Seattle Reign opened preseason this week with a familiar group of players, a clear focus on being better in attack, and a quiet confidence that this team’s ceiling was nowhere close to being reached last year.
Friday’s training session, just the second of the year, felt less like the reset that has become common for the club and more like a continuation. Twenty-two players are back. The base is already there. The work now, as head coach Laura Harvey and several players said, is sharpening the parts that stalled them in 2025 — especially in the final third.
Creating more chances
Since announcing her extension through 2028, Harvey has been direct about where things fell short last season. The Reign defended well and played long stretches of good soccer, but too many attacks ended before they turned into shots.
“We were even showing some clips this morning of unbelievably fantastic football, but then that sort of end part of it is missing,” Harvey told reporters after training.
The staff has been pulling clips from last season and pointing out moments where a chance might have come from fewer touches, an earlier cross, or a quicker shot. Harvey wants players to stop chasing the perfect sequence and be more willing to try things in the moment.
“If you keep training that way, you’re going to get better,” she said.
That doesn’t mean abandoning what worked. A Harvey team is still built on defending well and building forward from there.
“The biggest thing that we did well last year was we were really hard to score on, and we have to keep that up,” Harvey said. “So making sure that we stay in that mentality… and be a little bit better on the other side of the ball and create more opportunities.”
Harvey pointed to the club’s past as proof that defending and scoring are intertwined.
“When we do that, we win NWSL Shields,” she said. “In 2022, I think we scored something like 76% of our goals from transition. We defended well. That’s our identity.”
Maddie Mercado, now entering her third year with the Reign, said that message has been consistent — and shared by the players.
“How do we create more chances, and how do we convert those chances into goal-scoring opportunities?” Mercado said. “And then, how do we stop the other team from scoring goals?”
A consistent roster on purpose
The most obvious difference between this preseason and recent ones is continuity. This isn’t a group trying to learn about each other from scratch.
“We have what, 22 returning players, which is crazy,” Emeri Adames said. The 19-year-old is entering her third season after tying Jess Fishlock as the club’s leading goal-scorer last year with six goals. “I love the group of girls we have right now so much. We all have the same growth mindset.”
While several NWSL clubs have dealt with significant turnover this offseason, the Reign have been quieter. As Harvey told reporters, when the club evaluated its options this winter, the choice was clear: turn over the roster again, or invest in the players already here. They chose development.
“You can either revamp with personnel, or you can revamp from who they were to who you want to develop them to be,” Harvey said. “And we’ve chosen to go down that path.”
One area where that development matters most is in the attacking midfield role. Outside of Jess Fishlock, the Reign didn’t have a consistent answer there last season.
“Minutes per goals or assists was scary, scary good,” Harvey said of Fishlock’s production when available. Fishlock averaged 0.90 goals + assists per 90 minutes. Availability, not output, was the issue. Fishlock logged just over 800 minutes, her lowest total in a full season with the club. This year, Harvey sees options across the roster.
“I think Sally Menti can play higher if we needed her to,” Harvey said. “I think Ainsley [McCammon] showed she can have impact in both boxes. Emeri is impactful in that position. Coco [Nérilia Mondésir] is impactful in that position. Jordyn [Huitema] has been impactful in that position in other years.”
That flexibility, Harvey said, is part of the team’s growth, whether they play with one holding midfielder or two.
“We have loads of options that we can tweak,” she said.
Harvey added that the team doesn’t feel like it’s “starting with a blank sheet of paper,” which has allowed them to move quickly into more detailed work. Fishlock, who has been with the Reign since the club’s launch in 2013, sees that stability as a strength, not a risk.
“It’s exciting to me, actually, that we haven’t made a ton of changes,” Fishlock said. “We have stability… and we allow an area of longer growth rather than immediate growth.”
Fishlock noted that around 15 players experienced the NWSL playoffs for the first time last season. The Reign played well but couldn’t score and were eliminated in the first round.
“Now, when you go into this year with that same group of players, you’re already adding experience to the group,” Fishlock said. “And the hunger and desire to never go through that feeling again.”
“We know that we’re capable of winning with this team,” Mercado added. “We’re excited, and we know we can do it with who we have.”
Early standouts on the field
Even with five players away at U.S. national team camp, Friday’s session had energy and edge. Mia Fishel stood out immediately, looking sharp and fully engaged after joining midseason last year. Harvey said this is the first real stretch where Fishel gets to be evaluated with a full preseason under her.
“She’s very keen on proving where she’s at.”
Adames picked up where she left off, moving confidently and finishing cleanly in drills. Her offseason focus showed up on both sides of the ball.
“I just really worked hard on my defending all over the field,” Adames said. “And then just still creating chances, being clinical in front of goal.”
Ryanne Brown also looked ready for her full return after tearing her ACL late in 2024. Harvey said Brown was “really close” to game minutes by the end of last season, and Friday backed that up. Brown was active and vocal on the back line during passing and shooting work.
While she wasn’t with the team this week due to her first U.S. women’s national team call-up, Harvey also pointed to Sally Menti as a player who could surprise people this year.
“The sky’s the limit for Sally,” Harvey said. “She’s technically a fantastic footballer. She’s creative, she’s unpredictable. She’s got a bit of bite about her, too.”
Harvey said she spoke with U.S. head coach Emma Hayes about Menti last spring and learned the midfielder was already on their radar.
“I was probably less shocked than most,” Harvey said about Menti's first call-up. “Because she’s different. She’s different than midfielders that we have, she’s different than midfielders that the national team has.”
Leadership, old and new
Fishlock is now the only Reign original left on the squad, but that's not the only reason this season looks different for her. For the first time, she won’t have to balance club play with international travel. Fishlock retired from international duty last fall after representing Wales in their first-ever UEFA Women's EURO competition over the summer.
“I’m super excited to see what this year feels like without doing that,” she said. “Having the ability to just focus on one thing.”
She’s also stepping into a larger leadership role after the departure of long-time leader Lauren Barnes, who Fishlock noted was irreplaceable.
“I do feel like there’s that added responsibility now,” Fishlock said. “The good thing about that is we have a great group. I need to go and ask for support and allow others to step into their leadership skills, too.”
One of those voices Fishlock turns to may be Brittany Ratcliffe, who signed with the Reign this offseason and has already fit in seamlessly.
“It feels like I’ve been here eight years,” Ratcliffe said, noting it was a positive feeling from the second she met the players and staff. “Everyone’s been super nice and welcoming.”
Ratcliffe is also clear about her role.
“The goal is to score goals, but how can you be impactful on the field… pressing, defending, doing all of the things… and make sure our standards are high in practice.”
Adames said Ratcliffe’s presence is already felt.
“You can tell she’s a vet,” Adames said. “She brings so much to the team already.”
The team is still very early in preseason, and no one is claiming victories or answers to the team's outstanding questions yet, but the tone around the Reign feels steady. They believe the group they have is good enough. As the preseason progresses, they will continue to focus on how they can turn strong play into goals without losing what made them hard to beat last season.
Other training notes
- While Harvey cautioned that she's still young, she also emphasized how talented 19-year-old midfielder Sofia Cedeño is. “She’s really talented. Uber, actually. She’s crafty, technically very good. Just has a little spark about her.” Her skills were evident in training, with Cedeño unleashing a few cheeky backheel passes or putting the perfect texture on through balls.
- Mercado said her loan spell last season helped restore her confidence. Harvey agreed, calling it “proof to herself that she can do it at this level.”
- Several midfield roles remain fluid by design. Harvey said most players on the roster can play multiple positions, which excites a coach who likes to keep opponents guessing with lineups and formations.
- Harvey estimated Lynn Biyendolo could return sometime after the summer break, but stressed that the priority is her health and her baby.
- Reign season ticket members should get follow-up communication this Saturday, January 24, about their season ticket options after the club had to move three games to Spokane. News should come in the afternoon.
