NWSL Semifinals Preview: Portland Thorns FC vs. San Diego Wave FC
Providence Park | Portland, Oregon – Sunday, October 23 at 5:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
Portland forward Sophia Smith boasted an incredible 14 regular season goals for the Thorns, while also scoring 10 goals for the U.S. Women’s National Team in 2022. Smith is the fourth player to score double-digit league goals for their NWSL team and the USWNT in the same calendar year, joining Abby Wambach (2013), Sydney Leroux (2013) and Christen Press (2022). Those 14 goals were good enough to finish second in the regular season goals tally just behind San Diego forward Alex Morgan (16). Feeling little of the pressure to carry the load, though, Smith is supported by another 13 individuals who have tallied a goal on the season, including a trio of attackers in Morgan Weaver, Hina Sugita, and Christine Sinclair, who have all scored at least five goals on the year. An even attack was backed up by an even defense throughout the season, with Portland leading the league in goals scored while conceding the third fewest amount of goals of any team this season. Defender Kelli Hubly was the only player to play in all 22 regular season games, though, with Sugita (21), Weaver (20) and goalkeeper Bella Bixby (20) all close behind. Speaking of Bixby, her nine clean sheets in those 20 games were good enough to help lead the league in that category.
San Diego forward Alex Morgan scored the game-winning goal in the 110th minute in the Wave’s win in the first round, once again proving her prowess in front of goal in big games. Morgan’s goal was the third-latest game-winning goal in NWSL playoffs history, trailing only Washington’s Ashley Hatch (113’ in the 2021 first round) and Francisca Ordega (111’ in the 2016 semifinals). Morgan led the league in goals scored in the regular season and, after coming through a late fitness test last week, will be looked to most likely as the one to lead the line again against Portland. The other goalscorer from last week was defender Emily van Egmond, whose 67th minute tally helped pull San Diego level after trailing the Red Stars early on. The goal was van Egmond’s first of the regular season or playoffs as she became the 11th player to score for San Diego on the season. However, none of those 11 have scored more than three goals.
Match facts: First up in the weekend’s two playoff semifinals is a meeting between Portland Thorns FC and San Diego Wave FC, the fifth between the two sides (including Challenge Cup) in the 2022 calendar year. The winner of Sunday’s matinee will then go on to face the winner of OL Reign and the Kansas City Current (7:30 p.m. ET | CBS Sports Network) in the Championship Final on Saturday, October 29 at Audi Field.
The hosts are the only team left in the NWSL playoffs that has previously won the NWSL Cup (2013, 2017), and now enter their match against San Diego with a 5-0-5 all-time record in the postseason. The five wins are tied with North Carolina for most playoff victories in NWSL history. Both of these teams managed 10 wins on the season as well, though it was Portland’s nine draws and just three losses that separated them from San Diego, who suffered six defeats and managed six draws to make for the point differential. The Thorns will now look to activate after three weeks away from game action, when their 3-3 draw against Gotham FC on the road ended an impressive regular season campaign that saw them pull off a five-game unbeaten run to close (W3 D2).
On the other side, San Diego overcame a 1-0 halftime deficit to force extra time and eventually secure a 2-1 win over Chicago in the first round of the NWSL playoffs. The Wave had zero wins when being behind at the half during the regular season (D2 L5) with the entire league losing 74.4 percent of the time when trailing at halftime in league play in 2022 (W3 D18 L61). Now, add to the fact that San Diego is an expansion club and has already broken a league record by becoming the first first-year side to qualify for the playoffs. Unlike Portland, though, the Wave’s final five matches of the year featured a loss but were similar in substance (W2 D2 L1).
As mentioned, this is now the fifth meeting between these two sides in 2022, with Portland winning twice, San Diego winning once and one draw in the four previous meetings. Portland’s two wins came in the 2022 Challenge Cup, though, as San Diego produced a 2-0 road win and managed a 2-2 home draw in the regular season. In addition, the Wave’s Taylor Kornieck scored three of the team’s six goals against Portland this season (all competitions), which made up for 75 percent of her total goals in 2022.
