Trinity Rodman Re-Discovers Star Form at Reign's Expense in 2-0 Defeat to Washington
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2771"]
Seattle Reign defender Jordyn Bugg dribbles against the Washington Spirit on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025 at Audi Field in Washington D.C. Credit: Cody Cervenka/Reign FC Communications [/caption]
The Seattle Reign suffered their first loss after three straight draws on Sunday afternoon, losing 2-0 on the road against the No. 2 Washington Spirit. Washington and U.S. Women’s National Team star Trinity Rodman put up a brace to account for the day’s scoring, hitting difficult shots on the first touch as the star returned to her internationally recognized form after a lengthy back injury.
The loss marked a second straight scoreless game for Seattle’s offense, as Maddie Dahlien’s best efforts to net the Reign a silver lining came up short.
Seattle dropped to 7-6-6 (W-L-D) and fell to the seventh seed in the NWSL standings with the result.
What went wrong?
Limiting Explosive Spirit Chances Early
Washington dominated early opportunities by letting stars like Rodman isolate on the wings. The result was a 3-1 shot disparity in the first 20 minutes as Washington had around 60% possession. But Seattle managed to block some shots to keep keeper Claudia Dickey safe from real looks. In fact, by the 23rd minute, the Reign had already logged five clearances to nip the Spirit’s second chances in the bud.
The best early chance for Washington came in the 13th minute when Rodman worked the baseline on the right side to beat Madison Curry for a perfect pass to Leicy Santos around the six-yard box. Unfortunately for the Spirit, Santos' shot sailed over the net uncontested as Seattle dodged a bullet.
With some of the on-ball talent that Washington has, the Spirit showed a tendency to settle for longer shots at times. Deborah Abiodun took three shots in the first third of the game, two of which came from long distance and were easy saves, to end promising Washington chances and give Seattle some relief. After all, the Reign were pressed well into their own half by a hungry Washington squad, leaving less energy for defensive execution.
Seattle managed just one shot, off target, in the first third of the game, as service was just not sharp enough to find Jordyn Huitema’s tall frame in close.
Rodman Breaks Through
Rodman made her presence known throughout the first third of the game as a playmaker, but she found herself on the receiving end in the 33rd minute.
No one crowded Santos right outside the 18-yard mark, allowing her to try for an uncontested service to Rodman, who slipped past Seattle veteran defender Lauren Barnes. Rodman lunged forward to take the shot on the first bounce about nine yards from the net to beat Dickey and put the Reign in a difficult position down 1-0.
That set the tone for the rest of the game, considering Seattle hadn't won any of the eight it allowed the first goal in, while Washington was undefeated in all 11 games in which it scored first.
"Any time that you get scored on first, it’s tough, and I think it’s something that you just kind of have to grind through,” midfielder Sam Meza said of going down in games this season.
Rodman, who doubled her goal tally for the season with the score, looked plenty confident after the goal.
She took a shot right at Dickey while running left from 20 yards out in the 47th minute. Dickey bobbled the easy save, but had to go to ground five minutes later as Rodman nearly slid a shot past her from 10 yards away.
Seattle has dealt with talents like Chicago’s Ludmila, who can single-handedly take over games. But Rodman’s ability to take shots with pace off the bounce or on the first time stressed a solid Reign defense to its breaking point.
"She’s amazing, she’s one of one," Meza, another recent USWNT member, said of Rodman. “You have to respect her game and what she can do, and sometimes you don’t get it right.”
Reign Offense Comes Up Short, Not for a Lack of Effort
Leading Seattle scorer Emeri Adames wasn't able to create her usual opportunities, and was subbed off in favor of another young player in Sally Menti in the 56th minute.
Seattle's offense changes naturally without Adames on the field, and Maddie Dahlien was the main beneficiary. Dahlien had more chances to create and make opportunistic runs, and she produced two solid opportunities for shots on goal, one of which was called offside.
Dahlien’s best chance was a one-on-one shot with keeper Aubrey Kingsbury in the 55th minute. She found a beautiful through ball from Madison Curry on the left wing to spring her free, but Kingsbury blocked the ensuing shot just barely with her right hand on an opportunity that dramatically boosted Seattle’s expected goals (1.67-0.49 in Washington’s favor, per FotMob).
In the end, Seattle lost the shot battle 16-6 and managed just two shots on target. But four accurate crosses and countless more that just didn’t find the head of Huitema had the Reign in positions to score.
Instead, Seattle walked away shut out for the second consecutive week.
Rodman Finishes It Off
After her strong spurt in the middle of the game, Rodman was relatively quiet for about 20 minutes. Dahlien had dispossessed the star on the right wing at one point as Seattle honed in on her.
But with another young Washington talent in Croix Bethune subbing on for Santos in the 66th minute, the energy changed in Washington's passing. Bethune was able to dribble through Barnes into Seattle's box, leaving a slow rolling ball for Rodman about 13 yards from the goal in the 81st minute.
Rodman, as she had all day, took a shot off the roll, and it was a beauty. Dickey had no chance to save the top-left-bound shot as Seattle was forced to come to grips with reality: It was on the wrong end of a return to form for one of the game's biggest stars.
Rodman’s first goal was pure talent, but the second was unacceptable in Harvey’s eyes as the star worked to the ball uncontested deep in Seattle real estate.
“The second goal was pure desire. Desire from Trinity and a good finish,” Harvey said. “If you look where she passes it to Croix and look at her run compared to our defending, that’s desire. That’s nothing to do with anything else other than she wanted to score really badly and we didn’t want to stop her … I think she ran past three people."
Rodman ended up putting all four of her shots on goal, as the star is back in her usual world-class form.
Evaluating a Tough Loss
Seattle had chances in this game.
Dahlien was solid, and Menti changed the whole offensive dynamic when she subbed in early in the second half.
But the issues don’t come with Seattle’s ability to execute on their changes for Harvey; they come with their ability to read an ever-changing opponent like Washington, which switched formations constantly throughout the game.
“[If] the game looks the way we think it’s going to look, we’re pretty good at seeing what’s happening,” Harvey said. “When Croix came on, it changed the way we needed to build, and it takes us 15 minutes to see that.”
Of course, Bethune’s dynamic run and pass to Rodman came exactly 15 minutes after she came onto the pitch. Harvey claimed her team didn’t change a single thing about its game plan until that point, meaning it took a 2-0 hole with nine minutes to play for Seattle to change its look up.
That's not going to cut it, and the league’s all-time coaching wins leader acknowledged it.
This team’s running theme as a young squad has been learning on the fly. To Harvey’s credit, the Reign rarely make the same mistake match-to-match, but this just signals that Seattle needs to reach a new level mentally.
When high-stakes games like these come around, know-how and experience are paramount to adapt over the course of just 90 minutes. It’s part of why players like Jess Fishlock and Barnes stand out on this team as games progress past the 60-minute mark.
They’ve simply seen it all.
If key defenders that play major minutes like Bugg, Meza and others can fast-track their development to reach that point, it would help remedy this running issue. After all, Harvey believes this was Bugg’s best game “in a long time,” as the 19-year-old went 3-4 in ground duels on the day.
But then again, mental development isn’t typically something you can rush. It just takes reps, and tough ones like Sunday’s loss have a tangible impact on the here-and-now as the Reign will be in a firefight for a playoff spot through early November.
Up Next
The Reign will have a key matchup for playoff seeding next Sunday at home as they take on eighth-seeded Racing Louisville.
Harvey knows her team is young, but getting results is at the forefront of her thinking.
“Learn what you want as long as we can get points.”
