Reign vs. Stars: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign were cruising against the 13th-place Chicago Stars on Monday evening, going up 3-0 in the 46th minute. Then everything fell apart, and the Reign gave up three goals – including a last-second goal scored by Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher – to end in a 3-3 draw at home.

Jess Fishlock, Jordyn Huitema, and Emeri Adames all scored for the Reign. Fishlock has scored in her last three matches, and Adames leads the Reign with six goals this season and leads the league in goals per 90 minutes (0.82).

Despite the disappointing result, the Reign (7-5-4) held onto 6th place and remain just four points out of second. They'll head back on the road this weekend, traveling to hot and humid Houston on Sunday, August 24. That match kicks off at 4 PM PT and will air on NWSL+ and Paramount+.

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

3’ - Jess Fishlock (assisted by Jordyn Huitema) - SEA

34' - Jordyn Huitema - SEA

46' - Emeri Adames - SEA

73' - Ludmila (assisted by Ally Schlegel) - CHI

78' - Camryn Biegalski (assisted by Taylor Malham) - CHI

90+9' - Alyssa Naeher - CHI

LINEUPS

66' - Lynn Biyendolo for Jordyn Huitema; Jordyn Bugg for Madison Curry; Mia Fishel for Maddie Dahlien

85' - Sam Meza for Jess Fishlock; Emily Mason for Emeri Adames

14’ - Camryn Biegalski for Natalia Kuikka

32’ - Manaka Hayashi for Shea Groom

46’ - Bea Franklin for Maitane Lopez

55’ - Jameese Joseph for Jenna Bike

ATTENDANCE

7,290 - Lumen Field, Seattle

POSSESSION

Reign: 36%

Stars: 64%

EXPECTED GOALS

Reign: 2.14

Stars: 2.62

TOTAL SHOTS

Reign: 11

Stars: 21

SHOTS ON TARGET

Reign: 7

Stars: 10

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Reign: 3

Stars: 5

SHOTS BLOCKED

Reign: 1

Stars: 6

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Reign: 8

Stars: 16

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Reign: 14

Stars: 43

PASSES

Reign: 275

Stars: 485

PASSING ACCURACY

Reign: 68.4%

Stars: 82.5%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 64

Stars: 119

PASSING ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 45.3%

Stars: 64.7%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Reign: 3

Stars: 18

CORNERS WON

Reign: 1

Stars: 4

OFFSIDES

Reign: 1

Stars: 2

FOULS

Reign: 12

Stars: 8

YELLOW CARDS

Reign: 1

Stars: 1

RED CARDS

Reign: 0

Stars: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the match:

First of all, we were cruising until we weren't. And it's just unacceptable.

On Chicago's wingers getting in dangerous spots:

You've got to get pressure on the ball and we didn't. And when we didn't get pressure on the ball – which we did for a lot of the game, but in the moments that we didn't – they obviously punished us in those moments.

On conceding late goals:

The corner is the corner. We could have done better on it, but it's what we do leading up to allowing that to be the last thing that happens in the game. We just have to understand the game, put your foot through the ball, get it as far away from your goal as possible, not try and overplay, just clear danger. And we didn't do that.

On what happened in the final 20 minutes:

Goals change games. I've always believed in that. I think once they got their first goal, they felt like they had a bit of confidence and they came at us a little bit more. And in those moments we just couldn't get a hold of the game. And sometimes substitutions – not the players, but the decision to make them – can be game-changing and can change your momentum in a positive way. And unfortunately, tonight I think it was the reverse for us. So that's on me. That's not a player thing. That's on me. I make those choices to do those things and often you get the credit by the sub coming on and doing brilliantly and changing the game for you. Unfortunately tonight in those moments, I felt like we lost a little bit of our momentum. So that's something that we have to learn from, and obviously for me, it's something that I'll take accountability for.

On what she wants the identity of the team to be:

I think we've got to find the balance between playing our style that we want to play and winning games. I think the harsh reality is sometimes the pretty football and playing it the way that's good on the eye isn't the way you're going to win. And I think that was a little bit of a mistake tonight. We overplayed in moments when we didn't need to, we didn't defend and we weren't solid when we needed to be. We tried to keep pressing and high pressing late in the game and we didn't need to do that. We just needed to sit in, be solid, see the game out. So that's a big part of, I think our journey, so that we turn one point into three points, which I'm sure we all in this room believe that we should have done that tonight.

Jordyn Huitema and Angharad James-Turner

Thoughts on the game:

James-Turner: I think obviously extremely disappointed to go 3-0 up and not win the game. We take full accountability for it. As players on the field, we're the only ones who can affect that and we lost control in the game for whatever reason that was. But it's unacceptable. But we'll learn from it for sure. We'll get back to the drawing board and make sure that we go through everything and it doesn't happen again.

On conceding 3+ goals in back-to-back games:

Huitema: It's definitely different games. I think that Portland was very set-piece based. I think we gave up a lot of goals on set pieces and I think that's something we dove into this week. I felt like this game, although we did give up one at the end, I think that we were better, and this game was a completely different reason of why we're conceding. So every time this kind of happens to us, it gives us a chance to dive into why. Our end goal is playoffs, and I think that's where we're looking towards. I think these games, while it feels terrible to not come away with three points, it gives us these opportunities to grow on different aspects every time something like this happens so that when the time comes, it doesn't happen again. So I think it gives us a different check into what is breaking down.

That's all you can really look at when you walk away from a game like this. I think you can only look at what broke us down, what went wrong, and just make sure we don't do it again. And I think we're a team that learns from mistakes very well and we're able to hold each other accountable and take responsibility when we need to. And as long as we hold that attitude, we're going to come out in a great space. And I think this is going to be another week like that where it's a quick turnaround into our next game and we can just improve from here.

On what Jess Fishlock has brought since the Euros:

James-Turner: Yeah, she's a phenomenal person, phenomenal footballer. And you can see that I think the Euros really gave her the spark that she needed. She's back, she's in great shape right now, and she's playing arguably the best I've seen her play in a long time. I think when we find her in those dangerous pockets, the field lights up, you hear the crowd getting behind and we are really dangerous in those areas. I think the problem that we're having at the minute is finding her as often as we'd like. I think we need to find her a little bit more, because I think she created the second one. She scored the first one. She's dangerous right now. And I think since coming back from the Euros, she's hit great form and she's a very important player for us.

On what broke down to allow the first two goals:

James-Turner: I think we just lost structure. We lost, it looked like our head dropped a little bit and that's not like us. I think we'll learn from it for sure. And I know it doesn't feel great right now, but maybe this is the game that we needed for the future. It won't happen again. I think maybe we got a little bit complacent 3-0. We thought we'd see out the game, and Chicago are a great team, and in the last 30 minutes I thought they came into the game and they were dangerous. And we just have to counteract that and be better individually and collectively as a team to disrupt what they're good at. But I think we just lost that composure, lost that little bit of bite in that last 30 minutes, which cost us the three points.