Reign vs. Dash: Highlights, stats, quotes

It wasn't a must-win game, but Seattle Reign really needed points against the Houston Dash if they wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive. Instead, the Reign left Houston with a 1-0 loss.

Despite the Reign dominating possession, they couldn't create enough on the offensive end. Yuki Nagasato's volley in the 50th minute was all the Dash needed to snap their six-game losing streak.

The Reign (5-11-5, 20 points) will look to get back in the winning column again on Sunday when they host Bay FC (8-12-1, 25 points) at Lumen Field. That game kicks off at 3 PM PT and will air on KONG TV and stream on NWSL+ and KING5+.

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

50' - Yuki Nagasato - HOU

LINEUPS

59' - Nerilia Mondesir for Tziarra King; Veronica Latsko for Hanna Glas

77' - Julia Lester for Shae Holmes

86' - Maddie Mercado for Jaelin Howell

71' - Sarah Puntigam for Yuki Nagasato

85' - Ryan Gareis for Andessa Alves

90' - Croix Soto for Michelle Alozie

ATTENDANCE

Not Reported (Shell Energy Stadium, Houston)

POSSESSION

Dash: 36.9%

Reign: 63.1%

EXPECTED GOALS

Dash: 0.78

Reign: 1.12

TOTAL SHOTS

Dash: 10

Reign: 11

SHOTS ON TARGET

Dash: 2

Reign: 2

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Dash: 6

Reign: 6

SHOTS BLOCKED

Dash: 2

Reign: 3

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Dash: 5

Reign: 9

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Dash: 14

Reign: 25

PASSES

Dash: 286

Reign: 487

PASSING ACCURACY

Dash: 80.8%

Reign: 86.9%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Dash: 69

Reign: 117

PASSING ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Dash: 60.9%

Reign: 69.2%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Dash: 8

Reign: 21

CORNERS WON

Dash: 5

Reign: 5

OFFSIDES

Dash: 0

Reign: 0

FOULS

Dash: 12

Reign: 11

YELLOW CARDS

Dash: 4

Reign: 2

Quotes

Laura Harvey

On her overall thoughts on the game:
"I'm going to say a word I say a lot. We didn't have enough quality in the moments we needed it. They had maybe two bits of really good quality. One was a goal, one hit the post. Yeah, that was the game for me. We controlled it, we moved the ball, but in the moments where we needed some quality, we didn't have it."

On how this impacts their playoff chances:
"It obviously makes it harder, but the harsh reality is that you win your next four games, you still probably make it, just again because of who you're playing. But we've given away two opportunities to get points. That would've made our lives easier to make that pathway. Absolutely. So we need to look at that and address that. I think Monday was different than today. I felt we controlled the game a lot today, which I don't think we did a ton of on Monday. But when we're controlling the game like we did and we get the opportunities that we did, we have to show some quality in those moments, and unfortunately we didn't."

On playing Veronica Latsko at right back:
Yeah, I had a conversation with Roni when we knew Sofia [Huerta] was leaving that Hanna's a very good defender, but she's a little bit different than Sofia, and Roni's probably the closest person we have to the type of player that Sofia is. Some games, I think it'll be great to get Veronica out there. She can serve balls into the box. I thought she did a great job tonight of doing that. And some games, we might need a true defending right back. But I think she's accepted that that will be part of her role moving forward towards the end of the season. Sometimes it might not be. Sometimes we can play higher. Obviously, Hanna got a bit of a yellow card pretty early in the game, so that leaned into Veronica getting even more minutes than maybe we'd planned out there."

Lauren Barnes and Phoebe McClernon

On overall thoughts on the game:
Barnes: "We've got to go for it. Every game, we've got to win. We knew that coming into this as well. It's unfortunate that we have created a lot of chances. We just need to put 'em away. But yeah, our goal stays the same. Make the playoffs."

On what the halftime message was:
McClernon: "I think I can speak for myself on this one. Just carrying the ball a little bit more, making them make a decision, which in turn opened up spaces and areas that we found joy in. I thought especially our outside backs really getting involved in the game in the second half helped us out, but obviously still didn't get that final product. So we clearly have a little more learning to do."

On what Houston did to make things difficult:
Barnes: "Houston's just always been an unpredictable team, which is hard to play against, but at the end of the day, they battled hard and they kept themselves in the game. So yeah, I think same story, just those small little moments in the chaos, if we can kind of calm down and be able to put one away. I think if we put one away early, that game's different. And they showed one ounce of quality, and that was a game changer."