Reign at Pride: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign did what nobody predicted this year: they qualified for the playoffs after finishing second-to-last in 2024. Earning the #5 seed, the Reign faced the Orlando Pride on the road on Friday evening – the same team they played a week prior to close out the regular season. That match ended in a 1-1 draw.

This time, the Reign had more possession, more shots, and created more expected goals, but they couldn't dominate in the one stat that mattered: goals. They ultimately lost 2-0 to the Pride, who won the Shield and championship in 2024.

Some great combination play gave the Pride the lead in the 21st minute, as Haley McCutcheon made a late run into the box and buried a shot with her first touch. The Reign had Orlando pinned back for most of the second half, but couldn't get beyond Anna Moorehouse. In the final seconds, Marta took that ball down the field from half all by herself and won a penalty. Luana, who a year ago was out with a cancer diagnosis, finished into the left corner.

The Reign's season is now over, and they say goodbye to veteran OG legend Lauren Barnes, who is retiring from playing soccer. They'll now look to build around a talented young core of players.

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

21' - Haley McCutcheon (Assisted by Julie Doyle) - ORL

98' - Luana (Penalty) - ORL

LINEUPS

46' - Jess Fishlock for Jordyn Huitema

61' - Sally Menti for Ainsley McCammon; Maddie Dahlien for Lauren Barnes

77' - Emeri Adames for Nerilia Mondesir; Mia Fishel for Madison Curry

65' - Oihane Hernandez for Julie Doyle

76' - Carson Pickett for Cori Dyke

82' - Luana for Kerry Abello; Simone Charley for Ally Lemos

POSSESSION

Pride: 45.3%

Reign: 54.7%

EXPECTED GOALS

Pride: 1.17

Reign: 1.22

TOTAL SHOTS

Pride: 9

Reign: 17

SHOTS ON TARGET

Pride: 4

Reign: 8

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Pride: 3

Reign: 2

SHOTS BLOCKED

Pride: 2

Reign: 7

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Pride: 6

Reign: 11

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Pride: 14

Reign: 24

PASSES

Pride: 343

Reign: 417

PASSING ACCURACY

Pride: 86.4%

Reign: 74.2%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Pride: 157

Reign: 52

PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Pride: 76.7%

Reign: 80.1%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Pride: 10

Reign: 14

CORNERS WON

Pride: 3

Reign: 2

OFFSIDES

Pride: 1

Reign: 3

FOULS

Pride: 11

Reign: 12

YELLOW CARDS

Pride: 1

Reign: 0

RED CARDS

Pride: 0

Reign: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the game:

Yeah, tough to take. We pretty much had them on everything except goals and you know my saying – goals change games – so obviously the one late we were pushing and really trying to go for it, but in the big moments when we needed some quality, we just didn't have it, and we weren't far away that we had enough shots and enough half-chances to at least get back into the game. But yeah, obviously just disappointed.

On how the team did to nullify Jacquie Ovalle:

Honestly, this is no disrespect. Marta was the best player on the pitch. Marta's the hardest one to deal with. Her ability to come get it, switch the point of attack is still world class, and then obviously the run that she had at the end to create the penalty, just she's just so smart. So again, I'm not being disrespectful for Ovalle, but Marta was our big thing that we had to solve today and she's the reason why I think the first goal happened. Just her movement and then Doyle getting in the channel just so smart and we nullified her at times, Ovalle is similar, nullified them, but Marta is just world class and if you give her opportunities, she's going to create or score, and that's what she did.

On the team's second-half chances:

I think we stretched them more. I think we forced them back towards their own goal. Obviously when Maddie Dahlien came on, they tried to double down on her. She's such a threat. And as the game went on, some of our decision making in those moments just wasn't quite there. Playing straight passes, not putting the ball in the box when we've put a lot of people forward to cause havoc. Just little bits of detail I think we could have got better at. But yeah, obviously it was a big decision to not start Jess [Fishlock] knowing that she can always create opportunities. I think if her chance goes in, I think VAR would've said she wasn't offside. I was dead in line with it when it got played. Very close anyway. So yeah, I think we create, like I say, we create enough opportunities to get back in the game.

On what the young players without playoff experience can learn from this:

That it's fine margins, the finest of margins, win and lose games. And that's not a young, inexperienced pro thing, that's just football, right? And I've been in this game long enough to know that those little inches can be the difference between you coming away with a victory and not. It happened to me in 2014. It happened to me in 2015, happened to me in 2023 in the finals. We were really close to getting over the line and it's just fine margins. And I think that's my big takeaway and my big thing to them is the little details of the things that matter the most.

Jess Fishlock and Lauren Barnes

Thoughts on the match:

Fishlock: I mean it's disappointing to lose and in truth, I think that especially there were big parts of the game where I felt we just didn't show the best of us and I think that that is kind of harder to take and we just kind of didn't show who we were for 90 minutes. I think there was parts of the game where we did and we created chances and we've got to take them. But this is a tough lesson for us to learn as a group about what the playoffs are and what they mean.

On how she's feeling right after her last match:

Barnes: I dunno how I'm feeling yet. I dunno. Proud. It's been a long 13 years. We've had a lot of success. Making playoffs is difficult. It's a whole other beast. But yeah, I'm excited for the future of the Reign. We're super young and I think, like Jess said, this is a big lesson to learn for them, but I'm excited to see about what that looks like in growth. But yeah, I think I'm fulfilled, I'm happy. I've walked away with so many memories and friends and love and support, so I truly couldn't have asked for a better career.

On what changed in the second half:

Fishlock: We stretched them, we're running behind, which opens up what they do and they hold a high line as well and we were able to destabilize their backline, which is unfortunately for us, we talked about doing all week and we just couldn't get it together in the first half. And we were able to do that much more in the second half. And then when you stretch 'em, you have a choice, you want to go behind or you want to come pocket and we were able to manipulate them, but if you don't have those runs in behind, then they can squeeze the pitch and you're playing in a much smaller area, which is exactly what they want because they are pressing. And so we couldn't quite get that going enough in the first half. And then because of that we kept them giveaways and then they were getting a lot of momentum. So that was pretty much all we switched in. The second half was this real focus on getting some runners and beyond to just stretch. And then you saw what a difference that made and then it was just a case of putting our chances away, which I'm guilty for, and the game could have been and would've been different.

On the lessons the team will learn from tonight:

Fishlock: I just think that the best lessons you ever learn is when something doesn't go your way and something's hard and something hurts. And I think tonight that was what this is. This really hurts. We don't want to be knocked out. We know that we could have won the game. And so this feeling will stay with a lot of our girls. I think as they go on and start their career, then I'm sure we'll have extreme longevity. This would be a feeling that they'll always be able to go back to in these type of games because playoff games are different. There's more intensity, they're more physical. I think you'll know in the first half it was just like foul after foul after foul after foul and then the game settles and you have to stay in games for as long as possible in playoffs because anything can happen. So I think all those lessons will be learned tonight because they haven't been in a playoff game before. So of course that's how they're going to work.

Fishlock on if she's got thoughts on her own future with the Reign:

Fishlock: No, not as of right now. I think I'm just going to enjoy my best friend and enjoy her last moments as a pro football player and I'm going to celebrate her career, probably not just now, but over the next few days because she deserves that. And then we will see.

On the growth of the young players:

Fishlock: Yeah, look, I think if you look at the squads, you got 15 players that this was their first playoff game. 17 players that hadn't played a playoff minute. And I think of course we're disappointed and this hurts like hell. But as the club as you want to look bigger and you want to look moving forward, you also can go, this is a huge learning curve for us as a group and our young players or our new players and our young players. And they're all quite the same at this point. They've been fantastic. It has been a really hard year. It's a really long year and it's their first time going through this as an entire season.

And so they're only going to get better and they're good already. And so that's what's so exciting for this club specifically with the group that they have put together now and then with wherever moving parts happen in the off-season and whatever they decide to bring in and keep strengthen and obviously we lose Lu. And so how to rebuild those little bits, we're not far off. The club is not far off from progressing. And I think for us it was a huge transition year. I think everybody knows that and we can be proud of that. And now the next step is to celebrate the year as a group, celebrate all the little wins that everyone has had throughout this season. Celebrate LuLu, celebrate Hanna [Glas], but then look forward to what can next year be, how can we make next year better? And those girls are going to be a huge part of that. And so I'm super excited for them. I really am. This is a great club and we have great coaches and they're great players and so if they learn and if we all learn right together, we have a great future.

Barnes: Yeah, I think it's a unique opportunity. We put a lot of responsibility and pressure on these young ones. We forget how old they are and I think for them it's now finding who they are, who they want to be and that's what we got to do for so long over the last 13 years. It's a new cycle. And I think the best part about that is that they do have us for guidance. I think we've always said this about this club, we want you to come in and be your authentic self. And you see that in every little individual that we have out there. But my favorite thing is that this is a core group. We have such a massive group of the same age that are at the top level already. Their ceiling hasn't even been touched yet. So for them to experience this so early on and so young, it's just going to push 'em into that next level faster. And that's what you want. And it's hard to find those opportunities. It's hard to get into playoffs. It's hard then to go lose and then reflect and then try to build on next year. We talk about all the time, we see what the young ones are going through and sometimes we sit back and laugh like we actually know you're going to be okay, but you've got to sit with this for a little bit. And I see the girls out there heartbroken and we've had nine years of playoff heartbreaks for us. So it's like you're going to be okay. You're going to heal and the best thing you can do is go back out next year and get better.