Seattle Reign falls 2-1 to Chicago Red Stars

Soccer has not been kind to Seattle teams as of late, and Seattle Reign FC came up short again with a 2-1 defeat to the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday at Lumen Field. The Reign are now on a four-match losing streak, and you'd have to go back to the inaugural 2013 season to find a run of futility as long or dare we say, longer.

Ally Schlegel claimed the first goal for Chicago in the 4th minute of the match. Mallory Swanson claimed their second goal in the 31st minute to cap off a first half in which the Red Stars rightfully dominated the match.

Seattle woke up in the second half, finding more time with the ball and playing the game they wanted to play. The highlights of their much stronger second half were Emeri Adames, who made her first NWSL regular-season start, and Tziarra King entering the match to replace Adames with a highlight reel goal two minutes into her shift in the 79th minute.

Ultimately, the Reign's comeback attempt to salvage a point fell short, and they are now on a four-match losing streak. They are continuing to look within themselves and each other for ways to get out of this rut.

WHAT WORKED: EMERI ADAMES

Seattle's youngest player got her first start today, going 77 minutes. Where Chicago ran the game in the first half, Adames represented Seattle's best hope in the second half. She had a shot on target off a corner kick that was only thwarted by a goal-line stop. She showed some moments of flair by dribbling the ball and creating attacks for her Reign teammates.

WHAT WORKED: TZIARRA KING

Grab a bowl of popcorn and your favorite drink and just admire this goal from Tziarra King two minutes after she entered the match. It might have been too little too late for Seattle to pull off the comeback, but the 9,000+ in attendance at Lumen Field came alive – and rightfully so.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK: LOST IN TRANSITION

Chicago opened the scoring four minutes into the match after defending a Reign FC attack run in their defensive third with picture-perfect longball passing in transition.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK: LOST IN TRANSITION, THE SEQUEL

Chicago's second goal came once again from defending Seattle through the middle of the field, winning the ball, and sending a long ball down the flank. This time, Mallory Swanson was the beneficiary of the run, finishing it to claim the second goal in the first half.

"We're making kind of naïve, inexperienced mistakes at really important moments of the match, and they're costing us goals."

Reign Originals Jess Fishlock and Lauren Barnes spoke with media after the match, and Fishlock spoke about the mistakes that have resulted in the current four-match losing streak. Fishlock cited the lapses on set piece defense against Bay FC, and that the sum of all of these mistakes are why they're in this position.

"We have to be better at that and honest with each other and ourselves about why that's happening, where's the lapses in concentration. Is it focus, is it understanding what we're doing, where we're supposed to be? We cannot be conceding a goal in the fourth minute, it changes the game. Second half, we were so much better, and we have to look at why we don't have the same game plan in the first half in the second half, and we're the only ones that can change that. That's on us."

Regarding Chicago's goals in the first half, Barnes had this to say:

"Counter-attack, [we] talk about it all of the time. They scored goals last time away at Chicago, and they scored the same goals this game - for me that's not a tactical/coaching thing, that's a mentality and a player thing, so we just gotta continue looking at ourselves to figure that out."

The loss keeps Seattle second to last in the standings, only ahead of Utah Royals FC on goal difference. Both teams just have three points through five matches at this point in the 2024 NWSL season. Reign FC are back on the road for their next match, traveling to Cary, North Carolina, to face the North Carolina Courage. The match is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 with a 4 PM PT kickoff and will be broadcast on the league's streaming platform, NWSL+. Those who live in the Seattle TV market can also watch the match on local network KONG.