SAN DIEGO, CA—San Diego Wave continue their inaugural season with a 2-1 extra time win over Chicago Red Stars before a NWSL Playoff record crowd of 26,215 at Snapdragon Stadium. The Wave move on to face Portland Thorns next Sunday.
It was the Red Stars who struck first in the tenth minute through a bit of luck. Wave keeper Kailen Sheridan sent an errant pass right to the Red Stars’ Yuki Nagasato who struck into an empty net to put the visitors ahead. The Red Stars were actually the better team for the first 35 minutes of the match, but then the Wave found their footing and nearly found the equalizer following a pair of set piece chances before halftime.
The Wave continued their push for the equalizer as the Red Stars began to tire and it would be former Red Star Emily Van Egmond who would get on the end of a Sofia Jakobsson cross to score her first NWSL goal of any kind for eight years.
“Obviously the first goal of the season for me, so it was special, said Van Egmond of the goal. “But i would not be able to do it without my teammates, huge credit to them, they fought so hard all season and have been working so hard to get to this point. One game at a time now, we are focused on Portland.”
The match went on to extra time and the Red Stars were still trying to hang in there and maybe poach one. Morgan Gautrat nearly did that in the 103rd minute, but Alex Morgan would in the 110th as she would able to get one past Alyssa Naeher.
“The atmosphere tonight was incredible,” said Morgan. “It was so much fun to play in front of our fans for one last time this season. We are ready to go to Portland now after we recover our legs from playing 120 minutes.”
It was a tremendous weekend for the league with record crowds in both first round matches (21,274 in Houston for Houston vs. Kansas City) that saw both matches go down to the wire. The Wave head to Portland next Sunday to take on the Thorns while the Red Stars will look to make the changes needed to return to at least this stage and further for 2023.
SCORING SUMMARY:
CHI-Yuki Nagasato (unassisted) 10
SD-Emily Van Egmond (unassisted) 67
SD-Alex Morgan (Jakobsson) 110
BOOKING SUMMARY:
SD-Emily Van Egmond (caution, tactical foul) 31
SD-Christen Westphal (caution, tactical foul) 107
SAN DIEGO WAVE FC (3-4-3): #1-Kailen Sheridan, #18-Kaleigh Riehl, #4-Naomi Girma, #14-Kristen McNabb; #20-Christen Westphal (#16-Madison Pogarch 118), #5-Emily Van Egmond, #23-Belle Briede, #22-Taylor Kornieck (#7-Amirah Ali 103); #11-Jaedyn Shaw (#15-Makenzy Doniak 56), #13-Alex Morgan (#9-Jodie Taylor 118), #6-Kelsey Turnbow (#10-Sofia Jakobsson 46)
Subs Not Used: #21-Carly Telford, #35-Jackie Altschuld, #26-Mia Gyau, #27-Marleen Schimmer
CHICAGO RED STARS (3-4-3): #1-Alyssa Naeher, #3-Arin Wright, #20-Zoe Morse, #23-Tatumn Milazzo; #5-Rachel Hill (#15-Sarah Griffith 99), #13-Morgan Gautrat (#8-Ella Stevens 106), #10-Vanessa DiBernardo, #24-Danielle Colaprico; #7-Yuki Nagasato (#25-Ava Cook 114), #9-Mallory Pugh, #11-Sarah Luebbert (#14-Jill Aguilera 82)
Subs not used: #21-Emily Boyd, #18-Sam Fisher, #31-Amanda Kowalski, #26-Mikenna McManus
TOTAL SHOTS: SD 30-24 CHI
SHOTS ON GOAL: SD 8-6 CHI
FOULS: SD 14-10 CHI
OFFSIDES: SD 2-0 CHI
CORNER KICKS: SD 8-11 CHI
SAVES: SD 5-5 CHI
Referee: Mark Allatin
Referee’s Assistants: Jennifer Garner, Art Arustamyan
Fourth Official: Elton Garcia
Weather: Partly Cloudy and 67º
Attendance: 26,215
Woman of the Match: Sofia Jakobsson (SD)
