Reign vs. Wave: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign hosted the third-place San Diego Wave on Friday night, and in front of 10,000 fans, they defended well but ultimately couldn't find the back of the net — playing to a scoreless draw.

The point allowed the Reign (7-5-6) to leap over Portland, who lost to last-place Utah. The Reign will finish the weekend in 5th place. They'll head back on the road next weekend to face the second-place Washington Spirit. That game kicks off Sunday, September 7, at 1 p.m. PT and will air on NWSL+ and Paramount+.

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

None

LINEUPS

81' - Maddie Dahlien for Madison Curry; Nerilia Mondesir for Jess Fishlock

89' - Mia Fishel for Emeri Adames

46' - Savannah McCaskill for Laurina Fazer; Adriana Leon for Kimmi Ascanio

74' - Melanie Barcenas for Makenzy Robbe

ATTENDANCE

 10,004 - Lumen Field, Seattle

POSSESSION

Reign: 36.5%

Wave: 63.5%

EXPECTED GOALS

Reign: 0.83

Wave: 1.20

TOTAL SHOTS

Reign: 12

Wave: 13

SHOTS ON TARGET

Reign: 7

Wave: 10

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Reign: 5

Wave: 4

SHOTS BLOCKED

Reign: 3

Wave: 3

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Reign: 6

Wave: 7

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Reign: 14

Wave: 29

PASSES

Reign: 360

Wave: 625

PASSING ACCURACY

Reign: 81.9%

Wave: 87.8%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 93

Wave: 168

PASSING ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 63.4%

Wave: 79.2%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Reign: 7

Wave: 16

CORNERS WON

Reign: 2

Wave: 6

OFFSIDES

Reign: 1

Wave: 2

FOULS

Reign: 6

Wave: 9

YELLOW CARDS

Reign: 1

Wave: 1

RED CARDS

Reign: 0

Wave: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the game:

I thought in the first half we defended really well. We caused some problems in transition. It was a little bit of a flip of the last game when we were there, where we didn't really have a lot of chances in transition in the first half, but we had some in the second half. Today, they came in the first half, and I've said this many a time. If goals change games, I think we had chances with Emeri [Adames]. Emeri's brilliant in transition. I spoke to her about it of just like, I think there was times where she could have looked for the other pass or extra, but well, I'm never going to discourage her from shooting, the kid's a baller.

They changed a little bit in the second half. We did okay initially. Then we started to get a little bit tired and fatigued. It's tough, and a little bit of our quality was lacking at times. But then the corner at the end, great opportunity for us. I thought the decision was the decision. We have VAR for a reason, and if you look it back, there's no foul. And if you put the ball in the net, it's a perfect, perfect game for us. But if I'm being really truthful, I think if I'd have written a script prior to the away game, if I'd have come away from the away game with a point and win tonight, I'd have been happy flipping it. I'm okay with it. I still think we could have won the game tonight.

Although they had a lot of the ball, they had a lot of the ball when we were down there. That was the tactic. We're okay with that, but we've got to hurt them in those moments that we get, and we limited them to limited chances in the first half. I think the one at the right at end where there was a volley and it went past the post, was their best chance, and I think Claudia made a really good save in the second half. But outside of that, it was all set pieces and in around the goal, but never true chances. And I've said that before. I think they are a very good team. So to get four points off them over two games, I'm okay with. But I think for us now, I think that's seven games with one defeat. If I've got my maths right, you can check me. But we need to start turning these draws into wins to make things a little bit more comfortable for ourselves.

On Lauren Barnes' performance and the defensive lineup tonight:

Yeah, we wanted to really go with experience tonight. Obviously, Lu played close to 90 last week maybe, I think she was about 87, 88. She came off late anyway and I think they'd prepared for us that we would probably try and do similar things that we did when we were down there. So flipped Delphine Cascarino to the other side, which I thought Jordan Bugg and Sofia [Huerta] defensively did a great job against her. Look, she's one of the best players in the world in my opinion. I think in the first half of the season, in my opinion, she was MVP, and I thought Gia Corley is exceptional too. And I thought Sam Meza shut her down tonight, which is no easy task. We were extremely happy when she didn't play in the first game. So to shut her down the way we did tonight I thought was great.

And we limited them to, I don't think Cascarino and Corley had a shot. I might be wrong, but that was our game plan, was to try and stop them, and it worked. So I thought Lu did brilliant. Her understanding of what we need, her ability on the ball under pressure to get out of danger. I know 1v1 defending, she's not blessed with a load of pace, but she's smart. It's why she's had a career. She understands what to get into, what not to get into. So yeah, I thought she did a good job.

On Madison Curry's season:

She's very good. I think I said it last week and I haven't done it yet, but I will do it. I think she needs a look at the national team. That's my opinion. I'm not Emma, it's not my job, but how consistent she's been, how adaptable she is. She can be on both sides, how athletic she is. We literally brought her off tonight. She was starting to cramp, and I was petrified because when we brought her off against Chicago, things didn't go right. But yeah, I think her and Sam [Meza], I would agree with you, consistently have been that top for us. And again, I thought the team did a good job tonight. I think teams aren't going to let Jess [Fishlock] be Jess all the time, and you could tell they were trying to stop her, which gave Emeri space and Sally [Menti] and Sam I thought did great in moments. Obviously Sally getting booked earlier was a little, we might have to get her out, but she was great in the second half. Yeah, so I would agree with you. I think Sam and Maddie Curry consistently have been up there. And what it brings you when you have players who show that consistency is you can move things around them. And we have the squad, I've said this a lot that I think we can do that.

And sometimes that might mean someone like Jess starts, sometimes it might mean Jess comes off the bench, whatever it might look like, just so we can get the right partnerships and things working together as much as possible. Those two have become a real linchpin of the team.

Lauren Barnes and Claudia Dickey

Thoughts on the game:

Barnes: I thought it was a good match. I think we prepared well and we executed well. We had a really good first half, picked up the ball in our half quite a bit. We just need to punish as much as we can. But on the flip side, if we keep ourselves in the game with a shutout, that's exactly what we need to keep doing.

Dickey: Yeah, I can add I think basically what Lu said, but it's also they're a good team and limiting them to the chances that they had I think shows a credit to how much we worked on, especially the last few weeks. I think we've been frustrated with ourselves with certain things of it. So I think obviously like she said, we need to punish them in our chances, but to go out there and get a coin sheet against them is a credit to all the work we've put in.

On San Diego having a lot of possession but not scoring:

Barnes: One thing about stats is so weird. I think their possession is probably maybe in the middle and their back. So they weren't really close to our goal, which is actually okay. And something that we were okay with them having the ball. We knew they were going to have a lot of the ball, so just being patient and defending like we did and we thought about doing the counter, which first half we had quite a bit of counter and we could have scored a couple goals. So yeah, I think we executed what we wanted to regardless, I think of what the stats say.

On getting a shutout after some tough defensive performances:

Dickey: I mean, it's hard in this league, teams score on one little mistake that you make. And I think we were exposed in both the Portland game and then the game after that. It was like they were little mistakes on set pieces and we kicked ourselves much for those things, that the next week we go in and we work on it so much. So I think every team is so different. Every team in this league is good at finishing when they need to finish. I think us limiting those opportunities tonight, they didn't have a bunch of opportunities, and I think Portland, they didn't even have that many. But making those mistakes, I think learning and growing from those is what's been good for us and important for us and we need to keep obviously focusing on that going forward.

On Phoebe's performances this year:

Barnes: Yeah, the growth I've seen in Phoebe over the last couple years, I don't know how many times I've texted her after a game. I'm so proud. She's worked extremely hard, I think on herself, her mental game off the field to be better on the field for us. And like you said, she does literally all the dirty work. She's the craziest girl I know, and that's what she loves. And she leans into that and I think each year she continues to build off of that and bring in something else that makes her game even stronger. So I think what you're seeing this year isn't even her ceiling yet. And that she's going to keep growing and be, I think one of the best defenders in the league. Like you said, whether it's appreciated or not, it definitely is appreciated here on the team and we rely on her. And yeah, I'm just incredibly proud of her and where she's grown into.

Dickey: I think to add to that, Phoebe's probably the first person to always blame herself for everything. And I think she goes out there after every game, watches film, we will watch film and she's the first person to say, I need to do better here on everything. She'll always blame herself and we're like, no, Phoebe, you actually did the right things. But I think she expects so much of herself that it's just like she's basically doing everything at the best level that she can all the time. And I think her doing that for us this year has been amazing. And I think without her I think we would struggle a lot, and I don't think she realizes that. But yeah, it's like her growth since I've been here. Being able to play with her, talking with her, it's comfortable and it's fun and it's easy. And I think we love having her and we're lucky to have her.