Column: Three thoughts on the San Diego Wave: Resting Alex Morgan, ticket talk and tough tests

Three thoughts on the Wave ahead of Wednesday’s 7 p.m. match, a Challenge Cup contest against Seattle’s OL Reign at Snapdragon Stadium.

1. Rest for Morgan?

“Whoo, tonight was exhausting,” Alex Morgan said Friday night after logging 90 minutes in the 1-1 tie with defending-champion Portland.

The Wave’s star striker should get a lot of rest Wednesday night. The match will have no bearing on the regular-season standings. In the Challenge Cup opener last month, Morgan played just 12 minutes, not entering until the 78th minute.

Further bolstering the case to refresh Morgan, a rigorous test looms. Sunday’s match in New Jersey entails a 4,800-mile round-trip flight. A return to the Eastern time zone follows next week with a Friday match at Louisville.

The U.S. national team will enlist Morgan in late June to prepare for the World Cup, set for July 20-Aug. 20 in Australia and New Zealand.

Morgan, 33, has played in eight of the Wave’s nine matches this season. She went all 90 minutes in seven and 89 minutes the other time. She sat out the 3-1 loss to Orlando with a reported thigh injury.

2. Tickets and turnstiles

Because the Wave are new on the scene, it’s time to revisit how attendance is reported by local sports teams and their opponents. Each game’s announced crowd is larger than the number of people who attend the game because teams announce how many tickets go out for a game, not the crowd’s actual number.

It’s a widespread practice in sports, and the disparity it produces can vary greatly. SDSU announced an average of 29,225 fans per game in last season’s Snapdragon Stadium debut. That number exceeded the average turnstile count of 21,565, a figure obtained by the Union-Tribune. The number SDSU announced denoted the tickets out — a combination of tickets sold and distributed.

The Padres announce only tickets sold, a team official said.

The Wave mirror SDSU’s policy, basing their announcement on tickets out. According to SDSU and the Wave, most of the tickets that go into the count are in fact sold.

The Wave have played four home games in this year’s regular season. The 30,854 tickets distributed for the March 25 match set a league record for an opener. The crowd appeared in the high 20s. The three crowds that followed filled most of the stadium’s lower bowl of about 18,000 seats. Tickets distributed for those three matches were 17,017, 16,225 and Friday’s 18,130.

Up to a few thousand tickets appeared to go unused for two of those matches. Friday, that number appeared to rise.

The Wave have averaged 20,556 tickets distributed this regular season, based on the club’s announced attendance. Nine of the league’s other 11 teams list half or less than that amount, affirming the Wave’s extraordinary success. SDSU lists 32,500 seats for Snapdragon Stadium and total capacity at 35,000 including standing room. A count of a Ticketmaster seating chart showed 31,684 seats.

3. Good show

The match against Portland delivered the best soccer of the Wave’s nine matches this season (although no individual matched the varied excellence May 6 of Washington Spirit forward Trinity Rodman). Portland came out with a wrinkle. Positioning by star forward Sophia Smith created overloads in the Wave’s midfield and a wide spectrum of attacks. In the second half, the Wave unlocked Portland’s midfield defense. Wave midfielders Jaedyn Shaw and Taylor Kornieck excelled off the bench and 22-year-old, World Cup-bound defender Naomi Girma delivered another steady savvy full match.

“I love these games against Portland,” said Wave coach Casey Stoney. “They test me as a coach, tactically. They test the players physically, technically and tactically. And it’s a great advert for the women’s game.”

Matches like Friday’s shouldn’t be taken for granted.

The NWSL will unveil new teams next year in Utah and the Bay Area and two additional clubs by 2026, bringing the total to 16. Expansion can build the talent pool in the long term, but often dilutes the product in the first year or two. Losing players to expansion teams robs clubs like Portland of some of the roster continuity that produces better soccer.