Looking to rebound after last weekend's loss at the Chicago Red Stars, Seattle Reign FC traveled to Snapdragon Stadium to face the San Diego Wave FC. Entering the match, Seattle had never lost a match in all competitions to San Diego, but unfortunately the unbeaten streak ended this Friday night as Seattle lost to San Diego, 1-0.
Emily van Egmond scored the match winner in the 8th minute of second half stoppage time to cap off an evening in which San Diego constantly tested Reign FC's defense, while Seattle was not able to string consistent attacking runs to truly test San Diego.
Emily van Egmond's cool as ice finish hands the Wave all three points! pic.twitter.com/hmvOLJtrj3
— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) March 30, 2024
WHAT WORKED: DICKEY SAVES KEEP SCORELESS FIRST HALF
The first half was a slow, plodding one for Seattle. San Diego did their job in compressing the field so the Reign couldn't develop attacks via Sofia Huerta and Lily Woodham on the flanks. San Diego had the most dangerous moments to claim a goal and perhaps should have, but Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey stepped up and made the saves she needed to. She and Seattle were absolutely blessed with lucky physics as a blast from Savannah McCaskill ricocheted off the post and fortunately stayed out to be cleared away.
WHAT WORKED: ALANA COOK IS BACK
After missing most of the pre-season due to a knee injury, including time with the United States National Team for the Concacaf W Gold Cup, Alana Cook made her season debut in the 57th minute replacing Phoebe McClernon. With Lauren Barnes picking up a yellow card in the first half, it was welcoming to have her calming stability on Reign's back line.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK: NO OFFENSIVE THREAT
In their respective pre-match press conferences, both head coaches talked about controlling the midfield as being important for each side to do what they wanted to do in hopes of getting the result. From the start of the match, San Diego did that as they were able to compress Seattle, so they couldn't have Huerta and Woodham involved in creating chances. Without the services of Quinn and Jess Fishlock, this then put more weight on Ji to conduct her midfield magic. While there were moments in the second half where Seattle looked better with the ball and forwards Jordyn Huitema and Bethany Balcer got more involved here and there, they just weren't able to consistently put something together to really test San Diego goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan.
"We played into their hand."
In her post-game press conference, Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey summarized the loss in the context of starting the season with the win against Washington and last week's loss at Chicago.
"I think the win we had, we were comfortable. I thought in Chicago, we deserved more than we got. I thought tonight, we were okay, we didn't do great. We definitely played into their hands a lot as the game wore on. We didn't manage the game well enough, obviously to concede super late is disappointing. If we had come away with a point, I think it would have been fair-ish. I think we reduced them to not too much around the goal even though they had a lot of the ball, but something was always gonna give tonight – we've never had a win with this ref (Alexandra Billeter) and we've never lost to San Diego, so one thing was going to disappear (and) unfortunately it went the other way."
While not using it as an excuse, Harvey did mention as part of her opening statement that along with not having the services of Jess Fishlock and Quinn, the entire team has been dealing with an illness (midfielder Sam Meza has missed two consecutive matches with said illness), which has been a challenge for everyone at the club, compounded having back-to-back matches on the road. You have to think that with the international break, simply getting everyone physically healthy is going to be the focus before looking at any tactical changes after three matches.
Friday night's loss keeps the Reign at just 3 points and on a two-match losing streak going into the April international break. Quinn and Jordyn Huitema will be with Canada for the SheBelieves Cup to play against Brazil, and potentially the winner of the United States vs. Japan match. Ji has been called up for a pair of friendlies with South Korea against the Philippines. The Reign's Welsh contingent of Jess Fishlock, Angharad James-Turner, and Lily Woodham have been called up for Wales who have 2025 UEFA Women's Euro qualifiers against Croatia and Kosovo during this international break.
Seattle Reign FC's next league match will be on Sunday, April 14 as they will visit PayPal Park in San Jose for their first-ever meeting with new NWSL team on the block, Bay FC. The match is scheduled for a 5 PM PT kickoff and will be broadcast on streaming platform, NWSL+.
