Reign win weather-delayed opener over Orlando, 2-1

The theme of NWSL opening weekend for the Seattle Reign was delays, but after several lengthy ones they emerged with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over the Orlando Pride. Jess Fishlock opened the scoring for the Reign in the 24th minute, Barbra Banda equalized for the hosts in the 51st minute, and Brittany Ratcliffe scored in her Reign debut in the 83rd minute.

First, the Reign were held up at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport while traveling to Florida, sitting on the tarmac for over 4-1/2 hours on Friday due to snow in the area wreaking havoc with flight schedules. Then severe weather arrived during the game on Sunday, forcing a delay of nearly three hours at halftime while lightning lingered in the area before the second half could be played.

In the end the club emerged with all three points and finishes the week in 5th place on tiebreakers due to picking up four yellow cards during the game.

WHAT WORKED: VETERANS STEPPING UP

Death, taxes, Jess Fishlock scoring in the NWSL. After a big defensive stop at the other end, the Reign worked the ball forward quickly. Nerilia Mondesir drew attention in the middle of the field before threading a nicely weighted pass to Fishlock, who turned and slipped between her defenders to give herself space, then hammered a shot past Anna Moorhouse from 16 yards out for the first goal of the year.

Second-half sub Brittany Ratcliffe also showed the value in having a seasoned vet available to shake things up, as the Reign had been pinned back in their own end for much of the second half and were struggling to connect passes on the wet pitch.  Ratcliffe was able to settle the ball, weight her passes effectively, and was in the right spot to head home Mondesir’s cross to reclaim the lead.

WHAT WORKED: A MORE FEISTY ATTACK

Seattle set the tone from the opening whistle, with Mia Fishel nearly scoring less than a minute into the game as the team worked the ball in tight spaces, shooting early and often. Playing in their more traditional 4-3-3 formation, the Reign maintained a high press which kept Orlando unsettled. Nerilia Mondesir was all over the attacking half of the field, linking up with teammates and finding space between the Pride lines to create danger. She was rewarded with assists on both goals and had perhaps her most complete performance as a Reign player. 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: EARLY-SEASON RUST

This game had all the hallmarks of an early-season contest, even before the lengthy halftime weather delay. Passes were out of sync, defensive assignments were missed, and some sloppy yellow cards resulted from frantic defending and late tackles. If not for some last-ditch tackles and scrambles, the Pride could have scored a couple of goals in the first half, and a questionable foul call on a Pride corner late in the first half erased a sure Orlando goal, thanks to the Reign leaving a player completely unmarked on the back post. An early caution to Emily Mason for a hard tackle on Barbra Banda meant she had to be less aggressive in challenging when Banda charged up field with the ball in the second half, leading to the Pride goal.

After the second half finally started, the Reign were struggling to effectively weight their passes on the slick pitch, while Orlando took control of the game and found seams in the Reign defense which required some desperate defending aided by a couple of poorly placed shots by Pride attackers.

WHAT WORKED: SPONSORED CONTENT

Quotes

“You saw what this group is willing to give to each other.”

Head coach Laura Harvey opened her postgame remarks talking about how much adversity the team had overcome on this trip, and how important it was for them to dig in and find a way to get through it.

“I think what you saw tonight is what this group is willing to give to each other. That it doesn't even start today. Our travel day, we sat for 5 hours on the runway because of the snow in Seattle. We didn't get to Orlando until late. Yesterday's training was like baking hot, and then obviously the weather delay today, but I've said this a lot about this club. When this type of stuff happens, it tends to be when we show up as our best selves, but total credit to the whole group.

During the weather delay, they were discussing things that they could get better at. and it was really hard. We went out for warm up. The girls had started warming up and the thunder and lightning happened again. So we all had to come in and we were drenched and cold and wet. You know, a 39 year old Jess Fishlock's body doesn't tend to do great after a 45 minute game and then sitting down for 3 hours… we didn't come out after the weather break the same as what we'd done in the first half, but credit to the players, they dug in, they showed some grit, they showed some personality, and you know, so happy for Britt getting the winner and then for us to see it out the way we did, I thought we did brilliantly.”

“There’s gonna be moments where you have to defend and you have to grind it out.”

Substitute and game-winning goal scorer Brittany Ratcliffe was asked what she saw of the game before coming in, and how she thought she and the other subs could be gamechangers as the field tilted more toward Orlando in the second half.

“I think every game, it's 90 minutes long, there's gonna be ebbs and flows, there's gonna be moments where you have the ball where you have to defend and you have to grind it out, and as a sub, you can kind of see the field from like a, a third party objective, and so we can like focus on things and honestly, at the end of the day, as subs, we need to call ourselves game changers, we need to go in and change the game, whatever that means, whether that's bringing energy, whether that's keeping the ball, whether that's just running and defending and getting a hard tackle in. I think that's just what is asked of us, whatever our role is… it's a 90 minute game and we need everyone.”

It’s a quick turnaround for the Reign, who fly back to Seattle tomorrow and have a short week before the first Cascadia clash of the year in Portland on Friday night. That game kicks off at 7 PM PT and will air on Prime Video.