Match preview: Seattle Reign vs. Washington Spirit

Seattle Reign returns to Lumen Field to host the Washington Spirit on Friday, May 23. The match kicks off at 7 p.m. PT and will air on Prime Video. The Reign have suffered just one loss in their last five games, while the Spirit are riding a two-match unbeaten streak.

After dealing with injuries to start the season, Spirit players Hal Hershfelt, Casey Krueger, and Croix Bethune are all expected to feature in Friday's match. Bethune, the reigning rookie and midfielder of the year, still has a minutes restriction. So do Krueger and Hershfelt, but the return of these players means the Spirit will have more bite on the offensive and defensive ends.

Jess Fishlock and Nérilia Mondésir should also be available for the Reign after missing several weeks due to injury. While they might not start the match, they should hopefully create a more dynamic attack when they're on the field—something the Reign have been searching for in recent games.

Head-to-Head

• The Reign are 14-10-8 all-time against the Washington Spirit.
• That includes a 10-4-5 record at home.
• The last time the Reign hosted the Spirit was in their 2024 home opener, which Seattle won 1-0.

2025 record

• The Reign are 4-3-2 (14 points, 6th place), while the Washington Spirit are 5-3-1 (16 points, 5th place).
• The Reign have scored eight goals and conceded seven, while the Spirit have scored 16 and conceded 15.
• The Reign are 2-2-1 at home while the Spirit are undefeated (4-0-0) on the road.

Recent results

• The Reign are 3-1-1 in their last five games. After falling 1-0 to the Houston Dash at home, the Reign earned a 1-0 road win against Racing Louisville last week.
• The Spirit are 2-2-1 in their last five. They drew 3-3 with Utah at home last week and defeated the Chicago Stars 3-2 on the road the week prior.

Offseason moves

• A lot of core players returned to the Washington Spirit for the 2025 season, although several of them were injured to start the season.
• Key additions to their roster include Mexican national team captain Rebeca Bernal, who slotted into a starting centerback role; defensive midfielder Narumi Miura, who signed as a free agent after finding a lot of success at the North Carolina Courage; and Nigerian forward Gift Monday.
• The club also brought on goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and midfielder Meg Boade.

Spirit players to watch

Ashley Hatch: The Spirit forward continues to simply find the back of the net. She's scored five goals and assisted one in eight starts for the Spirit. One thing you should know about Hatch: she never stops running or pressuring opponents. Take a look at all the defensive metrics she hits in this FBChart (courtesy of FBref data).

Hatch will certainly keep the defense honest with her energy and nonstop running. The Reign backline will need to keep her marked tightly on Spirit crosses into the box. She's dangerous in the air and positions herself well to poach loose balls in the penalty area.

Rosemonde Kouassi: The wing player started the season injured but has returned looking just as dangerous as she was when she ended the 2024 season with the Spirit. In only 321 minutes, Kouassi has a goal and three assists. She is fast and incredibly dangerous on the dribble. Mostly playing on the right wing, Kouassi loves to use the width to take players on and get into the box for a cutback pass or to cross the ball to a teammate. Unlike last week, where the Reign were comfortable letting Louisville cross the ball, they'll want to mark Kouassi a bit more tightly and prevent her from carrying the ball into the attacking third.

What to watch

A balanced attack: The Spirit are tied for the second-most goals scored, putting 16 goals in the back of the net in their first nine games. What makes them particularly dangerous is the balance in their attack. The Spirit have eight different goal scorers, and three of those players have more than one goal. In addition, six different players have notched one or more assists.

"I think they're a team. They're not built around one person," Reign head coach Laura Harvey said when asked about the Spirit's attack. "They're very much a team-oriented group, where multiple people score. They score goals in multiple different ways. So it's not like this one threat that you've got to solve."

More offense from the Reign: As Harvey has said repeatedly the last couple of weeks, the Reign are showing that they can be a gritty and resilient team, and they've done well to hang on for several 1-0 wins this season. While that grit is important, the Reign have to start showing they can put more together offensively.

The Reign have taken the fewest shots in the league (70, compared to 106 for the Spirit) and are tied with the Dash for the fewest shots on target (28, compared to 38 for the Spirit). They have the offensive weapons but haven't been able to put their attackers into consistently dangerous places.

The Spirit, meanwhile, have given up nine goals in their last three games (3 to Utah, 2 to Chicago, and 4 to Angel City). Will the Spirit be more buttoned up against the Reign, or could the Reign find some more chances in the attack?

"A big journey for us as a team is: how do we find a performance where we have both, where we're gritty and we're resilient, but we also show our quality," Harvey told reporters ahead of the match. "We've done that occasionally this year, I don't think we've done it over 90 minutes. That's the layer for us on how we can continue to keep moving forward. So that's been a topic of conversation this week."

Danger on crosses: The Spirit have rotated between a 4-3-3 and a 3-4-3 formation. They opted for a back four against Utah last week, and they got burned in the first half on crosses and poor marking in the box.

While the Spirit confirmed they worked on defending in the box this week, the Reign could find some luck on crosses—something they haven't relied on as much this season.

At the same time, a lot of the Spirit's goals have come from crosses. The Reign, like they did against Louisville, are going to need to defend well in the box while also preventing the Spirit's wing players from having a lot of time and space.

Projected lineup

Injury / Availability Report

Seattle Reign

OUT: Ryanne Brown (SEI – knee), Ana-Maria Crnogorčević (back), Veronica Latsko (SEI – lower leg), Maddie Mercado (excused absence), Cassie Miller (leg)

Washington Spirit

OUT: Emma Gaines-Ramos (SEI – knee), Lyza Jessee (SEI – wrist), Paige Metayer (D45 – knee), Trinity Rodman (excused absence), Leicy Santos (knee), Ouleye Sarr (SEI – back), Andi Sullivan (maternity leave), Kate Wiesner (hip)
INTERNATIONAL DUTY: Chloe Ricketts (USA U-20)

How to watch

The Reign will face the Washington Spirit at 7 p.m. PT on Friday, May 23. The home game will air on Prime Video.