Reign Overcome Travel Mishap, Weather Delay in Opening Day Win
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Seattle Reign forwards Mia Fishel (left) and Nerilia “Coco” Mondesir (right) high-five during a game against the Orlando Pride on Sunday, March 15, 2026 at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Fla. (Andrea Vilchez / Reign FC Communications) [/caption]
The Seattle Reign waited on the tarmac in SeaTac for a chance to fly to Orlando on Friday morning.
And they waited.
And they waited.
They waited for around six hours before taking off, as weather and other circumstances caused delays. The team, frustrated from a full day of travel, had to wait again in the recesses of Inter&Co Stadium at halftime of their Sunday season-opening game against the Pride as nearly three hours of lightning delays added a new fold to the cross-country trip.
After all that, the Reign played to a 2-1 win in their season-opener against a team they had played and lost to twice in a row to close last season.
New signing Brittany Ratcliffe netted the game-winner in the 83rd minute, connecting on Nerilia "Coco" Mondesir's second assist of the game. 39-year-old club legend Jess Fishlock opened the scoring with a 24th-minute goal as Mondesir starred for Seattle in its renewed commitment to chance generation in 2026. Orlando superstar Barbra Banda returned from injury on Sunday, equalizing the game early in the second half.
“The season is about us and what we can do and what we're willing to give to ourselves,” head coach Laura Harvey said postgame. “What you saw tonight is what this group is willing to give to each other.”
Seattle Embraces Open Game Early
It was a storyline that wrote itself last season.
The Reign had the highest conversion rate on chances in 2025, but created the fewest of them in the NWSL. Harvey is running it back in 2026 with many of the same pieces, except striker Jordyn Huitema, who was transferred to Chicago just days before the season.
To the effect of scoring more goals, Harvey preached upping chance creation, if only by 5%, all offseason.
Seattle looked to do just that early on, as its 4-3-3 with striker Mia Fishel heading the attack took plenty of chances and played opportunistic balls through at will.
In particular, Mondesir stood out in her willingness to play dangerous balls into the box from the right side. In the first minute, she put a ball in to Fishel in the box, leading Fishel to a face-to-face encounter with keeper Anna Moorhouse. Fishel overdribbled instead of trying to chip or shoot past Moorhouse, leading to no official chance generation as she was pinned at the endline. Still, the kind of direct play Harvey had been pushing in the offseason was apparent from the jump.
“I said, ‘If you had it again, what would you do?’” Harvey said of her postgame chat with Fishel. “Should've hit it first time.”
Mondesir continued her generation after the missed chance, taking a shot through a defender's legs that rolled just left of the net two minutes later. In the 10th, the 27-year-old Haitian national played another ball through to Sam Meza for an Ainsley McCammon shot before Fishlock found Fishel for a left-footed shot in the box that forced a Moorhouse diving save.
In the interim, the Pride took advantage of the Reign's aggression, leveraging 13 first-half shots of their own. Orlando's transition play threatened Seattle a few times with Banda back from injury and looking better than ever in wide spaces.
After some saves and clever defending from star keeper Claudia Dickey and company, the Reign drew first blood. Mondesir played another wonderful ball to lead Fishlock into the box, where she shrugged off defender Hailie Mace to go 1-on-1 with Moorhouse. The Welsh legend didn't waver, striking it past the keeper for a 24th-minute go-ahead goal.
In the early going, Mondesir, who just exercised an option to stay with the Reign in February, had come to embody Harvey's renewed philosophy of opportunistic chance-generation.
On the defensive end, the open style put plenty of pressure on Seattle's backline and Dickey. They responded with moments of brilliance, as Phoebe McClernon and Emily Mason had to make consecutive slide tackles in the box to clear a dangerous ball in the 23rd. So it also was in the 45th as Madison Curry, who Laura Harvey said she would have named team MVP in 2025 for her consistency, picked Banda's pocket in a difficult 1-on-1 moment close to the net.
Delay Swing Momentum to Orlando
It was a miserable two hours and 45 minutes for the sides as halftime wore well past its usual length with lightning rolling into the area.
"We went out for warm-up, the girls started warming up and the thunder started again. So we all had to come in, and we were drenched and cold and wet," Harvey said. "A 39-year-old Jess Fishlock's body doesn't tend to do great after a 45-minute game and then sitting down for three hours."
Alas, the teams retook the field to try and rediscover the pace that made the first 45 minutes so entertaining.
The Pride found it much earlier than Seattle. Banda let loose, putting a shot on target in the 48th to get the juices flowing for Seattle's backline again. Mason was filling in for Bugg at center back for the first time in her career. After picking up an early yellow card, Harvey let Mason know Banda and the Pride would attack her in the second half.
That they did, as Banda took advantage of high positioning from Mason in the 51st to streak down the left side on a through ball. It was a simple game from there, as Dickey stood frozen, watching a strong strike find the right side of the net to equalize.
That goal was Banda’s first since June 2025, as Sunday marked the 25-year-old Zambian national's return from a season-ending injury last August.
Reign Stick with It, Ratcliffe and Mondesir Save the Day
Banda continued to give Seattle fits, taking the ball 60 yards before missing a shot wide left in the 57th. In the 63rd, it took a strong defensive poke-away from Curry to slow her down, before she played a ball in for a deflected shot.
"Banda's one of the best forwards in the world. In form, she's the best forward in the world," Harvey said.
But Seattle stayed strong, forcing Banda into a playmaking role and making others like rookie Seven Castain punish Seattle—the first-year player's shot in the 76th off a feed from Banda went wide left. As Orlando struggled for the go-ahead score, the absence of Brazilian legend Marta from its lineup became obvious, as she had an excused absence from the team.
Though they had completely lost momentum, the Reign were in the running for three points with less than 12 minutes to play. Harvey brought on off-season signee and nine-year veteran forward Britanny Ratcliffe alongside 2025 leading scorer Emeri Adames, looking for that game-changing goal.
In the 83rd, the Reign got their best chance yet as a corner kick was punched out for another lob into the box by Curry. The ball was headed back out to Mondesir, who took her time from the left side before serving it back in.
Ratcliffe leaped to redirect the perfect ball to the right side of the net, as the 32-year-old veteran, along with her team, reverted to child-like joy. She had scored a go-ahead goal just five minutes into her first appearance with the team.
After everything Seattle had been through, it was leading against a team that had beaten it twice in a row.
"Coco's just so lethal in whether she's assisting, whether she's scoring goals. So whenever I see Coco on the ball, you know, you have to get in the box and be ready because something good's going to happen," Ratcliffe said of the moment.
Harvey would insert Ryanne Brown, who hasn't seen the pitch due to injury since 2024, before the game was over. Seattle held on to claim three points in an early cross-country test.
A Gritty, Gritty Three Points
"The pace of the game? Yeah, great," Harvey said. "What I can't handle is how transitional we made it. It's a little bit as to be expected in the first game of the season…
"If the game had not had the delay, I feel like we would have been a bit of a different team in the second half."
Matchday 1, especially one as odd as Sunday, isn't always the best indicator of what a team will be in the upcoming season. But the Reign looked to represent what they had made a priority all off-season, and looked like a new team despite the same faces. Mondesir's playmaking adds a dynamic piece to Seattle opposite of Maddie Dahlien, who will have more expectations this year after a phenomenal rookie campaign.
Fishel had a mixed game at the nine, overthinking a few moments, but played the position as Harvey wanted her to, with strong defensive pressing and some solid shots.
One key shift came in the second half as Harvey looked to dampen the transition chances the Reign had rued all night. Captain Sofia Huerta had been playing higher up the field all night, something Orlando caught onto in its counterattacks by attacking deep spaces behind her.
By Harvey's account, the Reign were more "in control" when she moved Huerta back and had Curry attack the ball higher as arguably the best duelist on the pitch with Bugg out.
By the end of the match, however, Seattle had practically split possession while allowing 23 shots (eight on target) to 13 of their own. The Reign certainly have the defensive talent with Bugg in the lineup to stand tall in these kinds of games. But to Harvey's point, transition chances could sink them going forward as they experiment with pushing more on offense.
For now, to get a win after all the headaches this weekend has brought on is more than satisfactory.
Up Next
The Reign will take an early trip to see their vaunted rival Portland Thorns this season, heading down to Providence Park on Friday night.
The Thorns, 1-0-0, will feature USWNT superstar Sophia Wilson for the first time at home since she returned from maternity leave in what is sure to be an electric derby atmosphere.
