Reign at Gotham: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign traveled to Harrison, New Jersey, on Sunday afternoon to face Gotham FC, a team riding a six-match unbeaten streak and sitting just one point above the Reign on the NWSL table. The Reign rolled out a defensive game plan that limited Gotham's chances, but the visitors couldn't produce any offense and the match ended in a scoreless draw.

The Reign (9-7-7) return home for a Friday night match against Bay FC (4-12-7). That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT on October 10 and will air on FOX 13+, NWSL+, and Paramount+.

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

No goals

LINEUPS

46' - Ainsley McCammon for Sally Menti

70' - Mia Fishel for Emeri Adames

80' - Ana Maria Crnogorcevic for Nérilia Mondésir

85' - Jess Fishlock for Jordyn Huitema

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61' - Esther González for Katie Stengel; Lilly Reale for Mandy Freeman

89' - Khyah Harper for Midge Purce; Sarah Schupansky for Josefine Hasbo

POSSESSION

Gotham: 63.9%

Reign: 36.1%

EXPECTED GOALS

Gotham: 1.20

Reign: 0.20

TOTAL SHOTS

Gotham: 10

Reign: 1

SHOTS ON TARGET

Gotham: 5

Reign: 0

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Gotham: 3

Reign: 0

SHOTS BLOCKED

Gotham: 2

Reign: 1

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Gotham: 8

Reign: 1

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Gotham: 27

Reign: 4

PASSES

Gotham: 550

Reign: 302

PASSING ACCURACY

Gotham: 86.4%

Reign: 74.2%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Gotham: 157

Reign: 52

PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Gotham: 86.4%

Reign: 74.2%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Gotham: 17

Reign: 12

CORNERS WON

Gotham: 4

Reign: 1

OFFSIDES

Gotham: 1

Reign: 0

FOULS

Gotham: 13

Reign: 13

YELLOW CARDS

Gotham: 1

Reign: 2

RED CARDS

Gotham: 0

Reign: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

On the Reign's defensive showing:

Yeah, I thought defensively we were very good. We had a plan, we wanted to force it to go down their left. We did a good job of that. And then when it came on our right, I thought Sofia [Huerta] was excellent, which is tough. She gets overloaded a little bit with the way that we played. But yeah, it was a whole team effort. I think the girls really dug in, and when you're on the road and you've traveled five and a half hours to get somewhere on three time zones, it's hard. And the girls really dug in today and put in a shift, which was great.

On subbing in Mia Fishel and if it meant the team was going for a goal:

Honestly, Mia, Ana [Maria Crnogorčević], Jess [Fishlock] coming on was just because the other players were tired. And honestly, we just have a mindset where when you get to 80, 85, don't lose it. And if you have an opportunity to win it, go win it. When we got that corner late, people are like, get it in the corner. I'm like, no, this is an opportunity to try and win it without us really giving anything up. And I thought that's what we did really well today. We didn't give them anything easy, which is hard against this team. They've got a lot of threats everywhere and they've been on a good run. So to keep them to the limited amount of opportunities we gave them, I think Rose's opportunity in the first half was probably their best one. Obviously is satisfying.

On Sally Menti coming off at half:,

It was just the tackle in the first half when she went down. I don't know anything more than that. She wanted to try and give it a go, did, and got to halftime and she just was in too much pain, so I thought Ainsley [McCammon] did a great job when she came on.

Ainsley McCammon and Claudia Dickey

On earning the clean sheet against Gotham:

Dickey: Yeah, I think we obviously knew going into the game how good their players are all over the team. I think they're one of the teams with overall every position has such good players and I think coming on, we knew Esther was going to come on and make a difference. And obviously she's had such a great year. So I think being aware of that and the way we defended that, knowing their qualities and how good they were, I think we gave 'em a lot of respect. And I think we ultimately did play well. To get a clean sheet against one of the best attacking teams in the league is obviously a huge step in the right direction for us. But I mean, honestly, I didn't have to do, again, I've said it before, I don't have to do crazy amounts of things because our backline does so well and because I think our midfield gets just the pressure on the ball. People don't have time against us, and when they do it, it's not a great quality chance. So I think it's a credit to the people in front of me.

If the road draw felt like a win or a positive result:

Dickey: Yeah, again, they're a good team and we knew what they were going to bring, and I think having a draw against them, whatever it is, is obviously a good result. At the end of the day, they're above us in the table and I think we showed a lot of our qualities today. I think we exposed them in a lot of areas. I think it was the final product honestly, for us, and getting shots on target, which I think the stats show, but I think multiple times throughout the game we had momentum, you could say, and we got into their half, we just couldn't connect the final pass. So it was just the finishing product. So I think to have no really shots on goal and to come out with points, I think that's kind of a win at the end of the day.

McCammon: Yeah, I think anytime you can come away [with a point] on an away game, especially against a team that's ranked that high, is a win for us at the end of the day.

On what Ainsley McCammon was asked to do when she subbed in at halftime:

McCammon: Yeah, I think a big role of mine was defensively being able to hold the pocket in front of their nine. We knew that they were going to try and find that space. So just being in a position where I could try and deter that was a big thing. And just when we do win that ball, trying to find the space behind the back line to really put them off because I think, like Claudia said, they were attacking a lot, but we did get chances that we could transition on him. It's just the final product, but a big role of mine was defensively coming into that game.