The Seattle Reign return from a three game road trip which was just as successful as everything else they've done this season. From a ragged game played in an absurd monsoon in New Jersey to coming back from their first (brief) deficit this season in Maryland to beating their Cascadia rivals for the first time ever on short rest, the Reign have proven that they can win under any conditions. Now the conditions are: a gorgeous day on their home field, so you have to like their chances.
Coming into town are FC Kansas City, who've had a somewhat unconvincing start to the season after being the class of the league for most of last season. They're currently third in the standings, but that's a little deceptive as nearly every team has at least a game in hand on them. By PPG, they're on the edge of the playoff drop. Fortunately for them, they've got Amy Rodriguez. ARod was technically a Reign player last season, though she took a year off to have a child and never suited up for the team. She was traded to Kansas City in the offseason as part of the sequence of moves that led to Sydney Leroux being a Reign player. So even though Rodriguez is now leading the league in goals with 6 (just ahead of Kim Little's 5), it's hard to feel too bad about the deal.
The key for Seattle will be to starve Rodriguez of service, which will mostly come from Lauren Holiday in the midfield. If Jess Fishlock (assuming she plays after playing both Sunday and Thursday with an intercontinental flight in between), Keelin Winters, and Little can starve Holiday and the rest of the KC midfield of possession and time, they should be able to minimize Rodriguez' danger.
On offense, Little and Leroux remain the most dangerous threats. With Nahomi Kawasumi still on international duty and Megan Rapinoe still out injured, expect Danielle Foxhoven to start in the attacking band alongside Leroux and Bev Goebel. At some point Leroux's going to have a big game, scoring a brace or more. The fact that the team is perfect without Sydney even having gone off yet should be a little worrying to the rest of the league.