Reign vs. Current: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign, coming off a frustrating rivalry loss, knew they had to respond in their midweek match against the reigning NWSL Shield winners, the Kansas City Current. In their first of three matches at ONE Spokane Stadium, the Reign did exactly that — scoring three goals in the first half.

Angharad James-Turner opened the scoring, volleying in a corner kick. Brittany Ratcliffe doubled the lead, getting on the end of a Sofia Huerta cross. Maddie Mercado made it 3-0 seven minutes later, heading in another pinpoint Huerta cross.

The Reign (2-1-0) remain in Spokane to prepare for their weekend match against Racing Louisville (0-1-1), one of a few teams that didn't have a midweek match. That game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. PT on Saturday, March 28, and will air on ION.

Reign ride first-half goals to 3-0 win over KC

The Reign’s first home match in Spokane ends in an emphatic victory against the visiting Kansas City Current

Sounder at HeartJune Ash Eden

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

18' - Angharad James-Turner - SEA

26' - Brittany Ratcliffe (Assisted by Sofia Huerta) - SEA

33' - Maddie Mercado (Assisted by Sofia Huerta) - SEA

LINEUPS

67' - Sally Menti for Sam Meza; Maddie Dahlien for Brittany Ratcliffe

82' - Nérilia Mondésir for Emeri Adames; Ainsley McCammon for Jess Fishlock

90' - Ryanne Brown for Maddie Dahlien

58’ - Croix Bethune for Penelope Hocking; Debinha for Ally Sentnor; ‎Lo'eau LaBonta for Kelsey Branson

64‎’‎ - Michelle Cooper for Gianna Paul

75‎’ - Kyra Carusa for Katie Scott

POSSESSION

Reign: 54.8%

Current: 45.2%

EXPECTED GOALS

Reign: 1.45

Current: 0.47

TOTAL SHOTS

Reign: 15

Current: 6

SHOTS ON TARGET

Reign: 4

Current: 3

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Reign: 6

Current: 2

SHOTS BLOCKED

Reign: 5

Current: 1

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Reign: 6

Current: 4

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Reign: 16

Current: 16

PASSES

Reign: 432

Current: 352

PASSING ACCURACY

Reign: 78.7%

Current: 69.3%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 100

Current: 103

PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 62%

Current: 45.6%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Reign: 10

Current: 9

CORNERS TAKEN

Reign: 1

Current: 4

OFFSIDES

Reign: 1

Current: 2

FOULS

Reign: 15

Current: 10

YELLOW CARDS

Reign: 1

Current: 1

RED CARDS

Reign: 0

Current: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the match and playing in Spokane:

I thought in the first half we were excellent. Really did everything we asked them to do. Stuck to the gameplan, executed brilliantly on both sides of the ball. It was the first time I'd been to the stadium, so it had a little bit of a nostalgic feel to me. I know it's new, but it was quite intimate, the field being a little smaller, I actually love that. So yeah, it was great. The first half performance was fantastic.

On what changed offensively from last week:

Honestly, I think no one was more upset about Friday than we were. But I think what we knew was Friday wasn't who we are. And you know, we can put it to bed now, but also no one really knows what we went through prior to Friday to get to the game with all the travel stuff from Orlando. And I've said this multiple times, when everybody's sort of off, you know that there's more going on than just people's performances, but I think what you saw in the Orlando game and what you saw tonight is truly the team that I believe we have – creating goal scoring opportunities, making it really hard for the opponent on the other end of the field. That's who we really want to be and we'd shown that all preseason. And Friday was just too much in such a really turbulent week for us, but tonight and I think the Orlando game are really the team that we are.

More on what the team didn't do well last game that worked against KC:

We didn't create enough overloads in the wide areas on Friday. And two of the goals came from that today. There's no one better in this league at crossing the ball from those positions than Sof[ia Huerta]. That's why she's got the records that she's got and the assists that she's got. So really happy for her, but really happy for the team that they could see that the stuff we'd spoken about going into Portland and post-Portland; if we do it, we can create goal-scoring opportunities.

Sofia Huerta and Claudia Dickey 

Thoughts on playing in Spokane:

Huerta: It was fun. The stadium was nice. A small, intimate stadium is different from what we're used to, because Lumen's obviously a bigger stadium. I would say we had a pretty good time tonight.

Dickey: We've been away so much that this kind of felt, when we were coming into it, a little bit like it was going to feel like an away game in terms of not knowing how many fans we were going to get, and the stadium's different, and we don't get sleep in our beds. But we go out there tonight and we perform like that I think is a credit to all of us, especially after last Friday. Obviously the fans that did come out, we're so appreciative of all that and I think it made it feel like it was a home game even though all of us kind of were a little nervous about that going in.

On Huerta extending her assist record:

Dickey: I see Sof in training every single day play those balls. And I think it's about time we got her a few more assists. It's been a few years of not getting enough. So I mean, I'm proud of her. I'm proud of the team. For us to go finish those goals against such a good team, I think it's a credit to us.

On Claudia Dickey setting the club shutout record:

Huerta: In terms of Claudia, I mean, you saw her make several saves tonight. Phenomenal goalkeeper. We love her. I say goalkeeper of the year. I think I'm calling it now. So, we're lucky to have her.

What the team changed from last match:

Huerta: I think last week, we lacked a little patience and quality. We talked about how the moment they got the red card, we just felt like we had to score, and we were forcing a lot of balls into their box when it wasn't on. This week, even though it was a short week, we talked a lot about having a little bit more patience, creating overloads, not always taking the 1v1 but waiting to create a 2v1. I'm proud of the team. Three goals in one half is very, very good. I wish we could have scored more, but happy to get the win.

What Brittany Ratcliffe brings to the team:

Huerta: Brit's awesome. She's always been a player that you hate to play against because she's very tenacious, she's fast, she wants to score, she's good defensively. And on top of the great soccer player that she is, she's such a cool person. She came in and immediately fit in with the team. I think she has that mentality of, she's always gonna work hard, she's very outgoing, she just fit in perfectly.

On the partnership with Emeri Adames on the right side and how it opened up space for her:

Huerta: Emeri, she's a very good player, but sometimes I feel like she always wants to just go, go. Her and I have talked about this a lot, where if she just has a little bit more patience and she just waits for me to get up, then we can create a 2v1 and either she can cross the ball or I can cross the ball. And that's something we had happen a couple times this week and we talked about it and she really took that in. And that's what's so good about our young players and especially Emeri, is that when I say something to them, or the coach says something to them, they're always going to take it in and want to get better. So you saw that play out today. I think maybe last week Emeri would have just served balls in when it wasn't on, but she had patience. She put her foot on the ball and she waited to see what presented next, and then she played with the ball. So, it worked out really well. I love playing with Emeri, I think she's grown a lot over the last three years, and I'm very excited to see what she does.