Seattle Reign continued their unbeaten run in Los Angeles on Friday night, defeating Angel City FC by a score of 3-2. Sofia Huerta, Ji So-yun, and Tziarra King scored for the Reign, who jumped into 10th place with their third straight win, just a few points out of the final playoff position.
The Reign are now unbeaten in seven straight regular-season games.
Here are three stats from the Reign's 3-2 road win.
9
Nine of Angel City's 12 shots came in the second half as the home team tried to push for an equalizer. In addition, six shots came after Tziarra King's goal that made it 3-1. (That doesn't count the two goals that were called back, either.) Angel City made the Reign chase the ball and started sending ball after ball into the box. It put the Reign under a lot of pressure.
Some of this isn't a surprise. Any team that's down a goal or two will push hard to equalize, especially at home. And while it's a normal reaction for the team that's ahead to sit back and defend, that didn't work in the Reign's favor on Friday night.
As head coach Laura Harvey pointed out, they should have been trying to pressure their opponents higher up the field to prevent balls into the box.
"I have an opinion that prevention's better than cure, and I was trying desperately to get the players to get up the pitch a little bit more to stop the service from going in the box. And it was challenging, really challenging. Angel City were doing a good job of moving the ball."
Angel City centerback Sarah Gorden completed a season-high 14 passes into the final third. That's how many passes the entire Reign team got into their final third. Fortunately, the Reign were able to hold on and can use this match as a learning experience as they continue to try to move up the league table.
"I think it'll be really good for us," Harvey said. "That last 10-15 minutes, we need to look at and talk about, because we haven't been in the position too much this season where we've been leading, to be able to see games out."
10
The Reign's starting frontline – Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, Jordyn Huitema, and Tziarra King – combined for 10 shot-creating actions (SCA). Shot-creating actions are the last two actions before a shot and can include a dribble, pass, defensive action, getting fouled, or a shot that leads to another shot.
The Reign frontline has only reached that number two other times this year: in their 1-0 home win against the North Carolina Courage two weeks ago (thanks to Crnogorčević's seven SCA) and their 3-2 loss to the Orlando Pride, where Ji So-yun played as a withdrawn striker.
What's even more encouraging, however, is that the frontline also combined for four goal-creating actions – something they didn't replicate against the Courage or Pride. Goal-creating actions are the last two actions that lead to a goal.
On the first goal, Crnogorčević holds the ball up and gets it to King, who finds Huitema with a lovely one-touch pass, who is then fouled in the box.
Huitema's header to Ji led to the Reign's second goal. And after Angharad James-Turner won the ball in the midfield, Crnogorčević and King combined for the game-winning goal.
The front three are combining well with one another, while also finding the back of the net. Harvey is thrilled these opportunities came in transition moments.
"I think Ana and Jordyn and Zee bring a real defensive presence to our team that you need in this league. You can't score if you don't defend. And I thought all three of them tonight did a great job of making that as difficult as possible. And the fact we scored two goals in transitional moments is a real positive for our team."
12
In addition to scoring the penalty and creating one chance, Sofia Huerta was dominant on the defensive end – something she doesn't always get credit for. Huerta had 12 defensive actions (tackles, clearances, interceptions), just two behind Julia Lester, who led both teams.
Huerta also won nine duels, just one behind Huitema, who led both teams. That includes a match-high seven ground duels won. She also won the most fouls (5), committed just one foul, won one of two tackles, and had five recoveries and a match-high seven clearances.
With Alyssa Thompson and M.A. Vignola lining up on her side of the field, Huerta had a big defensive ask. She rose to the challenge repeatedly. It's no surprise Thompson shifted to the other wing in the second half. Whoever went up against Huerta had an extremely tough time getting around or behind her.
After a two-game road trip, the Reign are back at home on Monday, September 16, taking on Gotham FC. The match will kick off at 7 PM PT and air on CBS Sports Network.
