San Diego Wave face OL Reign for toughest challenge yet in NWSL playoffs
Credit: San Diego Wave
After winning the NWSL Shield, San Diego Wave FC look to add more to their trophy case as they begin their 2023 playoff campaign against OL Reign on Sunday, November 5, at Snapdragon Stadium.
“We’re really excited to just get out there, and I think that we’re ready,” young star forward Jaedyn Shaw said. “I think that us not winning against them beforehand just adds a little bit of motivation and a little bit of a chip on our shoulder going into this game, and we’re ready to get after it.”
The Reign have been dominant against the Wave, playing to their best potential with a dynamic offense that crosses with ease into the opposing final third. Across their eight meetings, the Reign has six wins and two draws over the past two seasons.
“We know that (OL) Reign are an exceptional side. They are very experienced, they’ve been in this position many times, they’re an established side,” Head coach Casey Stoney said. “To be honest, the pressure is on them in this game because of the amount of time they’ve been around and been able to establish themselves.”
Asked about the record against the Reign in a press conference after training on Friday, Stoney said that “records are there to be broken, history is there to be made.” And that her team hadn’t beaten Racing Louisville, but the Wave managed to do so in a dominant performance to win the NWSL Shield in their last match.
“They’ve got exceptional talent, Megan Rapinoe being one of them. (She’s) beenworld-classass player and I have a huge amount of respect for what she’s done in the game, for the g,ame and about the game. It’ll be a ve,ry very competitive game over the weekend.”
The club will be giving away pink rally towels to the first 15,000 fans and also announced that over 30,000 tickets have already sold, leaving only standing room only tickets available for the match.
The match will start at 6:37 p.m. PST and will be available on TV on CBS Sports Network, but not available on the traditional Paramount Plus as most NWSL games are.
Abraham Zepeda is a bilingual Chula Vista Native covering the Tijuana Xolos for EVT. He spent the summer of 2022 covering San Diego Loyal SC and San Diego Wave FC. He is also currently a student at the University of Oregon pursuing a degree in journalism.