Reign at Louisville: Highlights, stats, quotes

On the road against Racing Louisville, Seattle Reign had to deal with a weather delay that pushed their game to the next day, along with heat and some blistering wind. They found the opening goal in the 39th minute when Sam Meza sent a ball forward in transition to Maddie Dahlien, who snuck behind a Racing defender and finished calmly into the far post.

The Reign didn't have much possession in the second half but defended with numbers and held on for the 1-0 road win. 

Up next for the Reign (4-3-2, 14 points), who finished the weekend in 6th place, is a home match against the Washington Spirit (5-3-1, 16 points).

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

39' - Maddie Dahlien (Assisted by Sam Meza) - SEA

LINEUPS

75' - Emily Mason for Shae Holmes; Maddie Mercado for Maddie Dahlien

85' - Ana Maria Crnogorcevic for Jordyn Huitema; Ainsley McCammon for Angharad James-Turner

94' - Hanna Glas for Lynn Biyendolo

58' - Sarah Weber for Kayla Fischer; Ella Hase for Janine Solis

73' - Uchenna Kanu for Courntey Petersen

81' - Marissa DiGrande for Kattie O'Kane

POSSESSION

Louisville: 62.3%

Reign: 37.7%

EXPECTED GOALS

Louisville: 1.02

Reign: 0.85

TOTAL SHOTS

Louisville: 20

Reign: 4

SHOTS ON TARGET

Louisville: 1

Reign: 3

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Louisville: 10

Reign: 1

SHOTS BLOCKED

Louisville: 9

Reign: 0

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Louisville: 9

Reign: 3

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Louisville: 32

Reign: 6

PASSES

Louisville: 404

Reign: 262

PASSING ACCURACY

Louisville: 74.0%

Reign: 57.3%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Louisville: 191

Reign: 53

PASSING ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Louisville: 63.4%

Reign: 43.4%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Louisville: 33

Reign: 1

CORNERS WON

Louisville: 12

Reign: 1

OFFSIDES

Louisville: 1

Reign: 3

FOULS

Louisville: 7

Reign: 11

YELLOW CARDS

Louisville: 0

Reign: 2

RED CARDS

Louisville: 0

Reign: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the game:

It wasn't the prettiest game, wasn't the best possession or playing game we've ever played, but very proud of the group for competing, making it difficult. I think they [Racing] had 20 shots, but they had one on target. That says a lot about our grit and resilience. This is a tough place to play. They've been on a roll, they're in form. I thought first half, we managed the game well, second half was really difficult for us, but I just said to some of the players there, 'I think that's our evolution now, how do we compete as hard as we just competed and show quality?' Because in some games we show our quality, but we don't compete the way we did today. And that might mean the difference between us getting three points and not, but when we compete the way we did today and we show a little bit of quality, not only will we win these games, but they'll be more comfortable than they were today.

On how the team defended in the box:

I thought they were great. The one thing, one, it's really windy here. So in the first half, we had the wind, second half, they had the wind. So we just knew second half they were just going to keep putting it on us. It's why we came here and played a back five because we thought that we were going to have to deal with that a lot. I still think there's things we can get better at to prevent that, but I thought inside the box we put our bodies on the line. We made it really challenging for them. I don't think Claudia [Dickey] really had to make saves. She had to deal with a lot of crosses, and again, the wind was swirling around here, so that was more challenging than it normally is. But yeah, I mean whenever you come away and you can grind out three points like this in such not a pretty game, that's something you can hold onto and push on from because we are going to need that moving forward.

On if the players who went down were injuries or cramps:

Yeah, there was nothing that someone came off with an injury. And I think this is the hard thing about the game being the next day. We only found out 45 minutes before we were about to leave [for the stadium] that we weren't going to play. So the girls had fueled and prepared their bodies mentally, physically, and nutrition-wise to play last night. And then suddenly, not only are we having to play the next day, but we're having to play at 10:00 AM. When we come east, we always stick to West Coast time. So we'd been eating dinner at 9:00 PM and going to bed at midnight, sort of West Coast time. So suddenly you have to shift that because you've got to get up early to get to eat to play at one o'clock, which I wasn't overly happy about. But I think little things like that played into I think the little cramps and muscle stuff that we saw. And again, I'm not making any excuses for that, I just think that's just the reality of the situation.

On Angharad [Haz] James-Turner's often unnoticed play:

Yeah, I mean I just said to Sam [Meza] and Haz that I think they both do that. And I think their partnership has been great, and that's really hard work, especially when you're not getting a lot of the ball. [Savannah] DeMelo is a threat. We knew she would be. I thought Jordan Huitema did a good job on [Taylor] Flint, which we'd planned for. But yeah, Haz and Sam I think have been so consistent, and Haz always does that, doesn't often get credit for it, but she really stood on her head today to grind it out for us and it definitely was a grind.

On Sam Meza translating her disruption into a goal:

Yeah, I mean, me and Sam talk about it all the time. She gets in those positions a lot, and it's just getting the ball out of her feet and playing it forward to those people who were threatening. And that was our game plan. Could we get Maddie [Dahlien] and Lynn [Biyendolo] down the sides of their centerbacks? We thought if we could, they'd be a threat, and that's how we scored.

Maddie Dahlien and Sam Meza

Their thoughts on the game:

Meza: I mean, it definitely wasn't pretty. It's tough when we have a team that's going to press us like Louisville does, and it kind of forces us to play a game that we don't really like to play, but also a game that we're willing to play if we have to. And I think we do a really good job of grinding things out, and yeah, we're just happy to get the three points.

Dahlien: I think there were a lot of things that were out of our control, the delay and then the wind today and the heat. And so just focusing on how we were going to grind through the game was our biggest focus. And if that was the way that we needed to play to get the three points, that's the way we needed to play and then we can build on the things that we didn't like today.

On their connection on the goal:

Meza: I think I had an opportunity to give her a similar ball earlier in the match and unfortunately I wasn't able to give her the ball that she needed. So when I got the second opportunity to do it, I wanted to make sure to put her in the best position to do what she does best in the box; and happily she got a goal for us, but and also playing together at UNC, it's awesome to be able to connect in that way and to get the long goal to get the one.

Dahlien: I think we found each other a lot today. When Sam looked up most of the time I was making a run for her and eventually it was going to happen. We watched back the goal and that ball was really pretty and so she's hard on herself, but it's really fun to be able to play with her.

 On the impact the delay in the game had on the players:

Dahlien: Yeah, again, it's out of your control. I think we kind of just accepted it and just moved our focus last night to today. And I think we really went in with the right mentality. We knew it was going to be tough. We knew we were going to have to grind it out, and sometimes that's the way it goes, but I think everyone stepped up. I think our game changers that came on really helped us bring some energy into a game that was starting to get close. And I think that's so important, especially on a road trip when maybe the legs aren't as fresh. Those legs are really important late in the game.

On the team's defensive grit:

Meza: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, credit to our back line and honestly just everybody, we all busted our tails to kind of get in the box when they did have the balls out wide, and it wasn't pretty. And it is tough to kind of be under that pressure what feels like constantly. But I think throughout the season we've done a really good job defending our box and just making sure that defensively we're on lockdown, and we'll try to kind of take care of the attack hopefully. But for sure knowing that defensively that we take care of that.

Dahlien: I think this year we focused a lot on the details of set pieces in and around the box and I think a lot of credit to Lloyd [Yaxley], but also the whole coaching staff. That's definitely been a focus for us. And so I think that's been really good.