Wave lose to Portland in OT, see season come to an end

The first road playoff win in San Diego Wave FC history will have to wait after the club fell 1-0 to the Portland Thorns in the first round of the NWSL playoffs Sunday, Nov. 9 at Providence Park.

The No. 3 Thorns struggled to break through the No. 6 Wave’s back line for most of the match, not registering a corner kick until the 84th minute.

However, the Thorns did enough to keep the game scoreless and head into overtime. And from there, Thorns young star Olivia Moultrie made a run in the 93rd minute, crossed it into the box to Portland forward Reilyn Turner who headed it past Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan for the match’s lone goal.

San Diego’s season ends with a 10-7-10 overall record and after fighting for a playoff spot for much of the second half of the season. The Wave’s all-time playoff record also drops to 1-3.

“Obviously it’s a little bit of fatigue coming into the game,” Wave head coach Jonas Eidevall said. “The goal comes from one of these moments where it’s a transition on a transition moment. Moultrie is very good in these moments, it’s a great cross, but I think we can defend that better.”

In overtime, the Wave got a free kick in the 92nd minute right outside the near-side corner of the penalty box, but it was quickly sent out on the entry.

After another cross, Portland was able to get in deep on the near side thanks to a run from Moultrie in the 93rd minute. Near the corner, she chipped in a cross that was headed by Turner and into the back of the net to break the scoreless tie and give Portland the 1-0 lead.

“The reality is it’s a cross, I think they only have two players inside the box really that are any form of targets, we’re not outnumbered,” Eidevall said. “We need to be much, much closer to the player that is finishing.”

San Diego still had 27 minutes to try and level the match with the overtime rules being two 15-minute halves played with no golden goal.

The Wave couldn’t deliver in the first half of overtime, but started with a strong look in the 106th minute from Quincy McMahon when she had a look on the far side next to the post. However, Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold slid out to stop the shot attempt at her foot.

“I think we had majority of possession, so it was a little frustrating that they were able to have just one chance and get it in,” Wave forward Trinity Byars, who entered in the 102nd minute for her pro debut, said. “I think we did the best we could with our momentum and getting the ball forward and we had some great shots as well.” After that, the more San Diego pressed, the more it seemed to open up for Portland as the advantage in offense flipped from what happened in regulation. The Thorns finished the match tied in shots with 19 and dominated the attack throughout OT.

But Byars is correct that the Wave had more time with the ball, owning it 60% of the time throughout the 120-plus minute match.

“I think we should have been able to create more goal scoring opportunities before that to put the game to bed,” Eidevall said. “But then of course, this is a learning point for us. We need to control these moments better when we are starting to get tired.”

San Diego was back in the NWSL playoffs after missing in 2024 and bringing in Eidevall for his first year leading the club.

With a number of younger and new players mixing their way into the rotation as well, a first-round exit still shows how far the club has come in a short amount of time in the eyes of Eidevall.

“I think the game was a quite good measuring point of the growth,” Eidevall said. “I think we played brave, we played through their pressure, we created a lot of exciting attacking moments where I think we should create more from.

“I said it to the players after as well, they filled me with a lot of pride with how far we have come as a group to come from how the team looked like last season to looking like that.”

The page is flipped to 2026 now as Eidevall thanked the fans and called for even more supporters to come out to Snapdragon Stadium next year to see what the club has growing.

And for the players, the first-year coach hopes the sting of the loss fuels their offseason.

“You have to turn that feeling of belief and also that feeling of disappointment into a really big, potent tank of fuel and go into the offseason with that,” Eidevall said. “We have laid a foundation this year, but we need to grow, we need to develop and we need to have a lot of individuals who are invested in it.”

The Thorns took control at the start of the match and kept the ball pressured in the first 10 minutes toward the San Diego goal.

A cross in the fifth minute by Portland was missed on a header, but the follow up resulted in a shot on goal saved by Sheridan. Three minutes later there was another Portland cross, this one caught by Sheridan in the box.

The Wave were able to flip the field from there, eventually getting a cross attempt in the 18th that resulted in a header going wide on the near side.

The chance sparked the San Diego attack though, and it began to control the match for the final 30 minutes of the first half, ending it with the advantage in shots (5-4), crosses (9-2) and corners (3-0).

Wave midfielders Kenza Dali and Gia Corley each got deep for some decent looks in the 24th and 25th minute, which was followed by a weak header from defender Hanna Lundkvist in the 26th that was easily saved.

On the ensuing Portland run, there was a scary moment for the Wave when midfielder Laurina Fazer and defender Perle Morroni collided heads in mid-air going for the midfield header. Both were down on the field for a few minutes getting checked by the medical team, but both stayed in the game.

The scariest part of the first half when it came to scoring though was in the 41st and 44th minute. Portland forward Deyna Castellanos fired a shot from inside the box on the far side that went just wide and hit the outside netting of the goal.

The Wave took back their control in the second half though as they continued to dominate possession and not allow the Thorns any real chances for the first 35 minutes of the period.

On the other end, the Wave started to break through the cracks a little more, including a couple golden looks in the 74th minute.

Dali got a cross in the box and headed the ball on goal, which was kicked out to midfielder Kimmi Ascanio who danced around until her shot was blocked by a Thorns defender.

The clear was sent to Wave defender Kennedy Wesley who launched a rocket that went off the crossbar and out of play.

Three minutes later, it was Dali in the middle of the field who got a pass, made a move to her right and had an opening that she launched on goal, but was saved by Thorns goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold up and over the net.

“When (Portland) was dropping off, I think we could have put away more shots,” Eidevall said. “I think we could have made decisions earlier on when to play the ball into the box, but these are margins and these are of course situations where it’s really easy to sit on the sideline and say after what you should have done or not.”

The Thorns turned up the attack in response, getting their first corner kick of the match in the 84th minute when Dali made an all-out block next to the near-side post.

Portland got another corner in the 86th minute that was headed out, but went to the foot of Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey who fired it on goal. Sheridan didn’t have to move though and made the easy catch save.

Both sides traded some blows in the midfield in the five minutes of extra time, but neither got a clean look to send the game into overtime knotted at zero.

San Diego increased its advantage in shots (15-12), corners (8-2) and crosses (20-9) after regulation, only to see that disappear in the 30 minutes of overtime.

“When we’re looking back to the game, the amount of times we are facing forward in front of their back line with plenty of space around us, we need to create more from these situations with the caliber of players that we have,” Eidevall said.