SAN DIEGO — A light rain was falling when the U.S. and Canadian national teams headed to their locker rooms before Wednesday’s CONCACAF W Gold Cup semifinal at Snapdragon Stadium.

When they returned to start the game 15 minutes later, the drizzle had become a deluge and the field was under water. Lots and lots of water.

“It’s obvious that the game was unplayable,” Canadian coach Bev Priestman said.

That was the consensus opinion of everybody not on the officiating crew headed by Mexican referee Katia García. She told the teams to get on with it and the result may have been the most memorable game that never should have been played.

It was a soggy battle that saw the U.S. twice give away one-goal leads — the second on a penalty kick deep in stoppage time — in a 2-2 draw that was settled in a penalty-kick shootout the Americans won to advance to Sunday’s tournament final with Brazil.

The hero was U.S. keeper Alyssa Naeher, who committed the foul that led to the game-tying score, then saved three penalties while making one of her own in the shootout.

Yet it never should have happened.

“The first 10, 15 minutes, we kept looking at the fourth referee to see if they were going to call it or not,” U.S. forward Sophia Smith said. “They didn’t.”

“Both teams were talking to each other on the field thinking ‘there’s no way this game is going to continue,’ ” added striker Alex Morgan. “The ref just continued to let play go.”

A flood watch was in effect when the game kicked off on a sodden field drenched with so much standing water, players hydroplaned after well-struck passes that stopped suddenly in the puddles. At one point U.S. captain Lindsey Horan tried to make a pass near midfield only to see her right foot raise a tremendous splash while the ball barely moved.

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