San Diego Wave FC (11-7-4, 37 points) earned a 2-0 win against Racing Louisville (6-6-9, 27 points) on Sunday afternoon at Snapdragon Stadium. With the victory, Wave FC secured the 2023 NWSL Shield, awarded to the club with the best record at the conclusion of the regular season.

Eighteen-year-old forward Jaedyn Shaw tallied her sixth goal of the season in the 26th minute. The scoring play began when forward Alex Morgan hit a through ball to Shaw, who took a touch around her defender to slot the ball to the back of the net. With the goal, the second-year forward set a new league record for career regular-season goals scored by a teenager with her ninth career goal. 

The Wave immediately went on the attack to start the second-half, as Morgan scored less than 90 seconds in. Defender Madison Pogarch played Morgan, who turned and hit a perfectly struck left-footed shot to double the Wave’s lead and tally her 60th career NWSL goal.

Goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan earned the club’s ninth clean sheet of the season, recording a league-leading nine clean sheets on the season. 

Next on the schedule: San Diego Wave FC enter the NWSL Playoffs as the No. 1 overall seed and will host a semifinal match on Nov. 5 at Snapdragon Stadium at 6:30 p.m. PT. Tickets for the match will go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, Oct. 17 at 10:00 a.m. PT. 

Social: Twitter – @sandiegowavefc | Instagram – @sandiegowavefc | Facebook

Notes:

  • San Diego, in just its second season as a club, is the fifth different team in NWSL history to win the Shield. 
  • Jaedyn Shaw’s goal set a new league record for career regular-season goals scored by a teenager. With her ninth career goal, Shaw beat Mallory (Pugh) Swanson, who scored eight regular-season goals for the Spirit before she turned 20. 
  • Alex Morgan finished the season leading the club in goals (7) and assists (4). 
  • As the presenting sponsor of the NWSL Shield, CarMax has committed to raising their investment towards Shield bonuses, increasing this year’s earning to $15,000 per player. 
  • San Diego earned the first-round bye and home field advantage for the semifinals and will await the outcome of the quarterfinal match between OL Reign and Angel City FC to determine their opponent. 

Box Score:
San Diego Wave FC 2:0 Racing Louisville FC

Scoring Summary:
SD – Shaw (6) 26’
SD – Morgan (7) 47’

Misconduct Summary:
SD – Kornieck (Caution) 42’
SD – Morgan (Caution) 74’ 

San Diego Wave FC: GK Sheridan, D Westphal, D Dahlkemper, D Girma, D Pogarch, M Doniak (Hill 72’), M Kornieck (Colaprico HT), M van Egmond, F Shaw (Barcenas 64’), F Morgan ©, F Carusa (Jakobsson HT) 

Subs not used: GK Yañez, D Enge, D Riehl, M Dougherty Howard, F Ali

Racing Louisville: GK Lund, D Milliet, D Lester (Wang 70’), D Pickett, D Erceg ©, M Pikkujamsa, M DeMelo, M Borges (Howell 52’), F Nadim (Davis 52’), F Monaghan (Pokorny 52’), F Kgatlana

Subs not used: GK Beall, F Ekic, F Shuang, M Aylmer, F Kanu 

Attendance: 30,312