The San Diego Wave broke the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) single-game attendance record after a 32,000 sellout crowd beat Southern California rival Angel City FC 1-0 on Saturday.
The game was the Wave’s first held at the new Snapdragon Stadium on San Diego State University’s Mission Valley campus.
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The previous record for a single game was 25,218, set in 2019 between the Portland Thorns and the North Carolina Courage at Providence Park.
“This is a great reflection of the momentum we’re seeing in women’s sports,” San Diego Wave FC President Jill Ellis said when the club announced its sale earlier this month. “We’ve sold all our inventory, it’s incredible. We should be celebrating this but now we should be expecting, big crowds for professional women’s sports.”
Snapdragon Stadium opened last month after two years of construction. The Wave will share space in the new headquarters with the college football team, along with Major League Rugby’s San Diego Legion in 2023.
The Wave, who are in their first season in the NWSL, previously played at the University of San Diego’s 6,000-capacity Torero Stadium.
Under coach Casey Stoney, the expansion team is enjoying an impressive first season in the NWSL and entered Saturday’s game in third place in the league standings. The top six teams in the 12-team competition will qualify for the playoffs, which begin next month.
Riding the wave has been United States women’s senior Alex Morgan, who has scored a league-leading 15 goals this season.
“I think it’s a testament to US women’s soccer and the NWSL, and the wave in San Diego and what we’re building here,” Morgan told ESPN last month when it was revealed she had sold enough tickets to break the Wave. single game attendance record.