The Reign have now gone six consecutive matches scoring multiple goals, and have emphatically answered the biggest criticism they faced: that they weren't creating chances, weren't actually dangerous, and they couldn't keep getting away with squeezing out 1-0 wins on the back of Claudia Dickey's goal line stand while Emeri Adames and Maddie Dahlien steal one.
Unfortunately, they've simultaneously now given up 7 goals in two games, and turned an opportunity to climb to second place into an opportunity to for other teams to fight them for sixth.
Once again, the Reign got off to a blistering start. Jordyn Huitema made a strong run, collected the ball at the endline, and cut it back on a killer angle to Jess Fishlock, who tucked it home, leaving no chance for Alyssa Naeher.
Thirty minutes later, it was Huitema cleaning up an absolute mess with an acrobatic finish of her own, finally getting back on the scoresheet and giving the Reign a 2-0 lead they'd carry into the half.
And while Chicago had their chances in the first half – a stinging 15th minute strike by Jenna Bike and an excellent Dickey save to match it the best of them – the Reign were clearly the better side.
They'd carry that strong play into the second half, once again scoring early. Alyssa Naeher challenged for a 50-50 ball at the edge of the area, got boxed out by her own defender as Huitema went into the air, and Adames pounced on the loose ball and scored in the empty net.
A 3-0 lead that, while perhaps on the fortunate side to not be 3-1, felt well deserved.
Unfortunately, there were still 45-plus minutes to play.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 6
65 minutes. Three strong saves (and a gimme), none of them bigger than Jenna Bike breaking free in the 15th minute for a strike that Dickey read perfectly, giving her nothing to shoot at. Dickey was in her zone, Chicago was getting players in but struggling to make it count, and the Reign looked firmly in control of proceedings.
35 minutes. Five big chances and three goals against. Her 82nd minute save was solid, preserving a lead that had somehow whittled down to just 3-2 in a matter of minutes. While Ludmila placed the first goal against brilliantly, Claudia gets a hand to that shot at least as often as not, and she'll want the chance back. Her 99th minute save was pure reflexes on a wickedly moving header, but it took her out of the play, and regardless of whether or not Schlegel played her (or the ball) fairly, her defense was ball-watching, she couldn't recover, and Alyssa Naeher knocked it home to steal back a point.
Defenders
Maddie Dahlien – 7 (off 66' for Mia Fishel)
65 minutes. Dahlien didn't see a lot of the ball, but she mostly made it count when she did, and her marauding presence up the left side constantly forced Chicago to think about it when they countered wide. With just 23 touches, she found two shots, forced Naeher to save both, and had a real opportunity to make it 3-0 before the half in the 39th minute. Sadly, in alone on Naeher's goal, she scuffed the ball and didn't get enough on it to matter. She also should have won a penalty kick for the Reign, but who's even counting when Dahlien gets fouled in the area anymore?
35 minutes. When Maddie Dahlien, Madison Curry, and Jordyn Huitema subbed off, it all started to go wrong. Now I may just be a small-time soccer opiner from Nespelem without any fancy coaching pedigree, but if you ask me, reshuffling the whole back line and taking off their best defensive forward all at once might not have been the best choice the Reign could've made in that moment.
Shae Holmes – 4
65 minutes. While Chicago got free for one big chance and a handful of small chances, Shae Holmes was part of a defensive back five that was largely clicking – covering for Dahlien when she marauded forward, sliding well to support McClernon and Dickey when Chicago got a player in. While her passing left a bit to be desired and she wasn't always a good matchup with Ludmila in particular, she didn't take risks, cleared the ball, mixed it up in the air, and contributed in a solid team effort to limit Chicago's opportunities.
35 minutes. And then Harvey shuffled the back line and Chicago victimized the Reign as whole and Shae in particular repeatedly. She could only watch as Ludmila skated past her to touch home Chicago's first, and five minutes later, she couldn't close as Camryn Biegalski scored a banger nobody saw coming. And in stoppage time, well... she got boxed out and was relegated to watching as four Chicago players crashed the goal line and found a way, any way, to finish on level terms.
Phoebe McClernon – 5
65 minutes. It was so good to have McClernon back! The (Red) Stars were finding their way through on occasion, and even manufactured a good chance that Claudia Dickey met for a save, but unlike against Portland, the defense was organized, and Phoebe was doing Phoebe things, helping the Reign keep the ball in front of them and forcing Chicago to settle for lesser opportunities. On the Stars' best first-half chance, she was right there to clean up the rebound and give them nothing. The blocks, the clearances, the duels, Pheobe was dealing, and it was good to have stability back in Seattle.
35 minutes. And then Harvs shuffled the back line, and McClernon had to move further up the field to cover for more disasters, and that led to further disasters. Ludmila's opening goal comes off McClernon going in aggressively to cover for a beaten-cold (and out of her depth at wingback) Emeri Adames – and losing. And, like the rest of the back line, she wasn't there, or anywhere, when Alyssa Naeher found her scoring touch.
Sofia Huerta – 5
65 minutes. With McClernon's steady presence in the middle and a more organized, less ad-hoc back line, we could see some of what Laura Harvey saw in putting Sofia Huerta at centerback. The defensive instincts are there, the passing is a real asset, and she played with much greater confidence and efficacy than she had a week prior. McClernon's cover allowed her to be aggressive in defense (where she went into six duels and notched six recoveries) and contribute more in buildup. Huerta looked to be cruising towards a solid, if unspectacular, second outing at the position, and looked to be finding some joy on the ball again doing it.
35 minutes. Then the back line shuffle happened. And, you know, swapping Curry for Bugg and shifting Huerta wide right – her favored position – made plenty of sense. Unfortunately, combining that with shuffling out Dahlien, sending Adames to wingback, and Mia Fishel to the middle created some real defensive imbalances that Chicago exploited ruthlessly. Huerta wasn't responsible for a Big Moment that led to a goal, but with the left side of the Reign defense scrambling and collapsing, she was forced to stay home and range central to try to help recover – mostly unsuccessfully.
Madison Curry – 7 (off 66' for Jordyn Bugg)
65 minutes. Once again, Madison Curry was arguably the best player on the back line. Like Dahlien, she didn't see a ton of the ball – just 18 touches – but she made her touches count remarkably well. Her 34th minute shot off the woodwork fell to Jordyn Huitema, who unicycled it home for the Reign's second goal, and she was sandpaper in defense, not racking up the huge counting stats she sometimes does, but miserable to run against. Ludmila switched sides several times in the first half, failing to find purchase against Dahlien, then failing to find purchase against Curry, then switching back. The wingbacks, though not driving play, were containing and defining it.
35 minutes. And then Curry subbed off, along with Dahlien and Huitema, and the Reign played musical defenders for awhile, and everything absolutely fell apart. The biggest trouble point, though, was Emeri Adames moving to wingback for Maddie Dahlien – Huerta struggled to cover for a defense that was crumbling down the left side, and Curry in all likelihood would have struggled with it as well.
Midfielders
Angharad James-Turner – 5
65 minutes. For 65 minutes, Haz was probably the weakest link on the Reign – and I don't mean that in a negative way so much as the team was cooking and she wasn't as sharp sort of way. Her passing was... not confident, but she got stuck in and made the middle gummy and hard to play through. One of her, to my eye, best qualities is her understanding that it can be worth making a challenge you'll never win just to slow up a pass; she always tried to make shit hard on the opposition. It's a good quality, and it severely limited the quality of Chicago's wide counters, forcing Ludmila and Bike to hold up or reset their runs several times.
35 minutes. And then she was a non-factor as Chicago seized control of the game and delivered ball after ball to their wide players, switched left repeatedly, found a goal, found another, found a way to rack up the chances until finally, inevitably, in the 99th minute, they broke through for the game-drawing tally. Haz wasn't the defining point of failure on any of them, but where she'd previously been effective in a shoveling the muck and making it difficult role, she became invisible, unable to adjust as Chicago increasingly simply bypassed fighting for the middle entirely.
Sally Menti – 6
65 minutes. After being bullied in Portland, Menti had a real bounce back game playing in a defensive midfield pairing with James-Turner. The more active of the defensive midfielders, she put in a razor-edged first hour, winning tackles and cutting lanes with intensity and effort. She won three of three tackles, four of five duels, had two interceptions and four clearances in an everywhere, cleaning-it-all-up performance that looked destined to bring three points home for the Reign.
35 minutes. And then, suddenly, she wasn't everywhere, and where she was, the Stars didn't need. The left-sided defense collapsed, and collapsed again. Menti tried, but couldn't cover for Fishel in an uncomfortable role, Adames in an uncomfortable role, and Chicago feasting and rejuvenated on a discombobulated Reign side robbed of their shape and their swagger. Also, like so many other players... god, the ball-watching on the game-tying goal. It's very frustrating.
Emeri Adames – 6 (off 86' for Emily Mason)
65 minutes. If only the match had ended at 65 minutes, Emeri might be looking at a 7 or even an 8. Playing in a free-floating, 10-but-haha-not-really sort of role, she played much of the opening hour crashing space behind Jordyn Huitema, and she was an absolute menace on and off the ball for that hour. She found Huitema on a through ball for the hockey assist on the opening goal, and she was the first one there crashing the box to score herself in the first minute of the second half. She had her defenders chasing shadows, and while she misplaced some balls and got beaten (handily) in the air, she was a force that could not be ignored driving the Reign's attack forward.
35 minutes. And then Laura Harvey moved her to the left wingback for some reason, and Chicago ruthlessly capitalized on her discomfort and lack of familiarity with the position. Ludmila torched her. Biegalski torched her. Ludmila torched her again, fortunately without scoring. The Stars chased opportunities up the left, and Emeri's positioning and defensive instincts were not up to the task. When she got on the ball, she played too quick, too desperate, and turned it right back over. Eventually, Harvey pulled her for Emily Mason, but the damage was done and the Reign were well and truly on the ropes at that point.
Forwards
Jess Fishlock – 7 (off 86' for Sam Meza)
65 minutes. Fishlock set the tone early with a wicked-angle goal, redirected from point blank past Alyssa Naeher, and she set the tone throughout with tireless forward runs and cleverly orchestrated attacks using Huitema's aerial threat and Emeri's speed as cover to find space again, and again, and again, and... honestly, a master class in how to run a defense ragged. She found four shots, two on target, scarcely put a pass wrong all game, and organized a press that had Chicago stressed and on their heels for an hour straight.
35 minutes. And the line change came, and Fish was rendered irrelevant. On a number of occasions, you could see her begging her teammates to lay off the press late and keep their defensive shape, as she – perhaps sooner than anyone else on the field – realized the misalignment and how much damage it was causing. It went for naught, and she touched the ball infrequently, and had even fewer opportunities to make it matter, as the half wore on and the Stars seized control of the game.
Jordyn Huitema – 8 (POTM) (off 66' for Lynn Biyendolo)
65 minutes. This was Air Jordyn's best performance of a difficult season, showcasing all those qualities that make her so tantalizing but haven't consistently been coming together for the Reign over the past couple years. She was a monster in the air, winning one hundred percent of her duels, and clever on the ground, beating the back line in the 3rd minute with a sneakily timed run to assist on Fishlock's goal, beating out her defenders for strength to assert possession and finish acrobatically for her own strike. Five shot creating actions, a goal, an assist, and six times her defensive pressure turned the ball over deep for the Reign. Her final action on the ball was a slick, slick pass to Fishlock that could've been another assist on different night. Just a really tidy, magnificently effective hour of forward play.
35 minutes. The worst thing about Huitema's performance was ending it in the 65th minute, and the immediate vacuum it left for the Reign defending from the front, to say nothing of winning balls in the air – Huitema, in her 65 minutes on the pitch, accounted for half of the Reign's aerial wins the entire match. There was no replacement coming for what she offered.
Substitutes
Mia Fishel – 4 (on 66' for Maddie Dahlien)
With the initial line change, Mia Fishel occupied the 10-but-haha-not-really role that Adames had been playing, and Adames moved to wingback. Neither of these particularly made sense and Mia clearly struggled with the position nearly as much Adames with hers. Eventually, when Fishlock and Mason came off, Fishel moved forward and looked more comfortable, but what a strange way to get basically nothing out of such a talented player.
On the rare occasion she got on the ball, Fishel showed some quality, but... 7 touches in 35 minutes, you know? The Reign couldn't find her, and she couldn't find the game.
Lynn Biyendolo – 4 (on 66' for Jordyn Huitema)
On paper, Lynn for Jordyn made a ton of sense, and if it hadn't been accompanied by the Reign collapsing half their defense, it likely looks a bit different. Instead, with the left side crumbling and a Big Fish swimming in a strange pond... Lynn barely touched the ball when the Reign really could've used some Leg Sleeve Magic to kill things off. Even still, with just nine touches and long periods of invisibility, she had a couple almosts, moments that could've ended the game with an exclamation point with just a little lighter touch on the pass, a little more patience on the dribble, just that little bit of – forgive me for the Harvsism – quality that wasn't quite there.
Jordyn Bugg – 5 (on 66' for Madison Curry)
Coming off the bench after a rough one in Portland, Bugg spelled Curry and shifted Huerta back wide to her natural right back position, and had a perfectly serviceable and forgettable one in Seattle. She completed 100% of her passes, cleared the ball four times, and showed up when it was reasonable for her to show up, for the most part. She might have covered more for the collapsing left side, but doing so might've left the right more open. My only strong critique is she, too, was caught watching ball and not checking to it as the Stars crashed the net and tied up the score.
Sam Meza – N/A (on 86' for Jess Fishlock)
Meza came in to an out-of-control game and couldn't get it back in control. It was probably too much to ask her to do. I'd have liked to see her on about 10 minutes earlier, both to push Mia and Lynn higher up the field earlier, and to stabilize an exhausted midfield that was being consistently passed around and lacked the legs to support a scrambling defense.
Emily Mason – N/A (on 86' for Emeri Adames)
Mason came in to an out-of-control game and couldn't get it back in control. It was probably too much to ask her to do. I'd have liked to see her on about 10 minutes earlier, by which point it was already clear Adames wasn't up to holding the left side of the defense.
Referee
Greg Dopka – 5
As frustrated as I was by the incoherent flags by both ARs, to say nothing of the Reign's disaster-performance in the last half hour, I was for the most part ready to give Greg and the crew at least decently good marks for the night.
But there are two things that have gnawed on me as I've rewatched (and rewatched), and that take the Dopka's – and the crew's – performance down a couple notches for me.
First, the early non-call on Dahlien, which puts her at (by my count) four penalties she should've won on the season. Second, I've watched every angle we got, and I'm still unconvinced that Ally Schlegel neither handled the ball nor impeded Claudia Dickey's recovery on the final, last-gasp Chicago goal, which, itself, took place likely a solid minute after stoppage time should've ended, even accounting for Shae Holmes' post-90th minute injury.
It is what it is, and the Reign made their own bed on this one, but there were still several titanic benefits of several simultaneous doubts afforded to Chicago players in some key moments, and that still matters, even when the result is probably deserved.
And Another Thing!
Up 3-0 with half an hour to play, you have to execute well enough to get three points in the bag. Up 3-2 with negative 30 seconds on the clock, you can't get caught ball-watching and let four opposing players beat your entire defense to the goal line on a game-ending corner.
No matter the personnel, or how much Chicago seems to have that dawg in 'em when they fall behind lately, you have to find a way to execute in these game states.
And with all that said, Laura Harvey made some choices in this one that, once again, feel like a legendary galaxy braining. Somehow, after holding a lead in both and scoring five goals across two matches, we come away with just a single point.
That's how you go from a surprisingly scrappy, rise from the trash fire rebuilding year to crashing out of playoff contention.
That's gotta get fixed in a hurry.
