And just like that, it was over, almost as soon as it had begun.
The game was closer than the final scoreline, closer than the predictions, closer than the season of sufferball that preceded it might have indicated. At least three times, the Reign had the tying goal on their foot, at least three times, the Reign were denied – by a bit of bad luck, by a blistering strike off the crossbar, by an astonishingly obvious call for VAR that never came.
And after coming up just short time after time, there was nothing left in the engine in the closing seconds of the match, as Marta found the energy to muster one last long, marauding run. As Sam Meza, indomitable and indefatigable, finally fatigued, and put in a too-tired leg to trip her in the penalty area. As Luana lined up, sank the penalty, and secured the win for Orlando.
It's a hard way to go out.
But then, isn't it always?
Single-elimination playoffs are a brutal, grinding thing. Every year, teams play well and bow out. Every year, teams leave everything on the field and come up short. The Reign, against the odds, against the predictions, and flagrantly in the face of the stats nerds' protestations, made it to the dance – fifth in a league of 14, tantalizingly close to advancing, nothing in their way except the defending champions.
They just couldn't quite find the goal to carry them forward.
Let's break down one last match for the season, Reign faithful, and remember how close we came, how close to tasting euphoria. Just because it's over doesn't mean it's not worth reflecting on what was good.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 6
For most of the match, Orlando did not do much to give Claudia Dickey trouble. Really, there were only three moments: Haley McCutcheon in the 21st minute, Ally Lemos in the 46th, and Luana from the penalty spot in second half stoppage time. On another night, maybe Dickey sees McCutcheon's shot a fraction of a second sooner, rather than being screened by Phoebe McClernon, or maybe McClernon's effort at blocking the first-time strike goes right. Instead, McCutcheon tucked the ball perfectly between Phoebe's legs, Dickey didn't see it until too late, and though she went into a full sprawl and nearly caught it anyway, it barely snuck into the far corner, just beyond her fingertips.
Extreme difficulty, perfect strike, 1-0 Orlando. Dickey opened the second half with a quality save on Lemos, though, keeping the deficit at one and allowing the Reign the space to try to claw back the result.
Playing with the lead, it was the Pride, not the Reign, who took to the most intense sort of playoff sufferball. Dickey took an active role in the buildout, posting some of her best passing numbers of the year and helping the Reign keep and control possession for a solid run of nearly 70 minutes. She was a perfect 34-for-34 in short and medium range passing, and also found feet with nine well-placed long balls. After everything Claudia gave the Reign this year, it's hard to hold the goals she gave up here against her, and important not to overlook the creative effort she put forward to try to help get one back.
Defenders
Sofia Huerta – 7 (POTM)
Everything but the final product. Playing on her more natural right side for most of the match, Huerta was a dynamic force in and out of possession. She had 2 shots, 6 progressive passes, 6 shot-creating actions, 9 progressive receptions, and 2 progressive carries, consistently making herself a target, an option, and a creative fulcrum for the Reign on the left side of the field. On the other side, she put down 5 tackles, 3 interceptions, 3 recoveries, and won 6 of 8 duels. Huerta was basically everywhere, taking shots, creating chances, winning back the ball, moving things forward.
On Orlando's opening goal, she was well positioned to handle any rebound and prevent a second-chance opportunity... but the ball squeaked just past Dickey's fingers, the goalkeeper's vision just slightly too impaired by a shot that cut through McClernon in her stride.
In the 14th minute, Huerta had the Reign's best chance in the early going, first forcing the turnover then crashing the box after combining with Nerilia Mondésir on the give and go. Jordyn Huitema headed the ball back across, Huerta took it on the volley, but didn't get enough of it, and the ball bounced harmlessly into Anna Moorhouse's outstretched arms.
It's possible to play a brilliant game and still lose. That is not weakness. That is soccer.
Phoebe McClernon – 7
This game we love can be capricious, cruel, deeply unjust – few will understand that so keenly as a lockdown defender. Replay McCutcheon's 21st minute shot 10 times, and Phoebe gets a foot to the ball in eight or nine of them, and the shot has no sting and never truly threatens Claudia Dickey's goal. Her positioning was sound, her reaction to Orlando's quickly developing danger astute, her instinct to get in the way of the first-time shot solid.
It's just that this time, the shot slipped cleanly between her feet. This time, getting in the way meant Dickey couldn't see it coming until it was too late. This time, getting it right meant going down a goal.
Down a goal, McClernon was not defeated, and with the season on the line, she showed a vision and aggression she hasn't often shown for the Reign – Phoebe led all players with 9 progressive passes, and stepping higher into the attack, provided 3 progressive carries and a shot-creating action as well. Orlando consistently tried to show the ball away from Jordyn Bugg and to Phoebe on the press, and Phoebe demonstrated a culture to her passing that hasn't always been evident in response, giving them no good options to try to force in the back five.
It sucks to go out on a play like that, but it doesn't change what was another rock-solid performance by the Reign's defensive anchor.
Jordyn Bugg – 6
Playing with the lead, Orlando made every effort to press Bugg and show the Reign to McClernon. And with McClernon responding by simply delivering one of her best passing performances of the season, Orlando was forced to let Bugg back into the game anyway.
While limited to just 55 touches (compared to McClernon's 79 and Huerta's 84), Bugg showed up in a number of big moments. She registered 4 blocks and 4 progressive passes, 3 recoveries and 5 of 7 duels won, and four passes into the final third. Bugg remains a constant threat when she can get the long passing working, and it was working – 10 of 12 passes over 30 yards completed, with six of those opening up the field for a promising Reign attack, and two of them ending in shots.
She was a turned a little bit inside out on McCutcheon's opening goal, but it's not exactly an unforgivable sin given how the rest of that sequence played out – the Reign had four good opportunities to stop that chance, Bugg was simply one of those, and at the end of the day, Haley placed a fucking perfect first-time shot and you can only do so much about that.
Lauren Barnes – 6 (But It's A 10) (off 61' for Maddie Dahlien)
At last, after all these years, all these playoffs, the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, the constant, the iron woman, the Captain has played her last match in a Reign kit. Twelve seasons, 240 starts, 21,000 minutes, three community pie plates shields, 121 wins. No NWSL player has ever given a team as much as Lu Barnes gave to the Reign. With her departure, just one Reign Original remains.
Her performance was fine, if not extremely involved – with just 23 touches, she was by far the least influential player on the back line. She also turned those 23 touches into 4 progressive passes, 3 recoveries, a shot-creating action, and a booming tackle won right on the edge of the defensive third. She turned in a worthy final chapter to a storied career.
It's just a shame we were never able to win a cup for her.
Madison Curry – 6 (off 77' for Mia Fishel)
As with Jordyn Bugg, Madison Curry was turned a bit inside out by McCutcheon, Marta, and Julie Doyle's quick and clever sequence to create the first goal. Curry completely lost the play and could only run after it and hope. It's unfortunate, but Madison was just the first opportunity to stop the goal before it started; it's hardly fair to pin it on her when several other players had a chance to step, and even a little bit more luck would've seen it harmless.
Aside looking a bit lost in that moment, Curry was very much the version of herself we've come to expect this season – hard-edged defense, joyful tackling, and all the verticality she could offer. She put in three really crunching tackles, along with a clearance, a recovery, and 4-of-5 duels won; she also provided a left-sided match to Huerta's incisive play, turning her 25 touches into 8 progressive passes, 3 shot-creating actions, and two very good chances created, through Jordyn Huitema in the 36th minute and Maddie Mercado in the 76th.
Neither scored, unfortunately – either one would have flipped the game on its head.
Midfielders
Ainsley McCammon – 6 (off 61' for Sally Menti)
In a season of young players breaking out, McCammon's ascension from supplemental minutes to important minutes to starting minutes in the playoffs has been among the more impressive rises, and a joy to watch. This was not McCammon at her incisive and creative best, but it was absolutely McCammon putting in hard work against a disciplined defense in a negative game state, and finding moments to show her vision and comfort on the ball despite the compressed field.
In the 37th minute, she kept the pressure on to recycle a corner, heading the ball to Barnes en route to a decent chance for Huitema; moments earlier, she was crashing the penalty area looking for second chances before the Reign won the corner. Ainsley brings energy and vision even in hard game states, and is getting better every time out at holding the ball, finding the seams, and standing her ground against older, often stronger players.
This was not the afternoon for McCammon Magic, but her next stop is 2026, and I can't wait to see what she'll do with another season before her.
Sam Meza – 7
I was not the only one to suggest, early in the season, that the Reign might go exactly as far as Sam Meza's engine could carry them. While a team effort the whole way – overcoming injuries, rotations, absences, hardships, and finding results anyway – Meza was dynamic and tireless in the middle of the park, in many ways the lynchpin that kept things ticking.
She brought them to the playoffs, and she turned in a very good playoff shift, but the Reign couldn't pull out one last bit of magic to prolong the season just a bit more. But there's no shame in a performance like this – in 9 defensive contributions (3 tackles, 3 blocks, 2 interceptions, and a clearance), in 7 progressive passes, in 3 shot-creating actions, in 65 huge touches to assert the Reign's dominance over the midfield from minute 23 to minute 94. Meza left it all on the pitch, combined with everyone and anyone searching for the opening that would change the game, snuffed out so many prospective Orlando counters that Orlando, for long stretches of the second half, barely tried to progress up the middle at all.
...and also, at the death, Marta made a marauding run down the entire pitch, shrugged off three different efforts Phoebe McClernon made to give up the tactical foul to stop her, and baited Meza into leaving in a tired leg to win the penalty. Meza had given so much, and the game was in its last breaths, and Marta is the fucking greatest to ever do it.
That just... is what it is.
Nérilia Mondésir – 6 (off 77' for Emeri Adames)
Hard work in a hard game state was the theme of the Reign's performance, and Coco was no exception, unafraid to get stuck in (every one of her 2 won tackles and 4 interceptions immediately turned play in the other direction), run right at the opponent, or get into the physical mixer. She can, occasionally, be a bit too physical; she was whistled for three fouls in the match and two of them were probably unnecessary to concede.
But she also just adds a huge physical presence, a ton of comfort on the ball, and an amazing work rate. She had 5 recoveries and 7 progressive receptions to go with her 6 defensive contributions, constantly pushing the Reign's vertical threat and always looking to move upfield when the opportunity presented itself (and looking to create the opportunity when it wasn't forthcoming.)
She took two shots in the first half, both from around the top of the penalty area, one of them forcing a save from Anna Moorhouse. Always a handful to guard, Mondésir frequently helped the Reign bend Orlando's compact defense. Unfortunately, she couldn't help them to break through.
Forwards
Maddie Mercado – 5
In a mostly good performance by the Reign, it was another matchday where the forward corps couldn't find the back of the net. Mercado was the more active and effective of the pairing with Jordyn Huitema, but really only marginally so – she was very quiet in the first half, registering no shots and just one key pass, in the 31st minute.
Mercado came a bit more alive in the second frame, especially after Danger Maddie Dahlien came on in the 61st minute, and finished with 2 shots and 3 shot-creating actions – one was a very clever soft-touch chance that likely beats Moorhouse if it's three or four inches further to the right. But she also committed three fouls, one of them a pretty bad foul she was probably lucky not to see yellow for, and lost every one of her aerial duels. She dropped deep to find touches, and didn't make it back to the penalty area as play progressed. Between Maddie and Jordyn, it was a clinic on why the Reign have struggled for forward quality this year.
A very up-and-down showing, and given Orlando's tightly compacted defense and disinterest in opening up the game once they had their goal, it's probably at least understandable that Mercado struggled in this one, and she's still shown a lot of intriguing qualities that may well translate positively in the league next year.
Jordyn Huitema – 5 (off 46' for Jess Fishlock)
In a mostly good performance by the Reign, it was another matchday where the forward corps couldn't find the back of the net. While Huitema was the marginally less effective of the two overall, subbing off at halftime to add a little extra dynamic movement from Jess Fishlock, Huitema was arguably the more valuable of the pairing during the half she played.
She had five touches in the penalty area, including two good bites at the ball that she couldn't put clean enough contact on to really threaten with; she also won a header that created a solid chance for Sofia Huerta, and won every one of her aerial challenges in the first frame. Unfortunately, she also coughed up the ball 4 times on just 18 touches, and while her opportunities were among the best looks the Reign had in the first 45 minutes, she wasn't consistently able to get into the good spaces the Reign needed her to be.
As with Mercado, it was a very up-and-down showing, with some genuinely good play but little luck against Orlando's tightly compressed defense. As with Mercado, it was a bit of a clinic on the Reign's struggles at forward this year: moments that remind that the Reign have forwards who are capable of good play, but the consistency not there, the dangerous touches too infrequent, and the moments of quality too often wasted.
Substitutes
Jess Fishlock – 5 (on 46' for Jordyn Huitema)
At halftime, Jess Fishlock was Laura Harvey's first substitute, and she... largely struggled like Mercado and Huitema had struggled through the first half. It's a change I like on paper – Fishlock as a 45 minute supersub may be her most dangerous use at this stage of her career – but other than a chance whistled for offside and a 60th minute strike from 20-plus yards out, Fishlock didn't ultimately add enough to a side that needed to manufacture a goal.
As with Mercado, though, it's important to note that she looked better, more incisive, more apt to pop up in a dangerous spot to punish a mistake, after Maddie Dahlien took the field. Asking her to run a lot as the point of the spear with a slugging-it-out midfield lineup ultimately did few favors; she played the role gamely, but couldn't break Orlando's line. With Dahlien breaking the line every time she got forward, Fishlock found more space to operate and more seams to exploit, and looked far more comfortable in her attacking role.
Maddie Dahlien – 6 (on 61' for Lauren Barnes)
The double sub in the 61st minute was a game-changer for the Reign. Maddie Dahlien made an immediate impact, and though she was messy with her touches and passes (7 for 13 passing, with 3 unforced turnovers on 17 touches), her direct, no-frills running, pace, and stamina presented Orlando with problems they were frequently fortunate to escape intact.
She took three shots from inside the penalty area in her first 15 minutes, created the shot for herself, for Sally Menti, and then for Sally Menti again on the 90th minute disaster that should've won a penalty. For the first hour, the Reign flirted with being dangerous while struggling to actually put Orlando on the back foot. After Dahlien subbed on, Orlando had to throw all hands on deck just to contain her.
Honestly, if I have one deep critique of the match plan, it's that. I don't understand why Danger Maddie didn't start.
Sally Menti – 6 (on 61' for Ainsley McCammon)
The double sub in the 61st minute was a gamechanger for the Reign. And Sally Menti, too, made an immediate impact – taking her first touch on a free kick, which she splintered the woodwork with. Half an inch lower, and the Reign would've had an equalizer right there, and a whole new match for Orlando to figure out. Unfortunately, it was a day of half-inches. Half an inch further left. Half an inch closer or further. But still...
Beyond that, Menti, asked to get into the attack constantly and defend only infrequently, showed some of her best stuff. A high-difficulty chance on the volley that she couldn't quite turn on goal, a slick interplay with Fishlock to spring Dahlien into the penalty area, a big won header to preserve possession, a dangerous free kick won. Though she only touched the ball 10 times, virtually every touch she took was positive.
And then there's the 90th minute run and shot. She scuffed the shot – it bounced harmlessly to Anna Moorhouse – because she was fouled. It should have been a penalty. She should have won a penalty. The end of the game may be very different if PRO had showed a modicum of courage in that moment.
Emeri Adames – 4 (on 77' for Nérilia Mondésir)
The 77th minute saw one final double substitution, bringing on Emeri Adames and Mia Fishel. It was, unfortunately, a less impactful double substitution than the first one, and saw the Reign lose a bit of the steady pressure and control they'd been asserting and escalating for the previous 17 minutes.
Adames touched the ball 5 times, completed 1 of 4 passes, and took 1 shot, which wasn't particularly threatening – though she did create it for herself with a nifty bit of dribbling, which is a plus. A 13-plus minute sub appearance in a negative game state wasn't likely to get the most out of her in a game like this, but the Reign had to try to shake things up a bit further, and with another year of seasoning, Adames might become that player with more consistency.
Mia Fishel – 4 (on 77' for Madison Curry)
The 77th minute saw one final double substitution, bringing on Emeri Adames and Mia Fishel. It was, unfortunately, a less impactful double substitution than the first one, and saw the Reign lose a bit of the steady pressure and control they'd been asserting and escalating for the previous 17 minutes.
Fishel touched the ball 3 times, completed 1 of 3 passes, and had neither a shot nor a shot-creating action. A 13-plus minute sub appearance in a negative game state wasn't likely to get the most out of her in a game like this, but with the season ticking away, there's no reason not to try to get a player like Fishel involved and see if she can find a moment of magic. She couldn't, but with any luck, we'll see more of her best next season.
Referee
Abdou Ndiaye – 4 (or 5, I don't know anymore)
For the most part, Abdou Ndiaye's calls made plenty of sense. He called 23 fouls – 12 for the Reign, 11 for the Pride – and was fairly even-handed with how he adjudicated them. He also showed that all-too-usual PRO reticence to card obviously cardable offenses, quickly showing yellows to Rafaelle (for a bad tackle) and Marta (for incessantly complaining), but declining to card tactical fouls (of which there were many) or persistent infringement (Maddie Mercado was fouled at least 4 times, Marta and Emily Sams at least 3 each, and the lack of cards to protect any of them was and is a problem), let alone show second yellow cards (Marta certainly pushed right up to the line on more than one occasion.)
After watching it (and watching it and watching it and watching it...) I remain extremely confident that Sally Menti should have won a penalty in the 90th minute. I do not understand how going through the player's leg without even getting a foot to the ball isn't a penalty. I also understand that Ndiaye probably didn't have a view of the contact there. Danielle Chesky in the VAR booth should've flagged it for him to take a second look, and she didn't.
For some reason, for perhaps the very first time in her career, Chesky refused to make the big call, even when it was incandescently obvious on the field before her.
...who freakin' knows, man.
And Another Thing!
The year is over, and now the offseason promises difficult decisions, tearful departures, and tantalizing possibilities.
With Ji So-yun's departure and Lynn Biyendolo's maternity leave, the Reign should have significant cap and transfer flexibility to pursue new pieces to bridge the gap between the past and the future.
The emergence of dynamic young talents like Adames, McCammon, Meza, and Dahlien provides the cornerstone for new golden era; the very real promise of the likes of Fishel and Mondésir with an offseason of work (and a little better injury luck) offers a hazy but tangible glimpse of the Reign finally seizing a new identity in the post-Rapinoe era.
Going forward, I'll be working on season retrospectives for an unexpectedly fascinating year of Reign matchdays. Stick around and we can look back on the triumphs and defeats, the epic highs and lows of NWSL football – together!
