San Diego Wave FC will head north to face the Portland Thorns FC this Friday, July 21, at Providence Park in the UKG Challenge Cup. The match will air on Paramount+ with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m. PT.
This season, the Wave and the Thorns met once at Snapdragon Stadium in a late-scoring 1-1 draw. The match was scoreless in the 86th minute until forward Sofia Jakobsson followed a ball over the top and fired a powerful shot into the back of the net. However, just four minutes later, Portland’s Reyna Reyes equalized the game ahead of the final whistle for the clubs to split the points
The Thorns are on a three-game losing streak in all competitions and are coming off a 2-1 loss to NJ/NY Gotham FC on the road. Though they have not recorded a win since June 23, the Thorns have scored 34 goals so far this season, which is currently leading all NWSL teams.
The Wave are coming off a draw versus the Washington Spirit, which ended 2-2. Ashley Hatch put the Spirit on the board in the 23rd minute before San Diego’s Cheyenne Shorts scored in the 43rd minute to tie the match before halftime. The Wave then went down after an own goal, but in the last minutes of the match, midfielder Kelsey Turnbow crossed the ball into the box where it found midfielder Taylor Kornieck’s head and ended in the back of the net for a late San Diego equalizer.