Reign Overcome Slow Second Half to Beat Short-Handed Wave
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Seattle Reign are growing up.
With the chance to sweep a San Diego Wave side that has been at or near the top of the standings all season, the Reign found themselves up 1-0 and up a player in the second half.
The talented Wave (12-8-3, 5th in NWSL), who Reign head coach Laura Harvey called "the most enjoyable (NWSL team) to watch" postgame, controlled nearly the entire second half, as stars like Ludmila and Kenza Dali helped San Diego outshoot Seattle 9-1 in the back 45 alone. Seattle had looked like the more organized team early, and capitalized as Maddie Dahlien delivered a perfect ball to breakout leading scorer Maddie Mercado in the area for a powerful header in the 29th to snatch the lead.
But the young Reign (10-8-4, 8th in NWSL), thanks in part to some late defensive changes, kept San Diego out of goal — protecting a lead Harvey knew would’ve been even more fickle earlier in the season with meltdowns and near-meltdowns against Gotham and Bay FC in mind.
"There's been moments this year, a lot of it in the first half of the season, where maybe we'd have crumbled in those moments, but we didn't," Harvey said.
Indeed, Seattle constantly got players behind the action to thwart transition chances while keeper Claudia Dickey managed six saves in the win. At the end of the game, Dickey collided with Ludmila, leaving the USWNT keeper needing stitches postgame at a local hospital. But after a lengthy stoppage to tend to Dickey, who was replaced by Cassie Miller for the final 10 minutes, Harvey reengineered her press.
San Diego didn't manage another shot on frame to close the game.
"We just couldn't get pressure on the ball and protect what we needed to protect," Harvey said of the second half before she made changes. "We decided to get our wingers to press… we should've done that earlier."
Still, Harvey knows her team needs points however it can get them. Sunday was about survival — ask Dickey and her battle scars.
“Really happy with the results. Huge three points, you know, to take six points off that team is massive,” Harvey said.
WATCH: Reign ‘Suffocate' Chicago, Grind Out 1-0 Win on Pride Night
SEATTLE, Wash. — The Seattle Reign managed their most dominant showing of the season on Friday night, compiling 3.3 expected goals thanks to a 24-5 shot disparity over the last-place Chicago Stars. But by full-time, Maddie Mercado’s 53rd-minute goal ended up being the decider in a 1-0 game that should have had every making of a blowout.
The result puts the Reign at 8-7-3, back into the playoff picture with 12 games left. Beyond helping their place in the table, it also marked a different kind of win for Seattle, which had scored multiple goals in its past five matches and had to defend leads by scoring more.
The younger Reign squad instead had to burn clock and keep possession on Friday night to ensure they earned a win on a night where they underperformed on the offensive end.
Emerald City Spectrum reporter Qasim Ali breaks down how the Reign looked so dominant despite the close scoreline.
Reign Fall to Spirit, Dip Under .500 Ahead of June Break
The Seattle Reign were dealt their third loss in five matches on Saturday afternoon, as they fell to the Washington Spirit 2-1 on a late goal from Hal Hershfelt.
Seattle (4-5-2) has notoriously struggled to score recently, putting a five-game scoreless streak behind it with a 2-1 win at Boston last week. Though the Reign got on the board on Saturday, it was an unforced error as Lucia Di Guglielmo chipped her own keeper, USWNT prospect Sandy MacIver, trying to keep the ball away from Maddie Mercado on a break-out play.
By the end of the match, Seattle had put just two shots on target for an underwhelming 0.5 expected goals while giving up 1.8 to a dynamic Spirit team on the other end. Washington and USWNT star Trinity Rodman burned Seattle's right side most of the day, creating multiple chances and assisting on Hershfelt's transition winner.
The loss dropped the Reign to 10th place in the NWSL, with Seattle losing three of its last five to enter the June CBA/World Cup break on a slide. The Reign will have until July 4 at North Carolina to process this result with 19 matches to go.
Reign Scoreless Streak Hits Five, Seattle Falls to Gotham at Home
SEATTLE, Wash. — After the Seattle Reign failed to score in their fourth straight game in a 1-0 loss to Washington last Sunday, defender Madison Curry said goals would pour in if they could make it rain once.
Five days later, Seattle didn't even manage a drizzle, losing 2-0 to defending champion Gotham FC to drop to 3-4-2. Gotham (5-2-3) notched its fifth straight result as Jaedyn Shaw scored in the 24th, while Tierna Davidson scored in the 57th on Friday night.
Unlike in its last few showings, Seattle didn't create many real chances until late in the game, when veteran substitute Brittany Ratcliffe had a 1-on-1 chance that was kick-saved by Ann-Katrin Berger, and Maddie Dahlien was tripped up in the box with no penalty call.
Outside of those chances in the 85th and stoppage time, the Reign didn't threaten the defending champs on a 0.8 expected-goal night.
Reign Bounce Back in Spokane, Revive Offense Against Current
The rearview mirror.
That's where the Seattle Reign put last Friday’s 2-0 loss to the nine-player their rival Portland Thorns with a 3-0 win over the defending NWSL Shield champion Kansas City Current on Wednesday night at ONE Spokane Stadium.
Angrahad James-Turner opened the scoring in the 18th minute with her first goal since 2024, while Brittany Ratcliffe found her second goal with the team, and Maddie Mercado netted her first goal of 2026. Sofia Huerta, the NWSL's all-time assist leader, had a hand in the last two goals to push her career assist tally to 33 as the Reign improved to 2-1-0.
Keeper Claudia Dickey also picked up the clean sheet, as her 14th career zero-spot moved her into first place in club history.
With Lumen Field nearing the end of its World Cup renovations, the team is spending its next two games east of the Cascades. It's safe to say this midweek shellacking of a rotating Current side (1-2-0) was a good way to get things rolling.
Reign Swept Away by Shield-Winning Current in Frustrating Loss
The Seattle Reign couldn't find a timely goal on Saturday night, dropping a road date with the league juggernaut Kansas City 2-0.
Reign FC Blows 3-0 Lead in 30 Minutes to Ailing Chicago
For the first 46 minutes, Reign FC looked to be on the way to a potentially historic blowout of Chicago, only for the game to get away from them down the stretch as a win turned into an unacceptable draw.
Takeaways from Reign FC's Opening Match Draw vs. Gotham FC
While they didn’t come away with a win on opening night, the Reign FC demonstrated significant improvement compared to last year’s squad in a tightly-contested draw at Lumen Field.
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