Lia Godfrey Leads San Diego Wave Vs Portland Thorns Into First Place Test
San Diego Wave vs Portland Thorns arrives Wednesday with first place in the NWSL standings on the line at Providence Park. San Diego enters at 5-0-1 and has won five straight, a club record, before a 7:00 p.m. PT kickoff in Portland.
Lia Godfrey and the Wave surge
Lia Godfrey has become the clearest early-season driver for San Diego. The rookie midfielder scored and assisted in the Wave’s 3-2 comeback win over Denver Summit FC on Saturday, April 25, then left with four goals on the season and the club record for most goals by a rookie.
She also leads San Diego in goals and sits second in the Golden Boot race across the NWSL. Through her first six league games, Godfrey has five goal contributions, making her the first American to reach that mark since Sofia Huerta in 2015.
That Denver win came after San Diego trailed 2-0 in the first half. Godfrey scored in the 49th minute, then set up Kennedy Wesley’s equalizer in the 57th minute before Dudinha’s cross in the 65th minute forced the own goal that completed the comeback.
Portland Thorns at Providence Park
Portland is not arriving idle. The Thorns beat Angel City FC 2-1 in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 27, with Pietra Tordin opening the scoring in the 75th minute, Sophia Wilson adding a second in stoppage time and Prisca Chilufya pulling one back in the 98th minute.
Tordin has scored in both the teams’ most recent meeting and Portland’s latest match. She leads Portland’s attack with 3 goals and 2 assists and is tied with Olivia Moultrie and Reilyn Turner as the club’s top scorer.
The teams already split some of their recent history. Their 2025 regular-season meetings ended in a pair of draws, and Portland also beat San Diego in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs. But the Wave won the latest meeting 3-1 on March 25 at Snapdragon Stadium, when Dudinha scored in the second minute for the fastest goal of the season and the third-fastest in Wave history.
Wednesday’s match gives San Diego another chance to protect its place at the top while Portland tries to build on a road win that ended with pressure in stoppage time. The game will be shown nationally on CBS Sports Network, and the result will sort the league’s first-place race before the week is out.
