Trinity Rodman in the opening frame, and then Trinity Rodman again to seal it.
She got the chance, twice. Sank the chance, twice. A perfectly timed run, an exquisitely settled ball, a ruthlessly delivered high-difficulty finish. A late crashing run to the top of the box, a calm cutback to her foot, a no-mistakes drive to the middle of the goal. Given the chances she'd snapped at a bit in recent matches, she made no mistakes, and made the Reign pay for every small error defending her.
And the Reign's worst run of form of the season got even worse: they're now winless in five and scoreless in two. They last won in the beginning of August – that smooth, controlled 2-0 win over Angel City a month and a half ago – and have put just three points on the board since then.
The goals have dried up, and the chances, always somewhat scant for a Reign side content to control rather than continuously attack, have declined precipitously in quality.
The defense, always content to allow shots, but quite good at limiting game-changing opportunities, is making mistakes and letting the big chance fall to the wrong player.
Claudia Dickey, having the best year of her career (and a strong contender for goalkeeper of the year even with this dip in form), is under siege and letting through shots she saved in the better days.
There's still four points between the Reign and the red line, but the margins grow thin. Many of the matches that remain are difficult. Without somebody finding a scoring touch, without somebody finding that gear in midfield, without somebody stepping up and making the play when they absolutely have to, a surprisingly scrappy rebuilding year may go down as another lost season.
The playoffs are still in the Reign's grasp, but it has to be better than this, another dispiriting result in a string of results tailor-made to drown hope and instill despair. Louisville becomes a must-win. Finding points against Kansas City, North Carolina, and Gotham looks less like a luxury and more like a necessity with every dropped result.
In this league lot of individually fine, not bad performances can all add up to a team that's just not good enough. Add a few individually subpar performances in the mix against a team as strong as Washington, and you're gonna have a bad time.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 6
Plus. Dickey made five saves, including three pretty, pretty good saves, one on a close-range header from Gift Monday and two on heaters from distance by Deborah Abiodun. One of the best in the league at stopping crosses the last two years, Claudia's 2025 campaign has been markedly less-good in commanding the air – but this match was better, showing a familiar flash of that long reach and those calm basketball hands.
Minus. While Rodman's first goal was an unfortunately beautiful, technically demanding strike and stopping it would've been Save of the Year material, Rodman's second was savable, hit with some venom but hit near the middle of the goal from 14 yards. The Reign needed a game-changing moment to rally around, and getting a hand to it could've been the one.
Defenders
Sofia Huerta – 5
Plus. Just six minutes in, Huerta put in a teasing cross and Jordyn Huitema got her head to it from nine yards out. Off target, but a glimpse of a better match, as the Reign started things off on the front foot. With 31 touches and 18 completed passes, she was somehow one of the most active players on the ball for the Reign. Does that count as a plus? I'm counting it as a plus.
Minus. What's most striking to me about this Huerta performance is its invisibility, a trait shared with much of the Reign for much of the match. After a strong opening ten minutes, she was ineffective in possession and a ghost on defense.
Jordyn Bugg – 5
Plus. Do you love beautifully weighted mid-range passes? Because Jordyn had more than a few of those to show through this match. And when the pass wasn't forthcoming, Bugg showed some good instincts driving forward to create space for herself, her four progressive carries (including one into the final third, and a nice dribble to make it happen) leading the team. While not the most defensively active performance for Jordyn, she got well-acquainted with Sofia Cantore, and was effective at marking her out of the game for an hour-plus.
Minus. 71% passing in central defense is rough, and she dropped a lot of dangerous balls back to Phoebe McClernon after finding no other options – the Spirit pressured her often, and she frequently struggled to find the right ball to get out of it.
Phoebe McClernon – 4
Plus. Phoebe continues to serve as the release valve for the back line, and was by far the most active Reign player, with a whopping 91 touches on the ball, and 88% passing to go with it. The Spirit successfully forced her to be the pass on the back line, and she proved, for the most part, up to the task of progressing the ball.
I love recoveries. They're such a nebulous stat trying so hard to fairly quantify such an important piece of the game, anticipating the unclaimed ball in space and getting to it first. Phoebe had 7 of them playing as the fulcrum defender, and her sweeping up the loose ends kept solid distributions from turning into Spirit chances several times.
Minus. But also, with Bugg and Barnes constantly dropping the ball back to her under pressure, she had some miscontrols, sloppy touches, and unforced errors as the final line of defense in a way that absolutely cannot happen.
The Spirit took 16 shots. Eleven of them were of decidedly low quality, and Phoebe's defensive presence was a big part of that.
Unfortunately, five of them were not, and Phoebe's defensive miscues were instrumental in at least two of those.
Lauren Barnes – 4 (off 85' for Ana-Maria Crnogorčević)
Plus. In the 70th minute, trailing by just a single goal, it was Barnes putting in the beautiful cross to Huitema's head, 10 yards out and with her defender dead to rights. A nearly perfect ball, cleanly won, and... hit too weakly, for a too-easy save by Aubrey Kingsbury.
Minus. Barnes was cooked, repeatedly, up her side of the pitch. Just... repeatedly. Arguably the worst of them was Gift Monday in the 81st minute, where Barnes actually recovered well positionally but got absolutely roasted by Monday's footwork, and a touch later Monday assisted Trinity Rodman crashing the top of the area for her brace.
This has been a comeback season for Barnes in a lot of ways, but – and I've said this a few times about Harvey's personnel choices lately – at this stage of her career, asking Barnes to defend a team with multiple very fast, technically skilled attackers like Washington can field up front is setting her up to fail.
Madison Curry – 4
Plus. The fight for every inch, take on all comers Curry was back, going into seven duels and demanding the Spirit beat her cleanly to get a run at Barnes behind her. And she was the catalyst for the Reign's best attacking sequence, reading the Spirit's 55th-minute discombobulation under pressure, stepping high to win the ball, and putting a slick ball into the box for Maddie Dahlien. Unfortunately, Dahlien's shot from a sharp angle was cleanly saved, but it was one of the few flashes of chemistry and intent from a quiet Reign side, created by Curry's purposeful aggression.
Minus. Going into seven duels, she lost six, and unfortunately, the Spirit did in fact frequently beat her cleanly and get a run at Barnes behind her. Curry was also a major culprit in the Reign's possession woes, posting a dire 53% passing and adding four unforced turnovers to her missed passes in the course of her 33 touches.
Midfielders
Jess Fishlock – 6 (off 85' for Ainsley McCammon)
Plus. Fishlock was instrumental in two of the Reign's six chances on the afternoon, her pressure and passing unlocking Dahlien in the 38th minute and her ball to Barnes the prelude to Huitema's 70th minute header, the last hope for the Reign's attack. Putting in the dirty work from box to box, Fishlock won two tackles and was one of too few Reign players constantly trying to push play forward. The effort was there, even if the product wasn't.
Minus. It's a professional game and the product needs to be there. Fishlock, for all her hard work, was played through and played around often in the midfield, the Spirit outnumbering her and Sam Meza in a way that kept both uncomfortable and off-balance, unable to consistently take the ball back in defense, unable to influence in possession.
Sam Meza – 6 (POTM)
Plus. Meza's engine is fucking incredible, and she got into challenges she had no business even getting to, then went and won them anyway just to rub it in. Attempting eight tackles, she won six, and coupled that with 10 recoveries and four of eight duels won. She works well with Fishlock and she's quickly learning where Huerta wants to be and where to put the ball to set her up. The midfield has been a mess for a few matches now, but Meza's still on a breakout campaign, she just needs more support. While Leicy Santos put that too-perfect looping ball over a too-slow-to-react Reign back line and Rodman put on a ludicrous display to finish it off, Santos spent a lot of the match more frustrated than I would have expected at trying to find a way through Sam; Meza slowing her up so frequently and so belligerently may well have kept the score from ever getting ugly.
Minus. Really, really needs more support than she's getting. How many times did she and Fishlock find themselves outnumbered four-two or even five-two in the midfield, have to make choices from amidst way too many players to actually cover, and wound up inconsequential in the play? I stopped counting, so I don't have a specific answer beyond too many.
Forwards
Emeri Adames – 3 (off 57' for Sally Menti)
Plus. Playing in the fluid forward/attacking midfield role she sometimes occupies, Adames completed 5 of her 7 passes and actually completed more than 50% of her passes in the final third (compared to the dire teamwide number of 40%.)
Minus. The most invisible player on an invisible team, Adames absolutely could not find a way into the game. 56 minutes yielded just nine touches. She lost every challenge she went into, admittedly the "every" here being a mere four duels. She took no shots. She had no key passes or passes in the penalty area. She had one touch in the penalty area. She couldn't find the ball, couldn't find her teammates, couldn't find the danger area, couldn't even occupy the center backs to make space.
She has to find a way to get involved, and the Reign have to find a way to unlock her.
Maddie Dahlien – 5 (off 82' for Nérilia Mondésir)
Plus. The Reign's best chance came from Dahlien's quick acceleration and ability to get a shot off from angles and at speed. She also had a less-good but still decent chance in the 38th minute, though she couldn't get that one through a set defense. Playing further up the pitch, Danger Maddie was once again involved in dangerous spaces, and if anybody on the Reign was going to nick one against a tough Spirit defense, it looked to be her.
Minus. While she had the best danger moments for the Reign, she managed just 14 touches in 81 minutes, and spent much of the match largely invisible. The Reign were unable to keep the ball or hold possession long enough to involve Maddie; Maddie, effort notwithstanding, was unable to change that herself.
Jordyn Huitema – 5 (off 82' for Mia Fishel)
Plus. Once again, Huitema was excellent in the air, winning the ball nearly every time she went up for it (she lost exactly one aerial in 80-plus minutes); twice, she parlayed this into a headed shot, though she put one off frame and couldn't put enough on the other to beat Aubrey Kingsbury. In 27 touches, she received the ball 21 times, and her mostly solid holdup play represented some of the only consistent possession the Reign managed up field.
Minus. Unfortunately, more than once, she gave the ball away with an underhit or undercommitted pass after doing the work to secure it up field in the first place. And unfortunately, like her partners in the attacking band, though she was the most ball-involved forward of the day, Huitema spent too much of the match relatively invisible.
...and while her underlying numbers have started looking a bit better after a rough start to the season, she's still not taking enough shots and not sinking enough chances.
Substitutes
Sally Menti – 4 (on 57' for Emeri Adames)
Plus. In replacing Emeri Adames, Menti immediately added more weight and influence to a Reign side desperate for it, touching the ball twice as often in half the minutes, actually taking a shot, and even making herself available to receive the ball. In 30+ minutes of play, she put in some solid tackles, and went 3-for-3 in her duels. In the 62nd minute, she won a good foul in a dangerous spot, which led to a scarce opportunity for the Reign to push numbers and try to steal one back.
Minus. It still wasn't a lot of influence, and Menti's inclusion didn't do much of anything to change the Reign's fortunes. She completed just 50% of her passes, and ultimately couldn't provide a real spark going forward. She was also caught in possession late in the match at a time the Reign needed to keep the ball and find opportunities.
Mia Fishel – N/A (on 82' for Jordyn Huitema)
Plus. Mia Fishel got more than two minutes this time.
Minus. Ten minutes wasn't enough time to find the game, and she was barely able to get on the ball, with just two touches. The Reign couldn't find her, she couldn't get involved, a 2-0 loss ticked away to full time.
Nérilia Mondésir – N/A (on 82' for Maddie Dahlien)
Plus. Coco completed both her passes, and both times, made the pass and kept running to keep herself an option going forward. Also, she was finally protected with a yellow card after eating yet another rough, rough challenge.
Minus. Ten minutes wasn't enough time to find the game, and she was barely able to get on the ball, with just four touches. The Reign couldn't find her, she couldn't get seriously involved, and a 2-0 loss ticked away to full time.
Ainsley McCammon – N/A (on 85' for Jess Fishlock)
Plus. Ainsley completed 100% of her 1 pass. And the Reign used all five subs!
Minus. One touch, five-plus minutes. Like, what are we doing here?
Ana-Maria Crnogorčević – N/A (on 85' for Lauren Barnes)
Plus. AMC returned for the first time in months! And the Reign used all five subs!
Also, that's pretty glib, AMC was probably the best of the four late subs for the Reign, actually getting on the ball with purpose several times in her very short minutes, to the tune of 7 touches, 5 carries, and 3 completed passes.
Minus. But also two scuffed controls on seven touches with the Reign desperate to keep the ball and find a chance in the dying minutes. There was no such fortune. AMC was active, but not effective enough to matter.
Referee
John Griggs – 6
Plus. Griggs mostly let them play, and mostly let them play quite consistently, whistling just 9 fouls and showing just 1 card the entire match. While I'd have preferred a tighter match than he called, I can't be too upset about a match called very consistently and with a clear philosophy of officiating. Also, he actually showed a yellow to an opponent for a garbage tackle on Nérilia Mondésir, who was the victim of a late, brutal challenge by Croix Bethune.
Minus. I really would've preferred he call a tighter match than he did. There were probably a dozen uncalled fouls between the teams, and even calling half of those would improve the flow of the game. Also, did all of the weird extra stoppage time from earlier in the season get subtracted from this match's stoppage time in particular or something? There was some truly bizarre timekeeping going on.
And Another Thing!
They've shown they can hang, they've shown they can surprise, but they haven't yet shown they can do so with enough consistency to stamp their ticket. If the Reign still have that dawg in 'em, they need to wake it the fuck up and get back on the mat.
I genuinely do think there are answers on this roster, but at this juncture, and against the competition coming up on the schedule, I'm not sure I trust Harvey and the Reign to find them in time to make a difference.
It's a house money sort of season, there were no expectations and lots of doubters, but it'd be nice to finish at least strong enough to shoot our shot in the postseason.
At the very least, when things aren't working, can we try to shake them up before the 87th minute?
