Three stats: Seattle Reign vs. Racing Louisville

Seattle Reign scored in the 39th minute against Racing Louisville, with Sam Meza finding Maddie Dahlien in transition to put the road team up. The Reign held on, limiting Racing to just one shot on target — despite the home side shooting 20 times.

Here are three stats from the road win.

40

According to FBref, Racing Louisville attempted 40 crosses. They only successfully connected 11 of those 40 attempts (28%). With the wind swirling so much in this match, crosses were both a good and a bad idea. Good because a cross could get carried by the wind and catch Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey off guard. Bad because the wind made crosses a lot less predictable for teammates to get onto.

The Reign were comfortable letting Louisville cross the ball — though maybe not as much as they did — because the Reign always had numbers defending in the box. The video below shows most of Racing's cross attempts in the second half. Look at how many bodies the Reign have centrally on each cross, and just how often the Reign players won these duels. The Reign had 16 blocks (nine on shots, seven on passes), their highest total all season.

Racing couldn't adapt and had to settle for speculative shots and long balls (they attempted a season-high 85 long passes). The Reign were always there to challenge these opportunities, making it a lot easier for Dickey, who only had to make one save and three aerial claims. As a sign of their poor shot choices, Louisville averaged 0.05 expected goals per shot, their lowest total all season (FBref) and significantly lower than the league average of 0.10.

150

The Reign completed just 150 passes, with a season low 57% pass completion rate. That includes just 23 completed passes in their attacking half and just nine into their attacking third. As some of the clips below show, the Reign opted to clear balls rather than try to maintain possession in the second half, when the wind was in Louisville's favor.

This wasn't necessarily a bad strategy with the weather and Racing's high press, which had kicked into high gear by this point. At the same time, this also meant the game was incredibly back-and-forth in the second half, and the Reign were unable to take control when they had the lead.

The wind certainly played a factor, and as mentioned above, the Reign defended well with numbers, but they also had a chance to put this game away — and they simply couldn't because they rarely kept possession after the goal. If the Reign want to feel more comfortable in a match, they simply have to figure out how to connect passes more frequently.

20

According to FBref, Lynn Biyendolo had just 20 touches in the match, her lowest total this season. She didn't have a single touch in the 18-yard box and just six in the Reign's attacking third — five fewer than her lowest prior total this year. When the Reign managed to find Biyendolo, she connected well with teammates, creating a good chance for teammate Dahlien in the 3rd minute.

While nobody in the attack had a lot of touches in the second half, teammates have been unable to find Biyendolo in dangerous attacking spaces in recent matches. The Reign seem to be able to find Dahlien somewhat consistently. Can they start to get Biyendolo more involved? There is still plenty of time to figure it out. Hopefully, that starts next week against the Washington Spirit.

Seattle Reign are back at home this Friday, May 23, marking their last NWSL home match until August 1. They'll host the Washington Spirit at Lumen Field, with the match kicking off at 7 p.m. PT and airing on Prime TV.