Angel City’s Julie Ertz defends San Diego’s Jaedyn Shaw during the teams’ first meeting in April. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA TODAY Sports)
The latest episode of the NWSL’s SoCal rivalry kicks off this Saturday, June 17, when the San Diego Wave host Angel City FC at Snapdragon Stadium. San Diego, unbeaten in five straight matches, currently leads the NWSL standings. Meanwhile, Angel City is looking for a statement win after hitting a midseason rough patch, going winless in their last five regular season matches.
Ahead of the game, here is a brief overview of the history of the rivalry and what’s at stake.
How they got here
Angel City FC made waves when it was first announced as an NWSL expansion franchise in July 2020.
From the start, the club sought to shake up traditional ownership structures, launching with a majority female ownership group and a long list of celebrity investors. That group is led by actress Natalie Portman, entrepreneur Julie Uhrman and venture capitalists Kara Nortman and Alexis Ohanian. Other founding team members…
