San Diego Wave clinch an NWSL playoff berth with a 2-1 win at Orlando

Goals from Lia Godfrey, Gia Corley and a Barbra Banda penalty earned the Wave their fourth playoff trip in five seasons.

By Claudia · Oct 2, 2026

The San Diego Wave are in the NWSL playoffs. A 2-1 win at the Orlando Pride on Friday, Oct. 2, clinched the club's fourth postseason berth in five seasons, according to the team. San Diego is the second club to clinch this year, after Gotham.

Godfrey opened the scoring in the fourth minute, with an assist from Trinity Byars, and Corley made it 2-0 in the 22nd. Orlando pulled a goal back before Banda converted a penalty in the 52nd minute to restore the two-goal lead, as described in the Wave's match report and by Yahoo Sports and KPBS.

The Wave are 16-8-3 with 51 points and sit second in the league table, per Yahoo Sports. Their next match, after a break for the international window, is Saturday, Oct. 17, at the North Carolina Courage, the club says.

How this story was made: drafted with AI assistance, then checked line by line against the sources below by a San Diego Insight editor before publishing. Our standards.