2023 San Diego Wave FC season

The 2023 San Diego Wave FC season was the team's second as a professional women's soccer team. The Wave competed in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top tier of women's soccer in the United States. The Wave finished the season with the best record, earning the NWSL Shield and a first-round bye to the playoff semi-finals where they were eliminated from the postseason.

2023 San Diego Wave FC season

2023 season
Owner	Ron Burkle
President	Jill Ellis
Head coach	Casey Stoney
Stadium	Snapdragon Stadium
NWSL	1st (NWSL Shield)
Challenge Cup	Group stage
Playoffs	Semifinals
Top goalscorer	Alex Morgan (6)
Highest home attendance	30,854 (vs. CHI, Mar 25)
Average home league attendance	20,681
Home colors Away colors
← 2022 2024 →
All statistics correct as of July 8, 2023.

Team

Squad

As of October 15, 2023.^[1]

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	CAN	Kailen Sheridan
2	DF	USA	Abby Dahlkemper
3	FW	USA	Rachel Hill
4	DF	USA	Naomi Girma
5	MF	AUS	Emily van Egmond
6	FW	USA	Kelsey Turnbow
7	FW	USA	Amirah Ali
8	MF	USA	Sierra Enge
10	FW	SWE	Sofia Jakobsson
11	FW	USA	Jaedyn Shaw
12	MF	USA	Giovanna DeMarco
13	FW	USA	Alex Morgan
14	DF	USA	Kristen McNabb
15	MF	USA	Makenzy Doniak
16	DF	USA	Madison Pogarch
17	GK	USA	Lauren Brzykcy
18	DF	USA	Kaleigh Riehl
19	FW	USA	Kyra Carusa
20	DF	USA	Christen Westphal
22	MF	USA	Taylor Kornieck
23	MF	USA	Belle Briede
24	MF	USA	Danielle Colaprico
25	FW	USA	Melanie Barcenas
26	DF	USA	Mia Gyau
28	MF	USA	Meggie Dougherty Howard
30	GK	USA	Shae Yáñez

Coaching Staff

As of October 16, 2023.^[2]

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Casey Stoney
Assistant Coach	Jackie Bachteler
Assistant Coach / Head of Goalkeeping	Louis Hunt
Technical and Development Coach	Craig Barclay
Tactical Coach Analyst	Chris Loxston

Competitions

Regular season

San Diego Wave FC v Chicago Red Stars

March 25 1	San Diego Wave FC	3–2	Chicago Red Stars	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Ali 22' Shaw 32' Kornieck  58' Morgan 89' (pen.)	Report	Nagasato 18' Swanson 45+4' (pen.) Davidson  49' Wright  88'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 30,854 Referee: Elton Garcia

San Diego Wave FC v North Carolina Courage

April 1 2	San Diego Wave FC	3–1	North Carolina Courage	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Shaw 39' McNabb  42' Morgan 48' (Colaprico), 73' (pen.)	Report	Gejl  55' Pickett  67' Kerolin 77' (pen.)	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 17,000 Referee: JC Griggs

OL Reign v San Diego Wave FC

April 15 3	OL Reign	1–0	San Diego Wave FC	Seattle, Washington
7:00 pm	Van der Jagt 90+5'	Report	Hill  90+4'	Stadium: Lumen Field Attendance: 9,219 Referee: Tori Penso

Angel City FC v San Diego Wave FC

April 23 4	Angel City FC	0–2	San Diego Wave FC	Los Angeles, California
5:00 pm		Report	Ali  24' Hill  56' Jakobsson 70' (Westphal) Doniak 75' (Morgan)	Stadium: BMO Stadium Attendance: 22,000 Referee: Katja Koroleva

San Diego Wave FC v Orlando Pride

April 29 5	San Diego Wave FC	1–3	Orlando Pride	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Shaw 12' (Doniak) Colaprico  52'	Report	Cluff 26' (Adriana) Montefusco  27' McCutcheon 42' (Villacorta) Adriana 69' (Tymrak)	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 16,225 Referee: Brad Jensen

Washington Spirit v San Diego Wave FC

May 6 6	Washington Spirit	3–1	San Diego Wave FC	Buzzard Point, Washington D.C.
10:00 am	Carle  26' Rodman 55' Sanchez 70' (Rodman) Metayer 79' (Staab)	Report	Westphal  27' Morgan 90'	Stadium: Audi Field Attendance: 12,232 Referee: Matthew Thompson

Kansas City Current v San Diego Wave FC

May 14 7	Kansas City Current	0–2	San Diego Wave FC	Kansas City, Kansas
3:00 pm	Robinson  74'	Report	Franch 26' (o.g.) Briede 44' (Westphal) Enge  56' McNabb  59'	Stadium: Children's Mercy Park Attendance: 12,969 Referee: Danielle Chesky

Houston Dash v San Diego Wave FC

May 20 8	Houston Dash	0–3	San Diego Wave FC	Houston, Texas
5:30 pm	Jacobs  13' Dydasco  39' Anderson  89'	Report	Morgan 2' Colaprico  35' Enge 58' (Jakobsson) Pogarch 79' (Morgan)	Stadium: Shell Energy Stadium Attendance: 5,966 Referee: Elijio Arreguin

San Diego Wave FC v Portland Thorns FC

May 26 9	San Diego Wave FC	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Kornieck  77' McNabb  83' Jakobsson 86'	Report	Smith  20' Reyes 90' (Coffey)	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 18,130 Referee: Elton García

NJ/NY Gotham FC v San Diego Wave FC

June 4 10	NJ/NY Gotham FC	0–1	San Diego Wave FC	Harrison, New Jersey
2:30 pm		Report	Doniak 46' (Shaw) Colaprico  90+9'	Stadium: Red Bull Arena Attendance: 15,058 Referee: Eric Tattersall

Racing Louisville FC v San Diego Wave FC

June 9 11	Racing Louisville FC	0–0	San Diego Wave FC	Louisville, Kentucky
5:00 pm	Milliet  66'	Report	McNabb  43' Shaw  44' Pogarch  71'	Stadium: Lynn Family Stadium Attendance: 6,753 Referee: Adorae Monroy

San Diego Wave FC v Angel City FC

June 17 12	San Diego Wave FC	1–2	Angel City FC	San Diego, California
1:00 pm	McNabb 57' (Morgan)	Report	Le Bihan  62' Nielsen 69' (Le Bihan) Vignola 88' (Camberos)	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 25,515 Referee: Matthew Thompson

San Diego Wave FC v OL Reign

June 24 13	San Diego Wave FC	1–2	OL Reign	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Shaw 47' (Morgan) Sheridan  90+1'	Report	Balcer 8' (Quinn), 77' (Huerta) Barnes  81' King  83' Quinn  90+12'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 22,682 Referee: Natalie Simon

Chicago Red Stars v San Diego Wave FC

July 1 14	Chicago Red Stars	1–0	San Diego Wave FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
5:00 pm	Cook  33' Stevens 45+1' (Milazzo)	Report	Kornieck  45+3' Pogarch  63'	Stadium: SeatGeek Stadium Attendance: 5,698 Referee: Thomas Snyder

San Diego Wave FC v Washington Spirit

July 8 15	San Diego Wave FC	2–2	Washington Spirit	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Shorts 46' Shaw  70' Kornieck 90' (Turnbow)	Report	Jaurena  14' Hatch 23' (pen.) Ricketts  45+3' McKeown  51' Shorts 54' (o.g.) Carle  89'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 14,362 Referee: Adam Kilpatrick

San Diego Wave FC v NJ/NY Gotham FC

August 19 16	San Diego Wave FC	2–1	NJ/NY Gotham FC	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Doniak 17' (Shaw)  56' Ali 85' (Barcenas)	Report	Stengel  44' 90+12' (Onumonu)	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 12,045 Referee: Elton Garcia

Orlando Pride v San Diego Wave FC

August 25 17	Orlando Pride	1–2	San Diego Wave FC	Orlando, Florida
4:00 pm	Adriana 44' (Marta) Bright  59'	Report	Dahlkemper 7' Carusa 75' (Doniak) Hill  81'	Stadium: Exploria Stadium Attendance: 7,556 Referee: Matt Thompson

San Diego Wave FC v Houston Dash

September 3 18	San Diego Wave FC	1–0	Houston Dash	San Diego, California
5:00 pm	Shaw 57' (Westphal) Jakobsson  83'	Report	Alozie  33' Schmidt  49'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 24,936 Referee: Katja Koroleva

San Diego Wave FC v Kansas City Current

September 16 19	San Diego Wave FC	1–2	Kansas City Current	San Diego, California
7:00 pm	Enge 50' van Egmond  52'	Report	Debinha 3' Hamilton 22' Loera  73'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 15,832 Referee: Matthew Corrigan

Portland Thorns FC v San Diego Wave FC

September 30 20	Portland Thorns FC	0–2	San Diego Wave FC	Portland, Oregon
7:30 pm		Report	Carusa 20' (Shaw) Morgan 38' (Westphal) Pogarch  77' van Egmond  87'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 19,947 Referee: Calin Radosav

North Carolina Courage v San Diego Wave FC

October 7 21	North Carolina Courage	0–0	San Diego Wave FC	Cary, North Carolina
4:00 pm	Kurtz  67'	Report	Pogarch  61' Riehl  79' Kornieck  89'	Stadium: Sahlen's Stadium Attendance: 10,434 Referee: Anya Voigt

San Diego Wave FC v Racing Louisville FC

October 15 22	San Diego Wave FC	2–0	Racing Louisville FC	San Diego, California
2:00 pm	Shaw 26' (Morgan) Dahlkemper  42' Morgan 47' (Pogarch)  74' Barcenas  80'	Report		Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 30,312 Referee: Jeremy Scheer

Regular season standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	San Diego Wave FC (S)	22	11	4	7	31	22	+9	37	Playoff semifinals and W Champions Cup
2	Portland Thorns FC	22	10	5	7	42	32	+10	35
3	North Carolina Courage	22	9	6	7	29	22	+7	33	Playoff quarterfinals
4	OL Reign	22	9	5	8	29	24	+5	32
5	Angel City FC	22	8	7	7	31	30	+1	31
6	NJ/NY Gotham FC (C)	22	8	7	7	25	24	+1	31	Playoff quarterfinals, and W Champions Cup
7	Orlando Pride	22	10	1	11	27	28	−1	31
8	Washington Spirit	22	7	9	6	26	29	−3	30
9	Racing Louisville FC	22	6	9	7	25	24	+1	27
10	Houston Dash	22	6	8	8	16	18	−2	26
11	Kansas City Current	22	8	2	12	30	36	−6	26
12	Chicago Red Stars	22	7	3	12	28	50	−22	24

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions; (S) NWSL Shield

Results summary

Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
22	11	4	7	31	22	+9	37	5	2	4	18	16	+2	6	2	3	13	6	+7

Last updated: October 15, 2023.
Source: NWSLsoccer.com

Results by matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Stadium	H	H	A	A	H	A	A	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	H	H	A	A	H
Result	W	W	L	W	L	L	W	W	D	W	D	L	L	L	D	W	W	W	L	W	D	W
Position	2	2	3	3	3	5	5	3	4	2	1	5	6	6	6	6	3	1	2	1	2	1

Updated to match(es) played on October 15, 2023. Source: NWSL
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Playoffs

Further information: 2023 NWSL season § Playoffs

San Diego Wave FC v OL Reign

November 5, 2023 Semifinals	San Diego Wave FC	0–1	OL Reign	San Diego, California
6:30 pm PST		[https://www.nwslsoccer.com/match/43e3a780a4f3495b94a9467d54edde6c/san-diego-wave-fc-vs-seattle-reign Box] Report	Latsko 47'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 32,262 Referee: Natalie Simon

NWSL Challenge Cup

Main article: 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup

Group stage

San Diego Wave FC v Portland Thorns FC

April 19	San Diego Wave FC	1–0	Portland Thorns FC	San Diego, California
7:00 p.m.	Nally 65' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 9,504 Referee: Brandon Stevis

San Diego Wave FC v OL Reign

May 31	San Diego Wave FC	0–3	OL Reign	San Diego, California
7:00 p.m.	Kornieck  19' Gyau  90+2' Colaprico  90+4'	Report	Sonnett  16' Stanton  21' Holmes  22' Brown 29' (King) Athens 54' Huitema 60' Malonson  67'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 9,763 Referee: Anya Voigt

Angel City FC v San Diego Wave FC

June 28	Angel City FC	2–1	San Diego Wave FC	Los Angeles, California
7:00 p.m.	Hammond 2' Le Bihan 18'	Report	Colaprico 63'	Stadium: BMO Stadium Attendance: 13,648 Referee: Katja Koroleva

Portland Thorns FC v San Diego Wave FC

July 21	Portland Thorns FC	4–1	San Diego Wave FC	Portland, Oregon
7:30 p.m.	Betfort 9', 58' (Klingenberg) Porter  36' Weaver 54' (Betfort) Vasconcelos  56' Reyes 61' (Klingenberg)	Report	Kornieck 81' (Shaw)	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 16,393 Referee: Ricardo Fierro

OL Reign v San Diego Wave FC

July 28	OL Reign	1–0	San Diego Wave FC	Seattle, Washington
7:00 p.m.	Balcer 71' (pen.)	Report	Hill  56' Pogarch  90+5'	Stadium: Lumen Field Attendance: 7,513 Referee: Alyssa Nichols

San Diego Wave FC v Angel City FC

August 5	San Diego Wave FC	1–1	Angel City FC	San Diego, California
4:30 p.m. PDT (UTC-7)	Shaw 11' Doniak  35'	Report	Camberos 16' Gorden  57'	Stadium: Snapdragon Stadium Attendance: 14,408 Referee: Elijio Arreguin

West Division standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	T	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		RGN	LA	POR	SD
1	OL Reign	6	4	2	0	7	0	+7	14	Advance to knockout stage		—	0–0	0–0	1–0
2	Angel City FC	6	2	2	2	7	8	−1	8			0–2	—	2–1	2–1
3	Portland Thorns FC	6	2	1	3	8	7	+1	7			0–1	3–2	—	4–1
4	San Diego Wave FC	6	1	1	4	4	11	−7	4			0–3	1–1	1–0	—

Source: NWSL

Results by matchday

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6
Stadium	A	H	H	H	A	A
Result	W	L	L	L	L	D
Position	2	3	4	4	4	4

Updated to match(es) played on August 5, 2023. Source: NWSL
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Squad statistics

As of match played November 5, 2023

Appearances and goals

Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances after the + symbol where applicable.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		NWSL		Playoffs		Challenge Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Goalkeepers
1	GK	CAN	Kailen Sheridan	21	0	19	0	1	0	1	0
17	GK	BIH	Lauren Brzykcy	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
30	GK	USA	Shae Yanez	9	0	3+1	0	0	0	5	0
Defenders
2	DF	USA	Abby Dahlkemper	7	1	5	1	1	0	1	0
4	DF	USA	Naomi Girma	22	0	19	0	1	0	0+2	0
14	DF	USA	Kristen McNabb	15	1	13	1	0+1	0	1	0
16	DF	USA	Madison Pogarch	23	1	7+9	1	1	0	5+1	0
18	DF	USA	Kaleigh Riehl	25	0	18+1	0	0	0	5+1	0
20	DF	USA	Christen Westphal	28	0	22	0	1	0	4+1	0
26	DF	USA	Mia Gyau	3	0	0+1	0	0	0	2	0
Midfielders
5	MF	AUS	Emily van Egmond	12	0	1+9	0	1	0	0+1	0
8	MF	USA	Sierra Enge	14	2	7+3	2	0	0	4	0
12	MF	USA	Giovanna DeMarco	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
22	MF	USA	Taylor Kornieck	22	2	6+10	1	0+1	0	5	1
23	MF	USA	Belle Briede	12	1	2+5	1	0	0	4+1	0
24	MF	USA	Danielle Colaprico	28	1	21+1	0	1	0	3+2	1
28	MF	USA	Meggie Dougherty Howard	17	0	8+4	0	0	0	1+4	0
Forwards
3	FW	USA	Rachel Hill	23	0	15+2	0	1	0	5	0
6	FW	USA	Kelsey Turnbow	11	0	0+7	0	0	0	3+1	0
7	FW	USA	Amirah Ali	21	2	5+11	2	0+1	0	2+2	0
10	FW	SWE	Sofia Jakobsson	19	2	8+8	2	0+1	0	1+1	0
11	FW	USA	Jaedyn Shaw	29	6	19+3	5	1	0	4+2	1
13	FW	USA	Alex Morgan	20	6	18	6	1	0	0+1	0
15	FW	USA	Makenzy Doniak	27	3	11+10	3	1	0	3+2	0
19	FW	IRL	Kyra Carusa	8	2	4+3	2	0+1	0	0	0
25	FW	USA	Melanie Barcenas	12	0	0+7	0	0	0	2+3	0
Players who left the club during the season:
27	FW	USA	Shea Connors	2	0	0+1	0	0	0	0+1	0
33	GK	USA	Meagan McClelland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
34	DF	USA	Cheyenne Shorts	4	1	2	1	0	0	2	0
37	DF	GUY	Sydney Cummings	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
46	DF	USA	Chai Cortez	3	0	1+1	0	0	0	1	0

Goalscorers

Rank	No.	Pos.	Nat.	Name	NWSL	Playoffs	Cup	Total
1	13	FW		Alex Morgan	6	0	0	6
2	11	FW		Jaedyn Shaw	5	0	1	6
3	15	FW		Makenzy Doniak	3	0	0	3
4	10	FW		Sofia Jakobsson	2	0	0	2
	7	FW		Amirah Ali	2	0	0	2
	8	MF		Sierra Enge	2	0	0	2
	19	FW		Kyra Carusa	2	0	0	2
5	22	MF		Taylor Kornieck	1	0	1	2
6	2	DF		Abby Dahlkemper	1	0	0	1
	23	MF		Belle Briede	1	0	0	1
	14	DF		Kristen McNabb	1	0	0	1
	16	DF		Madison Pogarch	1	0	0	1
	34	DF		Cheyenne Shorts	1	0	0	1
7	24	MF		Danielle Colaprico	0	0	1	1
Own goals					1	0	1	2
Total					29	0	4	33

Shutouts

Rank	No.	Pos.	Name	NWSL	Playoffs	Cup	Total
1	1	GK	Kailen Sheridan	9	0	1	10
Total				9	0	1	10

Transactions

2023 NWSL Draft

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2023 NWSL Draft was held on January 12, 2023.^[3]

Round	Pick	Player	Pos.	College	Status
2	13	Sierra Enge	MF	Stanford	Signed[4]
3	33	Lauren Brzykcy	GK	UCLA	Signed[5]
4	45	Giovanna DeMarco	MF	Wake Forest	Signed[6]

Transfers in

Date	Player	Pos.	Previous club	Fee/notes	Ref.
December 2, 2022	Rachel Hill	FW	Chicago Red Stars	Free agent signing.	[7]
December 5, 2022	Danielle Colaprico	MF			[8]
January 12, 2023	Megan Dougherty Howard	MF	Orlando Pride		[9]
March 28, 2023	Cheyenne Shorts	DF	Portland Thorns FC	Short-term injury replacement player signing.	[10]
April 26, 2023	Shae Yanez	GK	London City Lionesses	Transferred for an undisclosed fee.	[11]
June 27, 2023	Chai Cortez	DF	Oregon Ducks	Short-term national team replacement player signings.	[12]
	Shea Connors	FW	Brisbane Roar FC
	Sydney Cummings	DF	Western United FC
July 7, 2023	Meagan McClelland	GK	Chicago Red Stars		[13]
August 16, 2023	Kyra Carusa	FW	London City Lionesses	Free transfer.	[14]

Transfers out

Date	Player	Pos.	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
November 15, 2022	Jackie Altschuld	FW	FC Honka	Out of contract.	[15]
	Taylor Hansen	DF	Unattached
	Katie Johnson	FW	Angel City FC
	Melissa Lowder	GK	Þór/KA
	Sydney Pulver	MF	Unattached
	Kayla Bruster	DF	Fylkir	The club chose not to exercise contract options.
	Marleen Schimmer	FW	1. FC Köln
August 31, 2023	Chai Cortez	DF	San DIego Wave FC	National team replacement players released.	[16]
	Shea Connors	FW	Sydney FC
	Sydney Cummings	DF	Celtic
	Meagan McClelland	GK	NJ/NY Gotham FC

Retirements

Date	Player	Pos.	Ref.
March 15, 2023	Carly Telford	GK	[17]

Preseason trialists

Trialists are non-rostered invitees during preseason and are not automatically signed. The Wave released their preseason roster on February 6, 2023.^[18]

Player	Pos.	Previous team
Melanie Barcenas[A]	FW	San Diego Surf SC
Trinity Watson	DF	Pepperdine Waves
Maisie Whitsett	MF	Louisville Cardinals

1. ^
   Signed to first team contract.

See also

• 2023 National Women's Soccer League season
• 2023 in American soccer