Reign Take Down Urawa Red Diamonds in Friendly, Prepare for NWSL Restart

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The Seattle Reign celebrate during a match vs. the Washington Spirit on May 23, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Seattle Reign FC / Jane Gershovich) [/caption]

The Seattle Reign took a major step in returning to NWSL play after a month off due to the CBA break, defeating the Urawa Red Diamonds of Japan’s WE league 2-1 in a back-and-forth international friendly.

Forward Mia Fishel, a member of the U.S. Women’s National Team, made her Reign debut while fellow USWNT and Reign veteran defender Sofia Huerta played in her first action for the club since August 2024. Fishel, formerly of Tigres and Chelsea, ended up playing 30 minutes in the first half and quietly looked right at home in the Reign’s offense. Huerta, however, made her return with a bang.

Huerta scored in the 27th minute, scoring on a contested shot to the left side of the net. Huerta be called on again in the 53rd minute to deliver another go-ahead strike, this time from the spot, and put it into the left side.

Getting a solid new forward in Fishel and the NWSL’s all-time assists leader in Huerta back into a flow was a point of emphasis for Reign skipper Laura Harvey.

“Getting Mia and Sofia some minutes was a big priority for us,” Harvey said. “We’ve got a big stretch of 12 games in 12 weeks coming up, so we’re not going to have a lot of time to try things out and train if we need to, so this period’s been good for us.”

For Huerta, playing in Seattle again has been a joy after a 10-month loan with French side Olympique Lyonnais.

“Seattle’s home for me, so being away was difficult but obviously rewarding in other ways,” Huerta said, having appeared in nine matches in France. “The team’s done so well, it’s been really far to watch from afar.”

And with those 12 weeks of nonstop action drawing closer, the Reign are in a solid spot. The squad is 6-3-4, 4-2-2 in their last eight fixtures, good for sixth in the NWSL.

Trying to keep her squad sharp during the “weird” July break has been a challenge for Harvey, who said her squad has practiced with just eight players at times during the break and still has players returning from the Women’s EURO tournament. Through it all, Harvey likes the quality her team has shown all over the pitch.

“We have so much depth in every position. Every single position, I could name three people that could start in that position, and you don’t get that very often,” Harvey said.

Now comes the process of parsing through who will rise to the top, an ongoing task in which Harvey suggests some players may start one week and miss the top 20 the next. The good news is Harvey will have over a week to get an idea of who could make the general rotation for what promises to be a fiery finish to the campaign.

The Reign will be back to NWSL play when they take on Angel City FC on August 1 at Lumen Field.