<p>The 2024 <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/nwsl-tv-schedule-and-streaming-links/">National Women’s Soccer League</a> (NWSL) kicked off Friday night as <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/san-diego-wave-tv-schedule/">San Diego Wave FC</a> faced <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/gotham-fc-tv-schedule/">NJ/NY Gotham FC</a> in New Jersey. The two teams were pitted against each other in the newly reformatted UKG NWSL Challenge Cup. While the competition was previously a league cup involving all of the top flight teams, organizers recently altered the contest to involve just two clubs.</p>



<p>Gotham FC qualified for the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup after being crowned league champions last season. Wave FC, on the other hand, previously won the 2023 NWSL Shield. The revised competition is now essentially a super cup match, similar to England’s Community Shield or Spain’s Supercopa.</p>



<h2>Alex Morgan heads home the winning goal for San Diego late in the NWSL Challenge Cup final</h2>



<p>Both clubs stuck to their specific defensive plans throughout the match and limited scoring opportunities for their opponents. As a result, there was only one goal recorded in the game. <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/uswnt-tv-schedule/">United States women’s national team</a> star Alex Morgan netted the game-winning goal in the 88th minute for San Diego.</p>



<p>The legendary American forward only entered the fray as a second-half substitute. Teammate Savannah McCaskill picked out Morgan with a perfectly placed corner kick in front of the Gotham goal. Morgan easily headed the ball beyond the diving goalkeeper and into the bottom corner of the net. It was her 28th goal in just 46 total matches with San Diego.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="eu" dir="ltr">SAN DIEGOAT 🐐<br><br> <a href="https://t.co/xobghr6RRI">pic.twitter.com/xobghr6RRI</a></p>— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) <a href="https://twitter.com/sandiegowavefc/status/1768821396673847361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 16, 2024</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<p>Due to scoring the lone goal in the game, Morgan was awarded as the 2024 UKG NWSL Challenge Cup Most Valuable Player. The striker collected a $2,000 bonus for netting the award. After the match, Morgan told reporters that the pass was so perfect that she had to score the goal. “The ball came straight to me, so I knew that I couldn’t mess it up,” <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/16/nwsl-challenge-cup-san-diego-wave-gotham-fc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a> Morgan.</p>



<p>UKG, an American tech company, also provided each player on the two rosters with additioanl prize money. Gotham players received $2,200 each, while the winning San Diego squad earned $3,500 each for their triumph.</p>



<h2>Wave FC set for ownership change as billionaire announces sale</h2>



<p>San Diego’s victory came on the same day as the current club owner, Ron Burkle, <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/nwsl-side-wave-fc-set-to-be-sold-for-league-record-113-million/">announced</a> that he was selling the team. The billionaire previously helped create the club in 2021 by paying a $2 million expansion fee. Despite just three years since the move, Burkle is now selling his club for a total price of $113 million. It is the most expensive deal in NWSL history.</p>



<p>NWSL’s regular season is set to start on Saturday, March 16th. Kansas City Current will host Portland Thorns in the opening match of the 2024 campaign. Three other matches are also scheduled for Saturday as well, before two games are set to be played the following day.</p>



<p>Both Challenge Cup clubs will not start their regular seasons until the following week. San Diego is set to host the Current on Saturday, March 23rd. Gotham FC, on the other hand, will face Portland in Oregon on Sunday, March 24th. These two matchups are set to be broadcasted on ION and ESPN2 respectively.</p>



<p>Photo credits: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire.</p>


San Diego wins 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup thanks to late Morgan goal

USWNT star Alex Morgan helped San Diego Wave FC narrowly edge NJ/NY Gotham FC on Friday night to win the 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup.

<p>NWSL, the top women’s soccer division in the United States, unveiled its schedule for 2023. The league’s 11th regular season has 12 teams, the same as last year when Angel City FC and the San Diego Wave joined the league.</p>



<p>Each club plays a balanced schedule with 11 home games and 11 away games. Therefore, each team plays every other team home and away once, just like top leagues in Europe. </p>



<p>The season starts March 25 with the regular season stretching all the way to Sunday, Oct. 15. On the final day of the season, all 12 teams play simultaneously at 5 p.m. ET to get the full effect of the playoff push.</p>



<p>However, just like those top men’s leagues, the 2023 NWSL schedule slows down during the World Cup. Taking place in Australia and New Zealand, the National Women’s Soccer League does not come to a full stop. While the NWSL is generally a weekly schedule, the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/womens-world-cup-tv-schedule/">Women’s World Cup</a> is making the league take every other week off. Essentially, there are only two full matchdays during the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/what-times-are-the-womens-world-cup-games-played-20230118-WST-413603.html">Women’s World Cup</a>, but both of those are for NWSL Cup, as we will discuss below.</p>



<p>That leads into one of the major changes for the NWSL schedule in the 2023 season. There are less midweek games this time around. The league says it wants to focus on player health and optimizing fitness and performance for each game. </p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">It&apos;s a new season!<br><br>Let&apos;s gooooooo 🏆</p>— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSL/status/1623388697163866125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 8, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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<h5>NWSL Cup sprinkled in during season</h5>



<p>In the past, the NWSL season would take a hiatus at some point to play out the NWSL Cup. Three groups of four play in double-round-robin matches for a total of six matches in cup play. This season, the NWSL is spreading those games as early as April 19. Then, the semifinals consisting of three group winners and a runner-up is Sep. 6, with the Final three days later.</p>



<p>The majority of the NWSL Cup games happen during the Women’s World Cup. Therefore, league play is more or less unaffected outside of just a handful of fixtures.</p>



<h2>2023 NWSL season schedule has a number of great fixtures</h2>



<p>The Cascadia Derby has four confirmed fixtures in the 2023 season. Two of those are in NWSL play, and two are in the NWSL Cup. The Portland Thorns and OL Reign have one of the storied rivalries in the young history of the NWSL. Portland has three NWSL crowns, while OL Reign has three NWSL Shields as the regular season winners.</p>



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<div class="ck-youtube"><iframe loading="lazy" title="San Diego Wave FC vs. Angel City FC: Extended Highlights | NWSL | CBS Sports Attacking Third" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/25PdrjUaq7k?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>
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<p>Then, Angel City and San Diego Wave, which both joined the league a season ago, look to build on their record-setting rivalry. Last season, 32,000 were in attendance to watch these two in their debut seasons. The first game between the two southern California sides is on Sunday, April 23.</p>



<h5>NWSL coverage this season</h5>



<p>CBS is continuing its coverage of the National Women’s Soccer League for the 2023 season. Games appear on the CBS TV channel, CBS Sports Network and <a href="https://paramountplus.qflm.net/c/330866/1007330/3065" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Paramount+</a>. Further information regarding <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/where-to-watch-nwsl-on-us-tv/">TV coverage of NWSL</a> comes about closer to the beginning of the campaign. </p>


NWSL announces schedule for 2023 season

The 2023 NWSL schedule is now available, and there are some things to keep an eye on, including the effect of the World Cup and NWSL Cup.

NWSL announces schedule for 2023 season - World Soccer Talk

Latest news from NWSL Cup. Find out about all the news related to NWSL Cup on worldsoccertalk.com

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San Diego wins 2024 NWSL Challenge Cup thanks to late Morgan goal

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NWSL announces schedule for 2023 season