The 2024 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) kicked off Friday night as San Diego Wave FC faced NJ/NY Gotham FC 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.
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.
Alex Morgan heads home the winning goal for San Diego late in the NWSL Challenge Cup final
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. United States women’s national team star Alex Morgan netted the game-winning goal in the 88th minute for San Diego.
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.
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,” said Morgan.
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…
Source link : https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/san-diego-wins-2024-nwsl-challenge-cup-thanks-to-late-morgan-goal
Author : Chris Moore
Publish date : 2024-03-16 16:11:29
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