San Diego wraps up opening homestand against 2021 NWSL Championship Runners-Up, the Chicago Red Stars.

Looking to continue their torrid start to the season, San Diego Wave Futbol Club (2-0-0, 6 Pts.) returns to the pitch for a Sunday Funday matinee matchup against the Chicago Red Stars (1-0-0, 3 Pts.) at 2pm Pacific Time from Torero Stadium on Paramount+. San Diego looks to continue their offensive onslaught after scoring five goals in their first two matches of the season, and they’ll attempt to do so against a Chicago squad playing their second match of the season.

THE DROP-IN (Last Match): In the club’s inaugural regular-season home match, it was the Alex Morgan show, as the Diamond Bar, Calif. Native converted two penalties kicks and tacked on two more for just the third time in NWSL history that a player scored four goals in a single match as San Diego cruised to a 4-0 victory over NJ/NY Gotham FC. Morgan elaborated about not just her individual performance, but the team’s performance on a historic night for the club.

“To be able to put on a show like we did tonight, to get a clean sheet which is extremely important, and scoring goals, I think we couldn’t have asked for a better game for ourselves and for this city.” 

2022 SAN DIEGO WAVE FC ROSTER:

Goalkeepers (3): Kailen Sheridan, Carly Telford, Melissa Lowder

Defenders (8): Abby Dahlkemper, Naomi Gima, Kaleigh Reihl, Tegan McGrady, Christen Westphal, Kayla Bruster, Mia Gyau, Taylor Hansen

Forwards (6): Amirah Ali, Jodie Taylor, Sofia Jakobsson, Alex Morgan, Makenzy Doniak, Katie Johnson

Midfielders (7): Emily van Egmond, Kelsey Turnbow, Kristen McNabb, Sydney Pulver, Taylor Kornieck, Belle Briede, Marleen Schimmer

ABOUT THE OPPONENT: The opening homestand comes to a close with a visit from the Chicago Red Stars. Chicago, the 2021 NWSL Championship Runners-Up will play their second match of the season on Sunday after winning their opening match on April 30th, a 2-1 victory over Racing Louisville FC at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois. Ella Stevens got the scoring started for the Red Stars in just the second minute of play. Chicago’s lead wouldn’t last long as Louisville found the equalizer in the tenth minute on an Emily Fox tally. The Red Stars went ahead for good in the 25th minute as Bianca St. Georges’ goal was the difference-maker for the 2-1 win.

WAVE WATCHING (Player to Watch): What will Alex Morgan do for an encore? Following her four-goal performance last week, keep an eye out for #13 in Navy Blue on Sunday.

SHORE BREAK (Goalkeeping Matchup): Kailen Sheridan has recorded back-to-back Clean Sheets for San Diego in her two starts. Sheridan says keeping the sheet clean is huge and important, especially at home. 

“It’s really important to us that we represent our home really well and that we keep clean sheets at home. When people come here, we want it to be a really hard place to play and a hard place to score. We accomplished that today (last Saturday), I think people aren’t going to second guess us anymore and they’re not going to take us for granted. That’s two games in a row (recording clean sheets).

Sheridan is 2-0-0 on the season with a 100% Save Percentage and made some crucial saves last Saturday to keep the sheet clean against NJ/NY.

USWNT veteran Alyssa Naeher got the first start of the season for Chicago back in April, allowing one goal, she checks in with a 1-0-0 record and an 83.3 Save Percentage.

OFFSHORE VIEWING (Where to Watch): Sunday’s match will take place at 2pm PDT from Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego. Tickets remain available at sandiegowavefc.com. Fans unable to attend can watch the match on Paramount+ and searching “National Women’s Soccer League”