Each Wave FC match this season, our writing staff will try to predict the final result in our “Staff Selects” feature.

Abraham Zepeda: San Diego Wave have won all three of their meetings including the semifinal extra time thriller capped off by an Alex Morgan goal. Malory Swanson was in stellar form with the USWNT Team for the She Believes Cup, but the Chicago Red Stars lost multiple important midfielders to free agency, two of which signed with San Diego. I expect the experience of the second-year club that saw little roster turnover to win out against the changed Chicago club. Wave will win 2-1 with goals from Alex Morgan and Sofia Jackobsson.

Jonny Richardson: The Wave are fully healthy aside from Abby Dahlkemper which is a recipe for early success, especially with head coach Casey Stoney’s talks about the preseason being too long. San Diego has additional weapons on the attack and remains strong defensively, but will have to deal with Chicago’s Mallory Swanson, one of the league’s best offensive players. I have Wave winning 2-1 with goals from Amirah Ali and Sierra Enge in her NWSL debut.