Reign officially eliminated from postseason contention

Defer (verb), definition: put off (an action or event) to a later time; postpone

"They deferred the decision until February."

In the case of the Seattle Reign FC, the action of deferring the inevitable came to an end Sunday afternoon in Sandy, Utah, as it became official: they were mathematically eliminated from qualifying for the 2024 NWSL Playoffs due to their 3-0 loss against Utah Royals FC.

Utah's Cloé Lacasse scored all three goals for Utah in the first half. Between her first two goals, Seattle were down to 10 players after midfielder Angharad James-Turner received her second yellow card 16 minutes into the match. Lacasse got her hat trick in the 6th minute of stoppage time of the first half.

When it seemed like Seattle might have had a chance to at least get one goal back in the second half when they were awarded a penalty after a Madison Pogarch foul on Jordyn Huitema during a corner kick, VAR review took it away after it was determined that the ball was not yet in play when the foul occurred. Beyond that, the second half played out as more of a formality in closing the door on Seattle sneaking into the postseason.

WHAT WORKED: NOTHING

Nothing qualifies as having "worked" in this game. Not when you concede 3 minutes into the match and then go down to 10 players after a red card sending off in the 16th minute, setting a new league record for earliest second yellow in the process. Utah's second and third goals were a formality, them doing what they were supposed to in taking advantage of the situation and finishing off Seattle's season. Had the original call for a penalty been upheld and Seattle converted it, maybe it would have lit a spark for a miracle comeback, but that's just another 'what if' to add to a season full of them, headlined by the purgatory of waiting for an ownership change to be finalized, injuries, and player regression at the levels no one could have anticipated.

WHAT DIDN'T WORK: EVERYTHING

It didn't take long for Utah to open the scoring – in the 3rd minute, Cloé Lacasse got her foot on the ball through the traffic jam of bodies inside Claudia Dickey's box from a Utah corner kick. Dickey didn't come up to play the initial ball, instead opting to back into her net. The ball dropped into the mouth of the goal and in the congestion, Lacasse tapped it in. This was the start of the end of Seattle's season.

Already down a goal, Seattle's afternoon only got worse as Angharad James-Turner received her second yellow card in the 16th minute and thus was sent off.

Five minutes after the sending off, Lacasse scored her second goal of the day.

Then 6 minutes into stoppage time, Lacasse claimed her well-deserved hat trick.

"This shit hurts."

After the match, forward Tziarra King talked about the balance of weighing the emotion of the reality of the situation that they had been eliminated from the postseason, but also the bigger picture view that they still need to play competitively to finish the season.

"We wouldn't be professional athletes if we didn't want to perform at our best all the time and expect the absolute best out of ourselves. We are our own biggest critics and hardest evaluators, so obviously this shit hurts. The history of this club, we want to come out every day and represent the badge and put respect on the history. It is a game, but it's also our livelihood, what pays our bills and keeps food on our plate. So it's just not good enough, and we all hold ourselves to that accountability and when we come off the field, I think we realize we have to focus on ourselves as individuals and as a group, expecting better."

Midfielder Olivia Athens talked about trying to finish the rest of the season as strong as possible with wins, starting with the home finale coming up on Friday.

"We want to win these next two games, especially next game being our last home game and winning for the fans that have supported us all season. We're gonna come out trying to win both games for sure and finish the season with pride."

Next up for Seattle is their regular season home finale on Friday evening, as they host Houston Dash. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 PM PT and will be broadcast on Amazon Prime.