\u2019s Soccer League club. She made her Wave debut later that season, and has appeared in a total of 34 matches, logging two goals and an assist.<\/p>\n
The Wave announced Dec. 9 that it was negotiating a new deal with Barcenas, whose deal was up after the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing able to play for San Diego means a lot to me,\u201d said Barcenas. \u201cThis city is where I grew up and where I first fell in love with the game. I have learned a lot in my first seasons, and I know there is more I can give. I am excited to get back on the field and keep representing this club and community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wave sporting director Camille Ashton said Barcenas \u201crepresents what it means to come through San Diego and compete with pride at the professional level.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re proud to keep her in San Diego and look forward to supporting her next phase of development,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-wave-0729-022.jpg\")
San Diego, CA \u2013 June 28: San Diego Wave FC\u2019s Melanie Barcenas (25) attempts a goal against Chicago Red Stars\u2019 Chardonnay Curran (11) during their game at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, June 28, 2024 in San Diego, CA. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a busy week for the Wave. The club signed Florida State defender Mimi Van Zanten<\/a> and Virginia midfielder Lia Godfrey to multi-year contracts<\/a> and announced it had mutually agreed to part ways with longtime goalkepeer Kailen Sheridan.<\/a><\/p>\n The team is just six weeks away from its first exhibition match of the 2026 season, a Feb. 15 pairing against the Kansas City Current at the Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Diego Wave\u2019s ever-evolving roster will include Melanie Barcenas after all. The club announced Wednesday it has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115251,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,74,76,75,1083,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-115250","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-san-diego","10":"tag-san-diego-headlines","11":"tag-san-diego-news","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}