Ryanne Brown Overcomes Injury, Shows Up in Reign's Biggest Game of the Season

When Ryanne Brown tore her ACL on July 7, 2024, she knew her season was over. The 25-year-old defender out of Wake Forest was an occasional starter for the Seattle Reign and had even been loaned out to Danish side Kvindeligaen for eight starts in 2022-23 after being drafted in the second round of the 2021 draft.

With 2024 being a down year for a typically contending Reign squad, 2025 promised to be a year for young talents to break out in the Emerald City. And that they did, as young talents like Emeri Adames and Maddie Dahlien had their moments en route to finishing fifth in the league.

But Brown was nowhere to be found — she ended up missing all of the 2025 season.

"I was expecting to come back summer '25, I felt good actually coming back from my knee," Brown said after training on Tuesday. "Then I tweaked my hamstring, which kept me out a lot longer than expected."

After all the heartache and watching from the sideline, a now 27-year-old Brown scored her first NWSL goal on Sunday against the rival Portland Thorns, a bold right-footed shot from distance just eight minutes into the game for her first NWSL goal in her first start in over 700 days.