Reign Scoreless Streak Hits Five, Seattle Falls to Gotham at Home

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Seattle Reign midfielder Anghrad James-Turner dribbles the ball against Gotham FC during a game on Friday, May 15, 2026 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Wash. (Jane Gershovich / Reign FC Communications) [/caption]

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.

Harvey didn't mince words or try to say the Reign were better than the result showed this time around.

"Not enough good moments," Harvey, whose 46th birthday fell on Friday, said of the offensive output. "One thing we talk about a lot is being dangerous and how we're going to be able to do that, and we didn't put it in the areas we spoke about putting it in enough."

Outside of the rough showing, Harvey's staff decided to do a bit of rotation. Typical left back Madison Curry was replaced by Shae Holmes in the 26-year-old's first start of the season. On the injury front, star defender Jordyn Bugg made her first appearance of the season after coming on in the 72nd with the team down 2-0.

Reign Fail to Threaten Early

Harvey removed some firepower in Mercado and Curry, the latter of whom has managed some impressive shots on frame from distance this season, to start this game.

It certainly wasn't the only reason why Seattle failed to manage over 0.1 xG in the first 45, but it didn't help.

Seattle didn't even manage many half-chances early, as Nerilia "Coco" Mondesir took a shot from distance at Berger for an easy save and Seattle's only shot on frame in the first half.

In the 24th, after Seattle continued to struggle to muster even off-target shots for 10 minutes, Gotham pressed the other way. No Reign player stepped up to Gotham midfielder Jaelin Howell as she carved out around 30 yards to reach Seattle's third.

She then played a ball out wide to Jordynn Dudley, who worked Seattle's Shae Holmes in space. Holmes, who was making her season debut after coming off an injury, looked stiff in that moment against one of the most productive young dribblers in the league.

"Left Shae isolated 1-on-1, which we spoke about we didn't want to do," Harvey said. "And yeah, they showed some quality in that moment."

Indeed, Dudley cut back left toward the goal to send Holmes tumbling to the ground.

With no pressure, she put a ball in for Savannah McCaskill, who left it for the team's leading scorer, Jaedyn Shaw, for her fourth goal of the season as Seattle keeper Claudia Dickey couldn't even react to the shot past her left side.

Though Seattle defender Sofia Huerta and attacker Emeri Adames both went on to sky shots by the end of the half, the Reign weren't working the ball in behind Gotham to create reliable moments that could be easily scored on.

The rain started to fall as Seattle retreated to the locker room to talk things over.

Gotham Puts It Away, Seattle Shows Life Late

Gotham is no stranger to getting results — they came into Friday with two draws and two wins in their last four to start a title-defending season.

So when it comes time to put a game away, few teams have the killer instinct of the squad from New York.

They pinned Seattle in its own half for the first seven minutes of the half before Mondesir stole a pass and put it forward for striker Mia Fishel for the Reign's first push of the half. Two minutes later, McClernon passed to Mondesir for a shot with pace that just barely skied over the net.

It was a decent look, but a tough shot with Seattle struggling to score even the easy stuff.

Gotham pounced on the missed chance, as three minutes later they pinballed around Seattle's box off a corner as Tierna Davidson found the ball at her foot in scoring position.

The center back wasted no time, shooting past Dickey for her second career goal to devastate Seattle.

"We didn't deal with the first ball, didn't get out quick enough to the person on the edge of the box… (Davidson) was marked, and her mark was lost."

Maddie Mercado and Holly Ward, the latter of whom hadn't seen sustained minutes since March, came on moments later. Offseason addition Brittany Ratcliffe, who has been no stranger to timely goals, also subbed on and had a ball from Mercado go over her head on a cross right away.

Moments later, Holmes missed a through ball to Dahlien on the left side, which went out of bounds. Midfielder Angharad James-Turner missed two tough shots before Ratcliffe broke away to meet Berger 1-on-1 in the 85th.

Berger made an incredible kick save to stop Seattle's best chance of the night as the frustration mounted.

In the third minute of stoppage time, Dahlien made a dynamic dribble into Gotham's box and was tripped from behind.

Even though a penalty wouldn't have tied it with Seattle down 2-0, everyone in the stadium knew the Reign just needed to see a shot hit the back of the net as Harvey looked as frustrated as ever sitting on her trusty cooler.

Searching for Renewed Urgency

Harvey was quick to push back on the notion that the effort level from the team may not have been to par.

Fair enough, the Reign were playing a defending champion littered with USWNT veterans like Shaw, and were bound to be a step behind in times.

Still, Harvey admitted to noticing an issue with how her team responds when the proverbial first punch lands from the other side.

#ReignFC coach Laura Harvey on her team getting away from its plan when adversity hits in this five-game scoreless run.

She added that her team played short, to #GothamFC’s favor, despite Seattle’s plans to work in behind.

3-4-2 with work to do.@EmeraldSpectrum | #NWSL pic.twitter.com/kKnpes82O7— Qasim Ali (@qasimasports) May 16, 2026

"When things aren't going our way, we revert into a game that I don't know we've been training all week. And that's what happened tonight," Harvey said. "We need to get in a place where we can understand how to win."

Harvey pointed to playing the ball short instead of threatening Gotham with through balls deep into their territory as her prime example, but part of these long goal droughts is the mental aspect.

Veteran Angrahad James-Turner got the start in the midfield, an area Harvey wanted to dominate in this one, and agreed with Harvey's assessment of the team getting away from its plans often.

"We need to take accountability, and there was stuff that we have worked on this week that we didn't do for the whole 90 minutes. I think we lose ourselves a little bit and lose our train of thought when things get tough out there," James-Turner said.

James-Turner went on to say it hasn't been easy missing Bugg and club legend Jess Fishlock, who continues to recover from a leg injury that is expected to last into the summer. Fishlock, 39, was having one of her best seasons dribbling the ball until she went down three weeks ago in the 3-0 drubbing to Utah at home.

Generating chances, which the Reign did at a respectable rate before tonight, is helpful but hurts when it isn't paid off with a goal here and there.

"Definitely," midfielder Sam Meza said when asked if there's a mental aspect to these droughts. "Scoring goals, one, is the hardest part of the game. But secondly, yeah when you're not score, right, you're not winning games, and ultimately that's what we're trying to do."

This loss spells the end of Seattle's time at Lumen Field until after the June World Cup/CBA break. The Reign will next be playing in Seattle on July 12 against their nemesis in the Portland Thorns.

That means the Reign will have to stare at an 0-3-0 record at Lumen Field for two months. Tough.

Still, the Reign's mantra while they build around a young core has been along the lines that no one will come to save them. That's true once again, as someone in the midfield, whether it be Mercado, Mondesir, Meza or somebody else will need to take the mantle of linking things up consistently.

The Reign had the feather in their cap of getting into the opponent's third with consistency in previous shutouts, but just didn't have the quality to work into compromising spots for a Gotham squad that had more than enough fight to give Seattle two goals.

Meza said the NWSL is a league full of ups and downs, but lulls that get at fatal flaws like Seattle's lack of generation are more than a fluke. Mind you, the Reign spent the entire offseason using their league-low chance generation in 2025 as bulletin-board material for 2026.

Lastly, this home form is brutal.

Three losses to start against three good teams on your turf with no goals to show isn't ideal. This is a group that's practically unchanged from last season, and James-Turner was steadfast in her belief that the team is a close unit.

But they'll need to be to recover from the gut punch the last five games have been.

Up Next

The Reign have two more cracks at getting some momentum heading into the break, with road dates at the Boston Legacy (May 22) and Washington Spirit (May 30) upcoming.

The team will stay on the east coast between games, as a road trip could be what Seattle needs to get back on track - the Reign are 3-1-2 away from Seattle after all.