Match Forecast: OL Reign Set to Take on San Diego Wave on the Road
OL Reign is set to take on San Diego Wave FC for a second time this Challenge Cup. The game kicks off at 7:00 p.m. PT at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California. OL Reign is looking to earn their fifth win of the Challenge Cup and clinch the top seed in the tournament.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 23 at Torero Stadium in San Diego, California
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Twitch internationally.
2022 CHALLENGE CUP RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 4-0-1 (13 points, first place in the West Division), San Diego Wave FC: 1-3-1 (4 points, third place in the West Division)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – This is the second ever meeting between OL Reign and San Diego Wave FC. The first meeting took place on April 14th at Lumen Field, OL Reign came away with a 3-1 victory. OL Reign was the dominate team from the first whistle, scoring three goals in the first eleven minutes of the match. At the time, that was the fastest that any NWSL team had accomplished that. Since then, the North Carolina Courage scored three goals in the first nine minutes against the Orlando Pride.
OL Reign’s first goal was scored by midfielder Nikki Stanton, who took advantage of a messy San Diego 18-yard box. The hometown player directed the ball on target to put the Reign up early to score her first goal for the team. The Reign did not stop their early onslaught there, finding a second goal quickly. This time, it was Bethany Balcer, OL Reign’s 2021 leading goal scorer. Balcer hit an excellent shot into the back of the net to score her first of 2022. The momentum continued in favor of the Reign. The team continued to push on, scoring a third goal in the 11th minute of the match. This goal was scored by OL Reign defender Sam Hiatt. Hiatt was in the box following up after a corner kick and hit a beautiful ball, perfectly dropped into the back of the net.
San Diego did find one goal back in the 24th minute of the match, when Alex Morgan got on the end of a ball and controlled it before taking a shot into the back of the net. Despite four goals being scored in the first 24 minutes of the match, the rest of the match went scoreless, and the final score was 3-1 in favor of OL Reign.
2. SCOUTING SAN DIEGO – San Diego is currently in third place in the West Division of the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. They most recently played the Portland Thorns on April 17 and narrowly lost 3-2. The game was a tale of two halves, as Portland notched all three of their goals in the first half of the match, while San Diego found their two goals in the second half of the match.
The Thorns took a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute, when Sophia Smith received a pass in the box from Morgan Weaver and found the back of the net. Portland doubled their lead when Christine Sinclair took a shot that hit the crossbar, but midfielder Hina Sugita made a diving header to score. Sugita scored her second goal of the game in the 41st minute to put Portland up 3-0.
In the second half, San Diego scored almost immediately. Isabella Briede took advantage of a deflected pass and knocked the ball into the back of net to get San Diego on the board. In the 67th minute, San Diego found another goal back. Taylor Korniek got her head on the end of a corner and directed the ball on target. Though San Diego continued to push for the equalizing goal, they fell just short, and Portland took all three points from the match.
3. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHANCES – Though OL Reign have found success on the field both offensively and defensively throughout this Challenge Cup, conceding just four goals and scoring ten, the team will be looking to take advantage of all of the chances that arise in this match. By doing so, OL Reign can control the match, much like they did previously against San Diego and really force their opponent out of the game early on.
“For us, it’s about our performance, every game. We spoke after the Angel City game – We didn’t really realize how potentially dominate we were in the first half and we didn’t really take full advantage of that, so the knock-on effect of that, is we allowed them to stay in the game,” said OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey.
“The biggest challenge is not what the opponent poses to us, it’s the challenge we put on ourselves everyday that is pushing us to the levels that you see from us right now,” added Harvey.
4. UNPREDICTABLE – In many ways, OL Reign is going into this match unpredictable. Though the teams have met once before, six of OL Reign’s international players were questionable heading into the match and did not play significant minutes. With most of those players available for selection tonight, OL reign’s lineup could look drastically different.
Another topic of discussion for the team has been being unpredictable in the way that they create goal scoring opportunities, as displayed by OL Reign’s nine goal scorers across five games.
“We’ve shown that we have a lot of variation and diversity going forward, so that’s going to be hard to defend. I say good luck to anyone on the other side of the field against us, because if you try to shutdown one way, we are just going to find another way to score,” said OL Reign forward Ally Watt.
MultiCare Injury Report:
OUT
Angelina (right ankle)
Tziarra King (right ankle)
Megan Rapinoe (right calf)
QUESTIONABLE
None