Seattle Reign earned a point on Saturday against Bay FC, coming from behind to draw 1-1 on the road. Jordyn Huitema got her first goal of the season in the 50th minute, heading in a Sam Meza cross to equalize.
Here are three stats from the match.
Steve Voght
23
According to Opta, the Reign attempted 23 crosses. That doesn't include the Reign's 10 corner kicks, where Lauren Barnes and Angharad James-Turner struggled to find a teammate. This was a big deviation from the Reign's prior play this season, as they were one of the lowest cross-attempting teams in the league heading into the weekend.
Most of the Reign's cross attempts came in the first half when they were trying to find ways to break down Bay FC's unexpected low block. Unfortunately, the Reign were not very accurate in their attempts. Including corner kicks, the Reign completed just 3 of 23 attempts (13%) in the first half, but improved to 3 of 7 in the second half (43%), according to FotMob.
Madison Curry didn't complete any of her five attempts, Maddie Dahlien completed one of four, and Jordyn Huitema and Ji So-yun didn't complete any of their two attempts apiece. As the highlights from the first half below indicate, some of the looks were close to finding a teammate but Bay FC did well to close down on crosses on the Reign's right side.
Some of the Reign's first-half cross attempts
On the positive side, Sam Meza was a perfect 1/1 on cross attempts, putting in a lovely cross that found Jordyn Huitema's head on a well-worked corner kick.
Sam Meza puts it on a platter for Jordyn Huitema to head in 🎯
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-04-27T03:16:02.204Z
I guess you could say the crossing worked in some aspects, as it led to the equalizer, but the Reign know there are other ways to combine and get around a team that isn't pressuring them higher up the field. And with just a little more quality on their crosses, they could be dangerous.
20,000
Lauren Barnes became the first player in NWSL history to reach 20,000 regular-season minutes during the match. She also has more than 21,200 minutes across all NWSL competitions. All of those minutes have been for the Reign.
It's official: Lauren Barnes is the FIRST in NWSL history to reach 20K minutes! And ALL of them with Reign FC 💙
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-04-27T02:41:57.265Z
The NWSL is one of the most physically demanding leagues in the world, if not the most. The amount of travel required, combined with the fact that every game is a physical, tight battle, puts a lot of strain on players. Barnes has not only stayed relatively healthy during her time with the Reign, but she's also been one of the most consistent players in the league. She might not be a U.S. Women's National Team star, but she's the type of player who makes this league special.
There were questions about her form last year, as Barnes dealt with an injury that caused her to miss time and try to play through. She wasn't as consistent as usual, but was able to recover in the offseason and come back for another year. Barnes has looked like her old self playing in a left back/centerback hybrid role. She's the player everyone looks to to break a press and find a teammate up the field. She leads the team in passes into the final third per match.
102
As a sign of how deep Bay FC sat, they had the fewest touches in their attacking third (102) all season, as well as their lowest possession total (43%). According to FBref, Bay also had the most touches in their defensive penalty area (76) this year and tied their record for the most clearances (35).
Conversely, the Reign had the most touches in their middle third (311), attacking third (152), and penalty area (26) this year. This isn't a huge surprise given that this was the first game the Reign had more than 50% possession. Bay FC was happy to let the Reign have the ball in the first half. Unfortunately, that meant the Reign were unable to find forwards Jordyn Huitema and Lynn Biyendolo enough. Biyendolo had 37 touches while Huitema had 36, the lowest for all Reign starters.
As head coach Laura Harvey noted after the match, this defensive approach was a bit of a surprise from Bay FC. At the same time, the Reign can use this as a learning opportunity on what to do – and not do – when a team sits deeper and doesn't press them higher up the field.
"When you don’t have pressure coming and they sit off you, one thing you’ve got to be is patient, and the other thing you’ve got to be is good with your structure. And we just weren’t that at times, and that’s what caused us a few problems in the first half," Harvey told reporters.
Seattle Reign return home on Friday, May 2, when they host top of the table Kansas City Current at 7:30 PM PT. The match at Lumen Field will stream on NWSL+ and Paramount+.
