Forward Alex Morgan played 15 minutes and had a penalty kick saved on Sunday for San Diego Wave FC in her final match as a professional.

Morgan, a two-time World Cup winner and Olympic gold medalist, announced Thursday that the Wave’s NWSL home game at Snapdragon Stadium against the North Carolina Courage would be the last of her nearly 14-year career at the international and professional level.

On Sunday, Morgan was denied a dream exit by North Carolina Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy, one of Morgan’s teammates with the United States national team in recent years. Morgan stepped up to the spot after the Wave earned a penalty in the 10th minute, but her left-footed effort was saved by Murphy.

San Diego scored an equalizer three minutes later, and Morgan began leaving the field with just over 13 minutes on the clock, a nod to the No. 13 that she famously wore for club and country over the past decade-plus.

She removed her cleats at midfield and tearfully waved and blew kisses to the crowd — with fans chanting her name — as players from both teams surrounded her and applauded. She was replaced by forward Amirah Ali.

In a first for a women’s sporting event, the game was shown across multiple outlets, including the ESPN networks, simultaneously in the U.S. The Sunday evening game was initially slated to air on NWSL+ and Paramount+.

Morgan said Friday that she would play “limited” minutes on Sunday. On Thursday she announced that in addition to her retirement she is pregnant with her second child.

The USWNT veteran was on the teams that won the 2015 and 2019 World Cups and an Olympic gold medal in 2012, as well as a bronze medal in 2021. She scored 123 goals for the USWNT, fifth most in program history and is one of only seven players to score 100 or more.

Morgan played in four World Cups, including her breakout at the 2011 edition, when the USWNT lost the final to Japan in a penalty shootout.

Domestically, Morgan won the inaugural NWSL title with the Portland Thorns in 2013. She also won a professional title in her rookie season in 2011, with the Western New York Flash in Women’s Professional Soccer, the NWSL’s predecessor.

Morgan won the NWSL Golden Boot in 2022, scoring 15 goals in 17 games while helping the Wave become the first NWSL expansion team to qualify for the playoffs in its first season. Last year, the Wave won the NWSL Shield as the best team of the NWSL regular season.

She played in 150 NWSL games, 63 of which were for San Diego. In 2017, Morgan joined Lyon on a short-term deal and won a treble, including the UEFA Champions League.

Morgan wore the captain’s armband for San Diego on Sunday.

Her daughter, 4-year-old Charlie, was her mascot for the walkout and national anthem. Charlie wore a Wave jersey with “MOM 13” on the back. Morgan said she expected about 80 family and friends to attend Sunday’s match, most of whom joined her on the field before the match.

Some county leaders are considering a moratorium after a couple of fires have broken out at battery storage facilities across the county. The most recent one happened Thursday in Escondido, evacuating hundreds of residents and businesses.

Nancy Jennings lives in Escondido, just a few miles from the SDG&E Lithium-Ion Battery Facility that caught fire. She was forced out of her home Thursday due to a power outage.

She said an SDG&E representative told her extreme heat caused the power to go out.

“When I had called SDC and spoke to their representative, she had checked with, her people there, and what they told her was that the fire had damaged SDC is equipment and that was why the outage and why it took so long to repair, because it was over 12 hours,” Jennings said.

SDG&E has not confirmed a connection between the fire and the power outage at Nancy’s home.

However, Nancy said she relies on power for survival.

“Appliances. Who cares? I can do with. I can’t do without my oxygen,” she said.

Nancy said even before the fire broke out at the SDG&E facility, she and many of her neighbors have opposed these battery facilities in their community.

“It’s just too dangerous,” Jennings said.

County Supervisor Jim Desmond for District 5 expressed a similar sentiment.

“We’re getting way too many fires from these types of battery storage facilities and we need to get some more, unfortunately some more regulations in place to make sure they’re safe,” Supervisor Desmond said.

On Wednesday, the county board of Supervisors is going to consider guidelines and a potential moratorium on the battery energy storage facilities.

Supervisor Desmond said the moratorium would only apply to Battery Systems that need county permits.

He said of the nearly 50 battery storage facilities across San Diego County, about 80 percent don’t require county permitting because they get approval through the California Public Utilities Commission.

“I don’t think a moratorium is required, but I do recommend that communities like Poway due the level of detail that Poway did,” Kevin Smith, CEO of Arevon Energy said.  

Arevon Energy is a company that owns six operating battery storage facilities and has additional facilities in development, including one in Poway.

“We’ve got state of the art technology. A perfect track record on safety on our energy storage projects,” Smith said.

Smith said Battery storage facilities build grid stability, reduce brown outs and black outs, and facilitate renewable energy onto the system.

However, Supervisor Desmond said more regulations should be considered to ensure the safety of the community.

“We have to put some sort of safeguards in place to where any new ones have to have the latest and greatest technology for fire suppression, fire detection, and we have to make sure that those work,” Desmond said.

Especially, since another energy storage project has been proposed right around the corner from Nancy’s home.

“They need to figure out a better solution. It does not belong in this valley or anywhere near residences,” she said.

In a statement to NBC 7, SDG&E said in part, “Over the coming weeks, the Escondido Fire Department and SDG&E will conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the fire.

SAN DIEGO – Here were some post-game comments from San Diego State coach Sean Lewis, tight end Jude Wolfe and cornerback Chris Johnson following Oregon State’s 21-0 win Saturday night in Snapdragon Stadium:

Sean Lewis

About the performance:

“Tonight was not near good enough. We need to do a much better job in our club and get the guys where they need to be for a quality opponent that we had tonight in Oregon State. I wear the loss completely. We need to do a much better job. We need to have a much better week of preparation moving forward for a really good, talented Cal-Berkeley team, who went down to SEC country today and got a big win; they’ll be riding high.

“We have to do a great job bouncing back. I told the guys, “Every opportunity, you’re either going to win, or we’re going to learn.” We have to learn lessons as we move through this thing, and the adversity that we faced tonight is a part of it. We can grow, and we can become closer and tighter through that. I’m looking forward to that next step in this process as we move forward collectively as a team.”

How penalties hurt SDSU’s offensive rhythm:

“We have those self-inflicted wounds that really hurt. (We beat ourselves) in a lot of areas tonight, including those penalties. It puts you behind the chain, a little off schedule against a quality team and quality opponent. Our opponent can sit back, rally, and gain momentum. That comes back to us doing a great job as a staff, me in particular, making sure that we’re putting our guys in the best position to be successful and doing the things that they do best. Play in and play out.”

On San Diego State’s resilience:

“(We) don’t quit. That was an unbelievable effort. At no point in time did I see anyone hanging their heads. They’re going to fight, they’re going to be resilient, and we chose to respond, and they’ve done that in each asset and each facet of the game. Now, we need to do it at a higher level. There’s a desire to compete; they’re a connected group, and I look forward to seeing that bond grow. Great bonds are formed under heat and pressure. We’re feeling a little bit of heat and pressure for the first time. Let’s embrace that, and let’s come together as a unit, as a team, through this adversity, through trials and tribulations.

“Looking forward to the way that we respond. We’ve shown week after week that we have a good response that we will bounce back. We’ll learn from these hard lessons. Unfortunately, it’s part of this deal. As you go, as you step into the arena, there are going to be moments.”

On what the team needs to do to be efficient against programs like Oregon State:

“If we’re able to operate to the efficiency that I know that we’re capable of because of the plan that we put in place, we can play the game our way. It comes down to our execution and understanding of the plan. Let’s put together a great plan for the kids to be successful, and then go out and execute that play after play after play to have sustained success.”

Tight end Jude Wolfe

On the offensive performance:

“It was subpar. We didn’t perform to the level that we can. We had pre-snap penalties, and other mistakes we have control over. We can’t keep making those mistakes and then not executing when we have opportunities. We had some good shots there, but we just have to capitalize on it overall. We have to play a better game. “

On helping the team be resilient:

“We need to have better leadership from us older guys. When adversity hits, you can see at points guys on the sideline have their heads down. It’s on us as the leaders to try to inspire and rally the troops, to keep things going, and to keep our heads up regardless of what just happened to us.”

On Oregon State’s offense controlling the ball for a long period of time:

“As far as getting into the groove of things, it’s certainly frustrating that Oregon State had the ball for such a long time. It’s tough to get a real rhythm when you’re off the field for so long. But there’s no excuse for the way the offense performed today. We had plenty of opportunities and didn’t capitalize.”

Cornerback Chris Johnson

On Oregon State’s running game:

“They have a few great runners. It’s always hard to stop a great runner, and then it’s matched with a great offensive line. We matched up with the running backs perfectly. We have a great interior, exterior, secondary, and all that. Obviously, they just executed more times, and they were able to make bigger plays than we did.”

On flipping the page and focusing on the next game:

“Tomorrow, we’re right back at it, going over the tape, practicing, getting all the bumps and bruises out, and we’ll be done with this game after tomorrow. Some of those parts aren’t very pretty. We have to get through it.”

–Nick Daschel can be reached at 360-607-4824, ndaschel@oregonian.com or @nickdaschel.

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