The San Diego Wave’s season is in limbo.

With three games left in the regular season, the Wave are 8-8-7 and hanging on to the National Women’s Soccer League eighth and final playoff spot.

Wave manager Jonas Eidevall acknowledged that his team is at a critical point in its season heading into Saturday night’s match against the Utah Royals (5-11-7) outside Salt Lake City.

“We know we’ve been on the wrong side of small margins, and we know we have a choice,” Eidevall said. “We can either lay down and give up, or we can be standing, keep fighting, keep believing in this, and that’s what we are all about.”

The Wave have added more young talent to their roster during the course of the season, signing 20-year-old Brazilian forward Dudinha in July and, five days later, agreeing to terms with 21-year-old French midfielder Laurina Fazer.

Fazer already had a connection with several players on the Wave.

“For me, it’s easy because we have three French people here, and I know them from before, so it’s easy for me,” she said. “They have me to be confident and to be happy here.”

Fazer is a product of the Paris Saint-Germain youth academy — one of the best in the world — where she developed her skills and won numerous team and individual honors.

Fazer twice won the Best Young Player Award and earned the Meilleur Espoir (Best Hope) Award, which is presented to the best up-and-coming player in France’s Division 1 Féminine.

When she was a 16-year-old youth squad player, Fazer would hang around the training grounds, hoping to get a sneak peek at the women’s team that featured midfielder Kenza Dali.

Fazer met Dali back then and even took a picture with her. Fazer was admittedly shy, and her younger sister did all the talking with the veteran midfielder.

Years later, they reunited on the French National Team — and Dali once again made Fazer smile, just like she did the first time they met.

“When I came with the national team, and there was Kenza, we talked about it, and she told me, ‘Oh, I remember when you were a kid,’ but I didn’t know she remembered that,” Fazer said.

Dali calls it “a beautiful story.”

There is a special connection between the four French players on the Wave: Fazer, Dali, forward Delphine Cascarino and left back Perle Morroni. Outside of a shared language and background, all four have experience playing with France’s national team.

Dali, Cascarino and Morroni have done everything they can to help Fazer adapt to life in the United States and with the Wave.

“It’s a big step for her,” Cascarino said. “We try to help her to adapt quickly. She’s one of the best young players in France, so I’m happy for her to be with us in this team.”

Fazer has also been working to quickly build relationships with non-French players like Gia Corley, Trinity Byars, Hanna Lundkvist and Jordan Fusco, to name a few. But the most exciting part is getting to play with a woman who made an impact on her from an early age.

Both players occupy the same position in the midfield, but the veteran Dali has no problem helping the young French player learn how to thrive.

“It’s like (having) a big sister here,” Fazer said. “She’s known me since I was a kid. So yeah it’s a good story, and now I play with her. I’m so happy.”

San Diego Wave (8-8-7) vs. Utah Royals (5-11-7)

When: 7 p.m. Saturday

Where: America First Field, Sandy, Utah

TV: Fox 5/KUSI