**San Diego, California** – San Diego Wave FC and OL Reign drew, 1-1, in a chippy affair at Torero Stadium that saw Reign’s early opener equaled out by Alex Morgan’s spot kick.
Out in front quickly, OL Reign was first to break the deadlock after just 11 minutes through forward Ally Watt. The visitors had won the ball back in the San Diego defensive third, and quick in transition, Watt was able to finish into an open net to go one-up early on.
Just a few minutes after the opener, though, San Diego worked a chance of their own through midfielder Kelsey Turnbow. Approaching the edge of the box just to the left of goal, Turnbow took a chance on goal with a drive toward the near post only to watch it fall just wide inside and out of play. Then, in the 33 ^rd minute, Turnbow again proves the catalyst for the Wave as she takes another chance on herself, but her left-footed effort lands over the bar.
San Diego’s persistence would eventually pay off when they earned a penalty in stoppage time. After a scramble all around the goalmouth, confusion prevents Reign goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce from collecting and a follow up effort is judged to have ricocheted off the arm of a Reign player for a penalty. Up to take the spot kick, San Diego forward Alex Morgan calmly slotted home and sent Tullis-Joyce the wrong way to bring the game level.
At the break, the score stood deservedly level as Watt’s early goal was evened out by Morgan’s stoppage time penalty.
The second half featured chances only few and far between as neither San Diego nor the Reign would be able to create multiple quality looks on goal. One of the best opportunities for the visitors came in the 68 ^th minute when Watt, who had already tallied one goal on the night, drove toward the endling and got a good look across goal. However, her sweeping ball into the six-yard box went unmet by a teammate and the chance went missing.
As the half grew on, the game’s intensity only increased with challenges on both ends of the ball bringing out a reaction from the sides. In the 69 ^th minute, San Diego’s Turnbow and OL Reign’s Jess Fishlock were each booked for an incident that saw Turnbow bring Fishlock down with some verbal retaliation that followed.
Then, 10 minutes later, Turnbow’s night turned for the worst when she was shown a second yellow card for a late challenge, leaving San Diego to finish out the final 10 minutes with 10 players.
This spurned OL Reign on to attempt to settle the match and take home all three points, and defender Sofia Huerta nearly helped that case in the 84 ^th minute. Lining up a shot from just outside the box, her right-footed effort is unable to dip under the bar and went out of play.
At the fulltime whistle, OL Reign claimed the West Division as their point was enough to see them through to the top spot and into the semifinals of this year’s Challenge Cup.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights