Seattle Reign FC 1
Chicago Red Stars 2
April 21, 2024
Lumen Field – Seattle, WA
NWSL Regular Season

Seattle Reign FC hosted Chicago Red Stars at Lumen Field on a sunny Sunday afternoon. The two clubs have already got the Chicago stop out of the way, in an unusual quick turnaround return match. With the two clubs completing their season series in April, it will be at least six months before they would possibly face each other again should a postseason match play out.

Both clubs need the points with slow starts, but the Seattle slow start made grabbing three points at home essential.

The hosts were missing their starting keeper and striker, with Claudia Dickey and Jordyn Huitema both unavailable due to injury. Laurel Ivory would get the start in the nets opposite Alyssa Naeher. Seattle would also start 18 year old rookie Emeri Adames.

Early goals can open up a match. Chicago would strike early, grabbing a fourth minute goal on the counter.

Mallory Swanson would time the pass well, keeping Ally Schlegel onside to strike a top of the box shot past Ivory and the early lead. Swanson’s return to form from injury has been a positive story in the early stages of the 2024 season, and she would nearly break the game open in the 29th minute when her near post shot was pushed out by Ivory. Minutes later, she would break into the Reign penalty area and her left footed shot would make the match two nil in the 31st minute.

Chicago continued to have the more dangerous possessions as the half progressed. Seattle was pushing, working both sides of the field attacking, but with little actual pressure on Naeher.

Seattle was fortunate to be heading into the interval only down two. With Swanson leading the way, Chicago could have been up more if not for offsides and a crossbar.

The Red Stars came out of the break with their foot on the gas, immediately pressing for the third goal and putting the Reign on their heels. Seattle needed an early break to cut the lead and get back into the match. After the initial Chicago pressure to begin the half, Seattle did begin to maintain stretches of possession in the offensive third. Adames nearly broke through in the 59th minute off a corner, but the Red Stars held the line.

Playing with the two goal cushion allowed the Red Stars to hold the line defensively and pick their spots going forward. Swanson continued to be a threat, being dangerous numerous times in the Seattle defensive third.

Reign coach Laura Harvey would bring on fresh attackers for the final fifteen minutes. Moments after entering the match, the changes would pay off as Tziarra King’s long range shot would find the upper far post, making it a single goal match. With that one strike, the final stretch of the match was immediately going to be different.

A mad scramble in front of the Chicago goal in the 82nd minute following a corner nearly saw the match become level. The hosts would continue to push for the equalizer, but each time the Red Stars would manage to clear or dodge, holding the lead into and seeing out stoppage time.

Harvey after the match, “I thought first half we were indecisive and timid and when you’re playing against a player like Mal Swanson, you can’t be that way. Our quality wasn’t good enough and we gave it away and they transitioned on us and I thought both goals were poor from our perspective. I thought in the second half, we showed who we want to be, who we want to try and be – obviously some quality from Zee (Tziarra King), I thought the subs did well when they came off the bench. Five more minutes of the game and maybe we get an equalizer. I think obviously we had the momentum, but overall, it doesn’t matter at this stage, we’ve got to get results.”

Chicago would grab all three points, helping them jump a bit up the table. Seattle finds itself in unusual territory, with few points and looking all the way up.

Lee Pate Gallery

BOX

Scoring Summary

SEA: King – 79’
CHI: Schlegel – 4′, Swanson – 31′

Discipline

SEA: Ji (Caution – 51′), Huerta (Caution – 66′)
CHI: Malham (Caution –7′), Hocking (Caution – 54′), Bianchi (Caution – 90+5’)

Lineups

SEA: GK Ivory, D Huerta, D Barnes (c), D Cook, D Woodham (McClernon 46’), M Van der Jagt (Quinn 46’), M Ji (Athens 72’), M Fishlock, F Latsko (Weinert 77’), F Adames (King 77’), F Balcer
Unused substitutes: GK Perez, D Holmes, D Brown, M James-Turner

Total Shots: 14 (Four tied with – 2)
Shots on Goal: 3 (Three tied with – 1)
Fouls: 10 (Ji– 3)
Offsides: 3
Corner Kicks: 7
Saves: 6 (Ivory – 6)

CHI: GK Naeher, D Malham, D Staab, D Kuikka, D Milazzo, M Roccaro, M Bianchi, F Hocking (Joseph 70’ (Gomes 90+3’))), F Swanson, F Schlegel (Cook 70’), F Bike
Unused substitutes: M Groom, M Nesbeth, GK Wood, M Franklin, D Biegalski, D Anderson

Total Shots: 12 (Swanson – 6)
Shots on Goal: 8 (Swanson – 4)
Fouls: 9 (Bianchi – 4)
Offsides: 3
Corner Kicks: 5
Saves: 1 (Naeher – 1)

Referee: Elton Garcia
Assistant Referee 1: Christian Clerc
Assistant Referee 2: Melissa Gonzalez
4th Official: Justin St. Pierre
Var: Adorae Monroy
Avar: Kaili Terry

OL Groupe announced March 18 an agreement on the sale of Seattle Reign FC to a group including the Seattle Sounders FC and the investment firm Carlyle.

The sale price has been noted as $58m with NWSL Board of Directors approval pending. Closing is expected soon.

The Reign recently rebranded back to the original Seattle Reign FC from OL Reign. The club has also moved training to the Starfire space the Sounders used for many seasons prior to the opening of their Longacres operations site.

The press release indicates additional details will be announced over time, along with the final approval. The long rumored sale saga appears to be nearing completion.

The Reign opened the 2024 NWSL regular season Sunday with a 1-0 win over Washington Spirit at Lumen Field.

Seattle Reign FC 1
Washington Spirit 0
March 17, 2024
Lumen Field – Seattle, WA
NWSL Regular Season

Seattle Reign FC and Washington Spirit opened their 2024 NWSL seasons on a beautiful St. Patrick’s Day afternoon in Seattle.

Both clubs are in interesting spots heading into their first matches. The Spirit began a new era with coach Adrián González Morales and some lofty expectations. The Spirit attack would be without Trinity Rodman for the opener, serving a red card suspension from the final match of 2023.

The Reign move forward after high profile departures and the retirement of Megan Rapinoe, but return a sizeable core. The Reign introduced their international signings earlier in the week, along with the signings of Sam Meza and Maddie Mercado from their 2024 draft class and the club’s first U18 signing Emeri Adames. There are lingering questions about the club sale and ownership behind the scenes. All three new international signings were in the Reign starting XI.

It did not take long for the match to ramp up. Eleven seconds into the match after kickoff, the Reign won a penalty when Jordyn Huitema was fouled in the box. Bethany Balcer would step up and convert and it was one nil to the home side almost immediately.

The quick goal did not seem to alter the approach either side took early in the match. Both clubs press and attack and did so. Spirit keeper Aubrey Kingsbury was called upon for multiple saves in the first stanza, as Seattle found some success going down the wing and getting crosses into dangerous places.

The Spirit attack pressed hard against a Reign defense that was without two presumed starters in Lu Barnes and Alana Cook, but were unable to break through in the first half. The penalty would stand as the only goal of the half and the two teams would go into the interval with the one nil scoreline.

The second half was similar to the first. Both midfields were tough to crack through, with much of the offensive pressure coming from getting down a flank. Where the Spirit were often looking to find Ashley Hatch and the Reign would go wide to get the ball in to Balcer or Huitema.

Washington found the net in the 69th minute, but VAR review would negate it and leave the match a open goal affair entering the final twenty minutes.

VAR would again play a role down the stretch, as Spirit keeper Kingsbury would be sent off for a handball just over the 18 yard line.

In the end, a fairly balanced match with an early penalty goal holding up.

After the match Bethany Balcer commented about the early penalty. “We’re always trying to score of kickoff, but it’s never worked, so this was the first time it worked and it was kind of like, ‘Oh, we’ve got a PK, so let’s put this away,’ and I think it set the tone for the game, which was exactly what we wanted to do.”

Seattle would give the debut appearance to their first U18 signing Emeri Adames for the lengthy stoppage time. When asked about the debut, Seattle coach Laura Harvey on what she told Adames prior to going on the pitch, “‘Go score kid because you’re good.’ You wait, this kid is unbelievable.”

Next up, Seattle travels to Chicago March 23rd to face the Red Stars and Washington hosts expansion Bay FC the same evening at Audi Field.

BOX

Scoring Summary

SEA: Balcer – 3’
WAS: None

Discipline

SEA: None
WAS: Wiesner (Caution – 13′), Krueger (Caution – 83’), Kingsbury (Red card – 90+1)

Lineups

SEA: GK Dickey, D Huerta, D Holmes (Brown 90+5’), D McClernon, D Woodham (Barnes 63’), M Fishlock (c), M So-Yun (Athens 90+4’), M Quinn, M James-Turner (Van der Jagt 63’), F Balcer (Adames 90+6’), F Huitema
Unused substitutes: GK Ivory, M Stanton, F King, M Meza

Total Shots: 15 (So-Yun, Huitema – 3)
Shots on Goal: 6 (Fishlock – 2)
Fouls: 10 (Woodham – 3)
Offsides: 2
Corner Kicks: 4
Saves: 1 (Dickey – 1)

WAS: GK Kingsbury (c), D Krueger, D Wiesner (Butel 45+2’), D McKeown, D Carle, M Bethune (Bosselman 90+3’), M Sullivan, M Hershfelt, F Sarr, F Ratcliffe (Morris 65’), F Hatch (Brown 65’)
Unused substitutes: F Silano, DHeilferty, M Stainbrook, M Metayer, F Ricketts

Total Shots: 2 (Bethune, Hatch – 2)
Shots on Goal: 1 (Hatch – 1)
Fouls: 13 (Hershfelt – 3)
Offsides: 0
Corner Kicks: 3
Saves: 5 (Kingsbury – 5)

Referee: Natalie Simon
Assistant Referee 1: Seth Maritn
Assistant Referee 2: Melissa Beck
4th Official: Jaclyn Metz
VAR: Kevin Broadley
AVAR: Maggie Short

OL Reign 5

Chicago Red Stars 2

April 22, 2023

Lumen Field – Seattle, WA

NWSL Regular Season

OL Reign and Chicago Red Stars met Saturday afternoon in Seattle at Lumen Field. 

The Reign were playing their third match in eight days with a midweek away Challenge Cup match in Los Angeles midweek. With squad rotation at the forefront, a successful two nil victory over Angel City with the stoppage time victory over San Diego last weekend, the Reign were riding a defensive goalless week into the match.

Chicago came into the match having found the net four times against Kansas City Current; a good result as they sort out the season ending loss of Mallory Swanson to a knee injury. For the Red Stars, nabbing four goals and three points in that first match after the loss of Swanson potentially bodes well for the resiliency of the side in 2023.

Photos by Lee Pate

The early going in the first half saw both sides poking and prodding for openings, but neither pressing up with numbers or pushing the envelope.  

About a dozen minutes in the hosts kicked up the pressure, Tziarra King, Jordyn Huitema, and Veronica Latsko all began to get and create chances.  In the fifteenth minute the pressure would pay off with Bethany Balcer slotting a right footed shot low after a series of touches in the box and the Reign had an early one nil lead.

Balcer would get her head on another cross a few minutes later to nab her second goa and it was a sudden two goal advantage.

The Red Stars were forced to make an early concussion sub when Cheyna Matthews came off in the 30th minute for Allison Schlegel.  Moments later, the Red Stars would halve the Seattle lead when Arin Wright converted from the top of the penalty area.  VAR review would confirm the goal.

The Reign would continue to press as the half wound down, while Chicago was finding more and more opportunities pushing forward with rookie Penelope Hocking and others stretching the defense.

Jessica Fishlock would score a stoppage time goal to extend the Reign lead back to two goals and the match would go into the interval 3-1 to the home side.

Megan Rapinoe entered the match at the half, having picked up yellow card on the bench in the first half.

Chicago wasted no time grabbing back a goal in the first minute out of the break. Schlegel would get a quick turn in the box on her right foot and stunned the Reign defense right out of the gate to cut the lead to 3-2.

Where the early going of the first half had appeared to be both teams playing fairly cautious, but the early stages of the second half this was a wide open match.

The 73rd minute would find the Reign with a set piece outside the box on the upper corner.  Rapinoe’s shot was deflected by a Chicago defender past Alyssa Naeher bringing the lead back to two at 4-2.

The hosts would strike again moments later as Jessica Fishlock found the net to make it 5-2 with fifteen minutes to play.

The early goals in this match really opened up the play.  Chicago getting a goal back during the first half and right out of the gate in the second contributed to keeping the match wide open. 

The Reign successfully navigated the three match week, grabbing full points from all matches.  

The Red Stars can score, showing they have scoring options despite the loss of Swanson to injury.  However, they find themselves with only three points looking up after four matches.

BOX

Scoring

RGN: Balcer – 15’, 20’, Fishlock – 45+5’, 76’, Rapinoe – 73’

CHI: Wright – 32’, Schlegel – 46’

Discipline

RGN: Rapinoe (Caution – 21’)

CHI: Bike (Caution – 85’), Milazzo (Caution – 90+2’)

Lineups

RGN: GK Tullis-Joyce, D Huerta (Canales 89’), D Cook, D Hiatt, D Barnes ©, M Sonnett, M Fishlock, F Balcer (Bennett 78’), F Latsko (Stanton 67’), F Huitema (Brown 89’), F King (Rapinoe 46’)

Unused substitutes: GK Dickey, M Athens, D Malonson, D Holmes

Total Shots: 15 (Fishlock – 4)

Shots on Goal: 5 (Balcer, Fishlock – 2)

Fouls: 10 (Four tied with– 2)

Offsides: 1

Corner Kicks: 2

Saves: 3 (Tullis-Joyce – 3)

CHI: GK Naeher, D Kreuger, D Davison, D Milazzo, M Rocarro, M Nagasato (Bianchi 82’), M St. Georges (Bike 82’), M Wright (Aguilera 83’), F Stevens (Cook 60’), F Hocking, F Matthews (Schlegel 30’)

Unused substitutes: GK Boyd, F Griffith, M Feller, M Fisher

Total Shots: 10 (Hocking, Wright – 2)

Shots on Goal: 5 (Five tied with – 1)

Fouls: 8 (Hocking – 2)

Offsides: 0

Corner Kicks: 4

Saves: 0

Referee: JC Griggs

Assistant Referee 1: Melissa Beck

Assistant Referee 2: Christian Clerc

4th Official: Adorae Monroy

Var: Daniel Radford

Avar: Emma Richards