Pre Match Notes

After coming off of a 1-0 win against the North Carolina Courage, the Seattle Reign are now set to face Racing Louisville, former home of new Reign player Jaelin Howell, and new home of former Reign player, Bethany Balcer. The Reign put on a good performance against the Courage. While the first half wasn’t all that exciting, the second half was much better, with the midfield and attack playing with more urgency, and creating multiple chances. Emeri Adames’s header would cause an own goal off the Courage goalkeeper, Casey Murphy. On top of a strong midfield and attacking effort, we got to see better defending and organization from the Reign backline.

Now, the challenge for the Reign is going to involve building consistency across all areas: defense, midfield, and attack, in addition to developing the connection and chemistry in the Reign attack, especially now that the Reign has new attacking players like Nérilia Mondésir, and Ana-Maria Crnogorčević.

For this match against Racing Louisville, the Reign could likely benefit from starting Veronica Latsko, given her impact in the second half against the Courage. Emeri Adames would have also been good to start, but the team will have to do without her for this game, since she was called up for international duty.

Starting Jaelin Howell alongside Quinn could provide more control and stability in the midfield. Howell, in the second half against the Courage, would have a few slip ups in the midfield, where she would end up turning over possession. However, once Howell gets more adjusted to the Reign, her and Quinn could be a good midfielder pairing. While the Reign are known to kick things into high gear in the second half, the team should try to maintain an aggressive and urgent attack throughout, especially if Louisville manages to score in the first half.

Line Up

Starting Eleven: We have Claudia Dickey in the goal. For defenders Shae Holmes, Phoebe McClernon, Julia Lester, and Sofia Huerta. For midfielders Jess Fishlock, Quinn, and Jaelin Howell. For forwards Tziarra King, Jordyn Huitema, and Ana-Maria Crnogorčević.

Substitutes: Laurel Ivory, Lily Woodham, Lu Barnes, Ainsley McCammon, Ji So-yun, Angharad James-Turner, Nérilia Mondésir, Veronica Latsko, and Olivia Athens.

First Half Notes

Racing Louisville 2-1 Seattle Reign

Goal Scorers for the Reign: Huerta (PK)

The Reign would be awarded a penalty kick after Fishlock was taken down in the Louisville box. Huerta would step up and convert the penalty.

The Reign were struggling to deal with Racing Louisville’s pressure in the midfield. Because of that they weren’t getting forward as much as they would like to. The Reign created a few chances, but in order to create more, they need to put pressure on Louisville, and regain control of the midfield. There were a few good moments where the Reign were able to steal the ball off Louisville players, and make runs towards goal; however, they have to keep challenging Louisville for possession. The Reign can also benefit from being quicker with their movement and touches on the ball. At the moment, we’re not seeing enough pace or movement in the Reign midfield and attack, which is also essential if they want to escape Louisville’s pressure.

In regard to the Reign’s backline and defensive midfield, it’s not good. There’s too many turnovers, and not enough control in the midfield. The Reign’s defending on set pieces has to be better, as both of Louisville’s goals came from two corner kicks.

Hopefully, it gets better for the Reign in the second half. They still have time to comeback; however, there needs to be more urgency from the team as a whole.

Second Half and Closing Notes

Seattle Reign Wins 2-3.

Goal Scorers for the Reign: Huerta (PK), Ji (1), Wright (OG)

Ji would score her first goal directly from a free kick outside the Louisville box. Ji would then connect with a corner kick and grab her second goal, however, the goal was determined to be an own goal off Racing Louisville’s, Arin Wright.

Early on in the second half, it didn’t seem like the Reign were going anywhere. Louisville was still applying pressure to the Reign, and were creating many dangerous chances. Much like in the first half, the Reign were struggling to get forward, but then Ji and Mondésir would come in. Ji would end up scoring an amazing goal, while also being responsible for the own goal off Arin Wright.

As the game started to wind down, there was more urgency from the Reign to defend their 2-3 lead. The Reign midfield were able to cut off the Louisville attack, while the attacking players were able to clear, and get the ball away from their defensive third. The Reign backline, and Dickey, also did well at holding off the Louisville attack, especially in the ten minutes of additional time.

It’s still clear that the Reign are needing to work on building consistency across all areas: attack, midfield, and defense. However, the attack still looks very promising. Ji and Mondésir’s attacking partnership might be something the Reign could try to build on more, since these two were making runs, and appeared to be connecting really well with one another in the attack.

Overall, this was an impressive comeback and win for the Reign. The Reign showed, that once they sort themselves out, and play with more urgency, they can be very dangerous. It just take them awhile to get going.