**San Diego, California** – San Diego Wave FC and the North Carolina Courage capped off their respective regular seasons with a scoreless draw at Snapdragon Stadium, with Wave FC having already secured a playoff position and the fate of the Courage in the balance depending on the result of the Chicago Red Stars and Angel City FC match on Sunday. However, thanks to the result, the Houston Dash were officially added to the teams who have secured a playoff place.
The Courage pressed the San Diego defense early knowing that a win would secure their place in the playoffs, but an opportunity for defender Carson Pickett in the ninth minute landed high of the goal frame. Forward Tess Boade was in possession on the right side of the field when she looked up and saw Pickett making a run at the back post and attempted to curl a through pass into the area. Meeting the ball there, Pickett was able to make contact but could not keep her shot down and the chance went missing.
Then, a flurry of attempts for the hosts San Diego came at the other end with all three of Isabella Briede, Kelsey Turnbow and Emily van Egmond having a look at goal in the span of three minutes. First up, Briede had a right-footed effort toward the bottom left corner saved by North Carolina goalkeeper Casey Murphy. One minute later, Turnbow’s left-footed shot toward the bottom right side of goal was blocked out for a corner kick. On the ensuing set piece, van Egmond was able to get a strong shot on goal with her left foot only to fail to keep the effort on target and the pressure was relieved.
As the half wore on, both sides were able to create more in the attacking third with Pickett and San Diego midfielder Sofia Jakobsson both firing into the side netting on the outside of the goal in the 28 ^th and 36 ^th minutes respectively. Heading into the halftime break, though, neither team was ultimately able to break the deadlock.
The second half began with the Courage pressing on San Diego’s goal again, with forward Kerolin continuing her involvement in front of goal in the 47 ^th minute. As the seemingly ever-present Carson Pickett was again on the ball, she cut down the left side and picked out the Brazilian forward in the middle of the box only for Kerolin’s effort to be blocked out for a corner by San Diego’s Madison Pogarch.
In the 55 ^th minute, Pogarch then found herself in the attacking end where she got on the end of a corner kick delivery by Kelsey Turnbow and nearly opened the scoring. The ball in toward the back post saw Pogarch produce a pointed header toward the far post that was cleared off the line, with the Wave’s Makenzy Doniak unable to convert the follow up.
The remainder of the second half of play was dominated in chance creation by the Courage, who nearly found their first goal in the 72 ^nd minute via Pickett. This time, it was Kerolin who lifted a cross from the top right side of the box toward Pickett’s run at the back post, but the defender’s header landed high of goal and out of play.
Multiple opportunities for the likes of Kerolin, fellow forward Diana Ordoñez and defender Merritt Mathias came throughout the final quarter of an hour, but the Wave defense held strong and were able to see out the match as the sides split the points in a stalemate.
The result pushes San Diego into third place at least for the night, level on points with the Kansas City current and ahead on goal difference and three points ahead of the Dash with a positive differential advantage of four goals as Houston and the Current take the field on Saturday night.
For North Carolina, though, their playoff position is contingent on whether or not there is a victor when Chicago and Angel City square off on Sunday night. A draw between those two sides would see the Courage secure a playoff place, but a win for the Red Stars would see them jump North Carolina in total points. Meanwhile, a win for Angel City could see them go above North Carolina on goal differential, but it would have to be a monstrous win to the tune of double digit goals in order for the league’s other expansion side to feature in the postseason.
Chicago and Angel City meet on Sunday night in the league’s final regular season game, with kickoff at 6 P.M. ET on Paramount+.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights