In many ways, the 2025 Seattle Reign season was a huge success. The team made the playoffs and finished in fifth place during the regular season — a significant jump up from their 13th-place finish the year prior. The team welcomed big names Lynn Biyendolo and Mia Fishel; saw breakout performances from goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and midfielder Sam Meza; and were powered by an extremely talented group of young players in Maddie Dahlien, Jordyn Bugg and Emeri Adames, who ended the season tied for the most team goals.
This kind of roster continuity is critical, as most of the NWSL teams that repeat as playoff contenders have significant roster continuity across seasons. With such a young Reign squad as well, there is so much room for continued growth — and still opportunities to learn from veterans like Jess Fishlock and Biyendolo.
At the same time, the Reign didn't progress beyond the first round of the 2025 playoffs and were unable to dominate matches over a long period of time in the regular season. They can and must get better.
The Reign currently have 24 players on their roster, with Biyendolo on the season-ending injury list due to her pregnancy and Cassie Miller an unknown after dealing with injuries for a large part of last season. With four goalkeepers signed, a loan could be in the cards for one of them if Miller is healthy. That gives the Reign some room to sign 3-4 more players to build out their 2026 squad, pending any loans or trades still in the works.
As we head into a new year, here are five wishes I hope will come true in 2026 for the Reign.
More chance creation
In 2025, the Reign advanced to the playoffs due to Dickey's heroics and a strong defensive core. They were fourth in the league in goals allowed. However, a reason they didn't make it out of the first round of the playoffs was their issues on the offensive end. The Reign scored 32 goals in 2025, tied for ninth. That number is a little misleading, however, as the Reign outperformed their expected goals total by a lot. They were actually last in the league in expected goals, with 24.8 xG.
While it can be easy to attribute their poor scoring to ineffective forwards, I think the answer lies more in their struggles to create those opportunities in the first place. The Reign had the fewest key passes in the league in 2025. They simply didn't have the kind of player who could receive the ball, progress it consistently, and create something out of nothing when needed.
The team has a strong core group of midfielders returning, including Sam Meza, whose defensive work in the midfield earned her a U.S. Women's National Team call-up, and Ainsley McCammon, who is just 18 years old and began to earn starts and demonstrate her immense passing range at the end of last season. Neither player consistently created goal-scoring chances at a high rate, and both have been more effective in deeper-lying midfield positions. Jess Fishlock led the team in key passes per match, but she's not expected to play every minute in 2026.
Can Sally Menti step into this role, or is she more of a box-to-box threat? Can Nérilia Mondésir expand on some of the strengths she showed in 2025 – including her ability to keep the ball and link with teammates — and find her teammates more consistently in dangerous positions? Or is there a third option still to explore?
The Reign have budget flexibility after parting ways with Ji So-yun, who was reportedly on a significant contract deal with the Reign. They still have plenty of time this offseason to bring in a playmaker who can find players like Maddie Dahlien and Emeri Adames on the wings and set up forward Mia Fishel and Jordyn Huitema in the middle of the pitch. The new High Impact Player rule, assuming it remains after challenges from the NWSL Players Association, gives the Reign an opportunity to sign a player who could make a big splash and fill this role. At the same time, there are still several college players available who have creative attacking skillsets and haven't been announced yet.
Susie Rantz
This need becomes even more urgent when you consider the Reign will be without Biyendolo, who is due to give birth in April, for at least the first half of the season. The team could also benefit from signing another proven goal-scorer who doesn't have to rely on service to create goal-scoring chances — someone who can manufacture opportunities on their own and take pressure off the creative midfielders.
A ruthless Mia Fishel
When the Reign announced a long-term contract with Fishel last summer, fans were eager to see what the U.S. Women's National Team and Chelsea forward could do. Reign head coach Laura Harvey was quick to note that the team wouldn't be placing expectations on the forward instantly. This was a long-term play, Harvey argued, and the club expected Fishel to really shine in the 2026 season after having time in 2025, combined with a full preseason, to gel with her new teammates and understand the Reign's style of play and what would be asked of her.
In her 340 minutes of NWSL play, we saw glimpses of what Fishel could do. There were smooth plays to get out of pressure, or a cheeky backheel to find a teammate. Similar to Clint Dempsey when he joined the Sounders, there were times she tried something audacious and her team wasn't quite ready for the moment. An ankle injury also limited her time later in the season.
Fishel is a dominant player in the box, with great hold-up skills and an uncanny ability to find the back of the net when she finds the ball at her feet. She was a consistent goal-scoring threat at Chelsea and on the USWNT before tearing her ACL in 2024. Can she break out in 2026 and show the league why she was a marquee summer signing for the Reign? The potential is certainly there. If the Reign fulfill wish No. 1, Fishel's goal-scoring success will likely follow.
Consistent and higher attendance
After the Sounders and Carlyle Group bought the Reign in June of 2024, they spent the offseason building up their technical and operations staff and merging certain capabilities with the Sounders, like marketing and ticket sales.
Some of that work has paid off immediately. Last offseason, the new ownership group doubled the technical staff, launched a new mobile app, filled critical roles across operations and performance, and reshaped the roster. Last fall, the Reign finally announced a front-of-jersey sponsor, the local, women-led company Trupanion.
Susie Rantz
Those moves certainly played a role in the Reign jumping from 13th place to 5th place. The one area where this hasn't translated yet is attendance. The Reign averaged 7,873 fans at their matches in 2025, a dip from the prior year. With a significant number of games scheduled at the same time as the Mariners or on a Friday, and with no matches at all in the peak months of June and July, the Reign struggled to get more bodies to Lumen Field.
Women's soccer is growing rapidly in the NWSL, with several clubs seeing jumps in attendance. If the Reign want to be a top women's soccer club in the world, they need to increase their fanbase. The scheduling challenges and competition with other Seattle sports teams are real obstacles, but they're not insurmountable. Can the Reign find the right marketing strategy, secure a more favorable schedule, and hit the right price point to attract more fans in 2026?
More press-breaking abilities
One of the bright spots in the Reign's 2025 season was the number of speedy players they added that helped the team become a lot more dangerous in transition. Rookie Maddie Dahlien, in particular, helped the team immensely in this area — and she scored four goals and added four assists in her first year as a professional. While that meant the Reign could attack in transitional moments or through long balls over the top, it felt like the team struggled when asked to try to build out of the back.
Without a player like Ji or Fishlock in the lineup, and with Lauren Barnes playing more limited minutes, the Reign didn't always have someone they could turn to when under pressure. That resulted in the Reign giving the ball away in dangerous spots on the field and conceding four fastbreak goals, tied for most in the league (according to American Soccer Analysis).
If the Reign want to control more games in 2026, they need to be better with the ball. They need to keep possession in the middle third of the pitch and find teammates and get out of pressure when teams press their backline. Can the Reign's current set of players do this — or could one or two additions to the roster help in this category? Either way, it's something they need to solve if they want to be more dangerous on both sides of the ball this year.
A USWNT call-up for Madison Curry
Defender Madison Curry joined the Reign in 2025 following a strong rookie season with Angel City the year prior. Playing right back, left back, and right and left wingback, Curry was a defensive menace and played the fourth-most minutes on the squad and was arguably the team's most consistent defender. She finished sixth in the league with tackles, seventh in the number of dribblers tackled, and eighth in interceptions.
Often asked to play extremely high and wide in the team's 3-5-2 formation, Curry wasn't as threatening on the offensive end as I would have liked. Some of that is due to issues called out in wishlist item #4. The team often struggled to break presses, which left Curry on an island with a lot of pressure and not a lot of passing options. Still, despite these offensive struggles, she finished ninth in the league in completed crosses into the penalty box and finished with one assist.
Curry is only 24 years old and has already proven she can hang with some of the best forwards in the league. If she can improve in possession and find more connections with her teammates, the USWNT better be calling.
More signings are expected for the Reign over the next month as they get ready to start their 2026 preseason. While full preseason plans haven't been announced yet, the Reign do expect to play one preseason game against Angel City on February 21 at the Coachella Valley Invitational. That will be one of the first opportunities for Reign fans to see how well the team is clicking and get a glimpse of any new signings. Until then, fans should expect several updates from the Reign, including a likely contract extension announcement for head coach Laura Harvey.
What wishes do you have for the 2026 Seattle Reign season? Share them in the comments.
