Reign vs. Louisville: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign continued their successful home series in Spokane on Saturday afternoon, earning a 2-1 win over Racing Louisville.

Maddie Mercado opened the scoring in the 10th minute, sneaking a shot under Racing goalkeeper Jordan Bloomer. Nérilia Mondésir doubled the lead off a nice assist from Ainsley McCammon. The Reign gave up a goal with seconds left in the match, ruining the clean sheet but walking away with a win.

The Reign (3-1-0) complete their three-game homestand in Spokane next Saturday, April 4, when they host expansion club Denver Summit (1-1-2). The game kicks off at 5:45 p.m. PT and will air on ION.

Reign strike early, beat Racing Louisville 2-1

Mercado and Mondésir scored in the first half and the Reign held off a late blitz to secure all three points.

Sounder at HeartJune Ash Eden

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

10' - Maddie Mercado (Assisted by Sam Meza) - SEA

41' - Nérilia Mondésir (Assisted by Ainsley McCammon) - SEA

90+4' - Macy Blackburn (Assisted by Sarah Weber) - LOU

LINEUPS

69' - Sally Menti for Emeri Adames; Brittany Ratcliffe for Holly Ward

79' - Angharad James-Turner for Ainsley McCammon

84' - Ryanne Brown for Phoebe McClernon

65’ - Audrey Mckeen for Taylor White

77‎’‎ - Avery Kalitta for Macey Hodge; Rachel Hill for Ella Hase

87’ - Macy Blackburn for Kayla Fischer

POSSESSION

Reign: 56.3%

Louisville: 43.7%

EXPECTED GOALS

Reign: 0.83

Louisville: 1.33

TOTAL SHOTS

Reign: 6

Louisville: 19

SHOTS ON TARGET

Reign: 2

Louisville: 6

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Reign: 2

Louisville: 7

SHOTS BLOCKED

Reign: 2

Louisville: 6

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Reign: 3

Louisville: 13

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Reign: 9

Louisville: 30

PASSES

Reign: 439

Louisville: 333

PASSING ACCURACY

Reign: 83.4%

Louisville: 78.7%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 84

Louisville: 89

PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 57.1%

Louisville: 57.3%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Reign: 5

Louisville: 12

CORNERS TAKEN

Reign: 1

Louisville: 2

OFFSIDES

Reign: 1

Louisville: 2

FOULS

Reign: 10

Louisville: 11

YELLOW CARDS

Reign: 0

Louisville: 1

RED CARDS

Reign: 0

Louisville: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

Thoughts on the game:

I thought again in the first half we played some really good stuff. Maybe a little fortunate on the first goal, but the old saying, if you don't shoot, you don't score. And Louisville are a really difficult team to prepare for because they have a lot of aerial threats. They're normally quite direct off most of their play. I think Taylor Flint playing a little bit lower, we hadn't really planned for. She hasn't really played as a centerback very much. But even though I think they they got into our final third more than we got into theirs, they had more shots than we had, they weren't really that dangerous shots until maybe later in the game. And we obviously made changes to try and see the game out. That's something that we still need to keep working on, on how we can sort of see games out maybe a little bit better. Obviously disappointed to concede late in the game. But it's so interesting how the group responded at the end cuz they were very happy with the three points, but immediately they're like, "We want to see the goal. We want to know what we could do better at." And I think that says a lot about our group right now, is they're just not happy and satisfied. they always want to try for more, and I said to the said to the group at the end I think we've had a really challenging two weeks for many, many reasons, and to come out of that with nine points out of the four games I think is a is a huge positive for us and a huge area that we can continue to build from now.

On the team's build-out against Louisville:

Our buildout is a progress thing that we know every game it's going to look different depending on what the opponent does. We expected them to maybe press a little bit higher. So we had to come up with some solutions on ways that we could break them. We tried a few things in the first half. We solidified what we wanted to do at halftime. We came out in the second half, I felt we did a little bit better at it in the second half. They changed again. So it was a little bit of chess at times. But I think again that's an evolution of our team is that there's just not one way we want to play. There's multiple ways we can play. And it's just seeing the pictures and seeing what the opponent's giving us and being able to adapt to that. And I thought we did a good job of that.

On the experience in Spokane:

I think really happy. I said this on Wednesday. It's got a bit of nostalgia feel to me. It reminds me of when we used to play at Memorial Stadium. It's quite intimate and the field's a little bit narrower and a little bit shorter. And it's been great. I think the fans have really embraced us, you know, with a lot of the things we've been doing in the community away from the games to try and get people to come out and watch us. And you can just tell that they're excited to see us, which has been amazing. And we're looking forward to going back to our own beds for sure. But we'll be happy to get back on a plane on Friday and come back out here and hopefully put on another good performance.

On Mondesir's performances this season:

Yeah, I think Coco made really big strides last year. She maybe just didn't get the the reward that she deserved from that progress. The offseason's been different for Coco. She wasn't able to go home [to Haiti], so she spent the majority of time in Seattle. And we're seeing I think the positive of that, is all she had to do in the offseason because she couldn't go home was train and prepare for season, and she's come in fit and strong and healthy. She looks like she could play every minute of every game. And this league's challenging. It's always been challenging for anyone coming who's new to it. And I think Coco has shown that she has the talent and now she has the physical capabilities to compete in it game in game out. And I'm so happy for her that she got a goal today because I think she fully deserved that as well.

Sam Meza and Ainsley McCammon

Thoughts on the win:

McCammon: Obviously, it's been a crazy couple weeks, but to come out and in the first half, I think getting like finishing on our chances was really big for us. It was interesting because we were trying to find a different way to build out, but once we found those patterns, I think we were super successful, and I think it was just a great team performance all around.

Meza: Yeah, I would agree to that. Anytime you can get three points, it's massive. Anytime you can get six points in a week is also huge. So, we're obviously super stoked about that. Overall, I just think this group is special. I think we've obviously dealt with a lot. You know, not to bring it back up, but the Orlando trip was a lot and you don't realize how much that can affect later on through the week, especially when we're not home and whatever. All of those aspects do kind of at some point affect you, but I think ultimately show we've all come collectively to deal with it and we've just kind of set our mind to take it and just run with it and just try our best. And yeah, this group is just really really special. 

On the Spokane experience:

Meza: Yeah, obviously, like you said we're not really home, but the fans have been great and I think as a collective, I think we've taken the opportunity to still get the job done. And I think obviously that's super, super big. And ultimately for us, we're just trying to get three points wherever it is. 

On Ainsley McCammon's first NWSL assist:

McCammon: We've been talking a lot about winning first and second balls and our shape behind the ball. So I think after we won that I think Maddie's [Mercado] ball to me was great. We talked about how the weak side pocket was going to be on. And obviously I had a ton of space, so it's props to Maddie for finding that pass. But I saw Coco running behind and I was like, "Oh, I know she's going to finish this." And just got a pass in and she finished. It was a great finish from her. So, I think I was just super happy to be in that position and it's kudos to the whole team because it wouldn't have happened without all of them.

On if the assist gives her more confidence in the attack:

McCammon: I think it gives me a ton of confidence. I think the whole team is so supportive. So, having that and then having them pushing me to get better, but then also getting good performances under my belt definitely helps. But I'm just so excited to see what else this team can do. Obviously, we're only at the beginning of this season and it's already been crazy and also we've gotten some really big wins. So, I'm just so excited to see what the team can do and I'm excited to contribute as much as I can.