WATCH: Mercado Bags a Brace as Reign Level Chicago to Re-Enter Playoff Picture Late

The Seattle Reign got a much-needed result against a Chicago Stars squad mired at the bottom of the NWSL table on Sunday night, collecting a 3-1 win on a Maddie Mercado brace (38', 84').

Mercado, scoring her ninth and 10th goals of the year, became the first Reign player to hit double-digit goals in a season since Megan Rapinoe in 2017, while Nerilia "Coco" Mondesir (80') scored off the bench. While it wasn't perfect, Jess Fishlock (assist) and Sofia Huerta (assist) made plays on the left side all night to remedy the recent loss of winger Maddie Dahlien to a torn ACL, as the Reign improved to 13-11-4.

With the points, Seattle leapfrogged North Carolina by one point for the eighth and final NWSL Playoff spot with just two games remaining.

Emerald City Spectrum reporter Qasim Ali breaks down the action and the implications for a postseason-hungry Reign squad.