TUKWILA – Seattle Reign held training on Thursday afternoon with a very short bench. Twelve players are away on international duty during an extended FIFA international window, which runs through March 7.
While the absences hit every corner of the roster, the goalkeeper situation stood out the most. Cassie Miller remains on the season-ending injury list and has been training on the side. The other three goalkeepers — Claudia Dickey, Neeku Purcell, and Evan O'Steen — are all away with national teams. Dickey is competing with the senior USWNT at the SheBelieves Cup. Purcell is with the U.S. U-23s in Florida. O'Steen, 17, is with the U.S. U-19s in Portugal. With no signed goalkeeper available, goalkeeper coach Lloyd Yaxley stepped into goal for a 10v10 small-sided game. An unnamed trialist filled in at the other end.
Yaxley wasn't the only unfamiliar face. Non-roster invitees Carolyn Voss, Chloe Seelhoff, Ruby Hladek, and Peyton Parsons were all in the session, along with University of Portland defender Keeley Dockter and three other unnamed trialists. Despite the thin numbers, training was intense and focused — finishing with a passing-and-shooting drill.
One familiar but unexpected face at training was Nérilia Mondésir, who was called up for Haiti's Concacaf W qualifier on the road against Suriname on March 3. It appears she won't make the trip outside the United States for the match, which Haiti is expected to win.
Thursday's training was the team's second session back home after returning from a two-week trip to the Coachella Valley. Head coach Laura Harvey said the club made the most of the Coachella camp before the FIFA window opened, and wants to keep those standards up while so many players are away.
"Coachella's always a really important time for us," Harvey said. "Those two weeks of being all together, we could get a lot of stuff done, which we did. And now with the players gone away on the FIFA break, it's about making sure that the group that's left behind keep the standards really high and we keep pushing physically, mentally, and tactically in preparation for the season about to start."
Over two weeks in Indio, Calif., the Reign played three scrimmages: two closed-door games against the San Diego Wave and Utah Royals, and a public preseason match against Angel City on Feb. 21, which Seattle won 1-0 thanks to a Mondésir goal in the second half. Harvey called them "very different games" that gave the staff a chance to rotate players and control minutes.
Susie Rantz
Defender Sofia Huerta let slip to reporters that one of those Coachella outings, the one against Utah, went quite well. "I'm not sure if you guys know, but we did score six goals in one game," she said with a smile. "I think anytime you can score more than two goals in a game, that's exciting."
Because it was a closed-door scrimmage, there isn't a full set of highlights available, but the Reign and Emeri Adames (slide 12) hinted at a few of the goals on social media.
Another test in Coachella ✅ A glimpse at this week’s closed-door game vs Utah.
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 2026-02-19T21:50:32.909Z
One of the goals included in the Reign's mini highlight reel is a free-kick banger from Huerta, who credited an unlikely source of inspiration. "I've been watching a lot of Liverpool, and [Dominik] Szoboszlai is like a free kick specialist," she said. "I've been seeing how he's been kicking it. I'm like, all right, I'm just going to try. It was fun to watch that one go in, and I hope it happens in season as well."
Despite the promising results in the desert, Huerta knows this team still has so much room to grow and improve. "I think we only reached maybe 50% of what we can really do," she said. "The ceiling's high with this team."
Huerta, who has played in the NWSL since 2015 and joined the Reign in 2020, enters this season as co-captain alongside Jess Fishlock, a role Harvey said wasn't really a discussion. "It wasn't a question I asked Sofia. I sort of told her that's what was going to happen. Between her and Jess, they know what this club's about. They know what the standards are, they know how challenging this league is, and their experience can really help influence a less experienced group."
Huerta said the captaincy doesn't feel like a major shift. "The cool thing about the Reign is, regardless of if you have the captain band, everyone's in a position to lead," she said. "For the last several years, I feel like I've tried my best to lead the team. Really, being a captain is all about making sure everyone's on the same page and just getting the best out of everyone."
She spoke warmly about the club's younger players, several of whom joined the roster at 16 or 17 and are now in their second or third years. "Just to see them grow on and off the field is really fun. Although we have a young team, it's not something we talk about a ton. We don't talk about being young or inexperienced because I feel like a lot of the players play with so much experience."
Harvey said the returning core — 22 players are back from last season — gives the team a strong base to build on, but cautioned against framing this year purely as a step up from their playoff appearance a year prior. "I think the biggest thing with our group is that they have got experience now, and how we channel that experience and utilize that going into this season is going to be really important. It's not about can we better what we did last year, because this league's insane. It's about just taking care of business week in, week out, and not looking too far ahead."
The Reign's season opener is March 15 against Orlando Pride, the same team that knocked Seattle out of the playoffs last year. To stay sharp heading into that game, the Reign players still in Seattle will hold closed-door scrimmages this weekend and next weekend against unnamed opponents. "We're not wasting time," Harvey said. "We're trying to make sure that what we're trying to do has purpose."
While the cross-country flight is never easy, both Harvey and Huerta are looking forward to the rematch with Orlando — and heading to Florida when temperatures are a bit cooler. "We played them in the playoffs and we lost, so immediately we get to have redemption," Huerta said. "Every time we play Orlando, it's a fun game — especially with Marta and Jess Fishlock on the field. It's always fun to see those two veteran players battle it out."
