Date, Time, and Location: Friday, September 18th, 7:00pm, Chase Center
Broadcast Information: ION (full national), WNBA League Pass (streaming)
The Golden State Valkyries return to action after almost three weeks due to the World Cup, playing a home game for the first time in more than four weeks. It will be a rematch with the Portland Fire after playing at their home before the break, but all that time away should change the matchup. It will be a tough return to play for the Valkyries with upcoming games on back-to-back days, but they will get no sympathy from Portland as this will be the second game of a back-to-back for them. Like other Friday games, the broadcast will be on ION and it will be full national along with the streaming option on WNBA League Pass.
The Valkyries
Given how careful the Valkyries have been with getting rest for players, the initial injury report was certainly going to be revealing. Janelle Salaun and Gabby Williams are both listed as out after playing on Sunday in Germany. Cecilia Zandalasini is listed as questionable for the same reconditioning reason having last played on Thursday before returning to the team. The Valkyries did defeat Portland without any of them, but the Fire could have more available players this time. Golden State is looking for the best playoff seeding possible and is in position to secure hosting the first postseason game on October 4th.
The Opposition
Portland is not obligated to release their initial injury report until tomorrow afternoon because of their game against Phoenix. They ended up losing after a tough second half while dealing with a number of player absences. Carla Leite was rested while returning from playing for the French national team too while Megan DiLeo suffered a finger dislocation playing for Spain’s national team and was held out too. Bridget Carleton and Teja Oblak were out with injuries after starting against the Valkyries. Frieda Buhner did return after leaving the team early for Germany’s national team. They filled their vacant developmental player slot this week with guard Charisma Osborne, who briefly played in the league back in 2024 after she was drafted, but she did not play after dressing for her first game.
Leave a Reply