Reign vs. Summit: Highlights, stats, quotes

Seattle Reign completed their three-game homestand in Spokane with a match against a tough expansion side, Denver Summit, which had earned points against some of the league's top teams. While both sides had quality chances, their defenses stood firm, and the match resulted in a scoreless draw.

The Reign (3-1-1) picked up seven of a possible nine points in Spokane and will now have a much-needed two-week break during a FIFA international window. When the FIFA break concludes, the Reign will finally be at Lumen Field for their first Seattle home match of the season. They'll face the Utah Royals (2-2-1) on Sunday, April 26, at 5 p.m. PT. That game will air on Victory+.

Seattle Reign fight Denver Summit to 0-0 draw

Scoreless in Spokane, the Reign and the Summit played to a tense draw.

Sounder at HeartJune Ash Eden

Highlights

Stats

SCORING SUMMARY

No goals

LINEUPS

66' - Sally Menti for Jess Fishlock; Ainsley McCammon for Angharad James-Turner

77' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Emeri Adames

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60’ - Ayo Oke for Yuna McCormack; Emma Regan for Devin Lynch

90+1‎’‎ - Olivia Thomas for Melissa Kössler; Natalie Means for Carson Pickett

POSSESSION

Reign: 47.3%

Summit: 52.7%

EXPECTED GOALS

Reign: 0.99

Summit: 1.21

TOTAL SHOTS

Reign: 12

Summit: 18

SHOTS ON TARGET

Reign: 3

Summit: 3

SHOTS OFF TARGET

Reign: 2

Summit: 7

SHOTS BLOCKED

Reign: 7

Summit: 8

SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX

Reign: 10

Summit: 13

TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX

Reign: 20

Summit: 34

PASSES

Reign: 391

Summit: 422

PASSING ACCURACY

Reign: 78.8%

Summit: 81.3%

PASSES IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 86

Summit: 133

PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD

Reign: 53.5%

Summit: 69.2%

CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)

Reign: 9

Summit: 18

CORNERS TAKEN

Reign: 6

Summit: 8

OFFSIDES

Reign: 4

Summit: 1

FOULS

Reign: 5

Summit: 9

YELLOW CARDS

Reign: 0

Summit: 0

RED CARDS

Reign: 0

Summit: 0

Quotes

Laura Harvey

On the team's offense in their three Spokane games:

Yeah, I mean, we still created chances tonight. The game had a lot of swings in momentum. They're a good team. I think we've learned a lot about ourselves in all five games that we've played. It's been a really challenging four weeks. The rest now in the FIFA break is going to be nice. I think still tonight, maybe it wasn't our best performance, but we still created chances in periods where if you take one of them, I think we could see the game out. So yeah, really proud of the players. I think they have put in an unbelievable shift over five games. And now I just said to them at the end, I don't think we need to look at this game in its isolation. I think we need to look at all five games and learn from all five games in different ways.

We said from preseason, we want to create more chances. We did that again tonight. Maybe we didn't convert the ones that we should have done, but creation, I believe, is getting much better than it's been before. We just need to keep that going.

On Emily Mason's strong performances in Spokane:

She's been great. I think obviously Portland rocked all of us. That game rocked all of us. But to come back after that and get a clean sheet against Kansas City was, I think, huge for all of us. But I think for Mason, it was really big. And look, I think the backline have been super. I think throughout all five games, the Portland game is its little own thing. We've done really well on both sides of the ball, I think. So yeah, really proud of Mason. I think she's done a great job. It's difficult. I think their number nine [Melissa Kössler] for me right now is one of the best number nines in the league. She's really hard to play against. And we did a good job against her.

On Denver getting momentum in the second half:

I think that's a growth area for us. It hasn't happened this year really for us. And I think two parts, even though we maybe bent, we didn't break. We obviously didn't concede a goal, which was great. We didn't really ... Claudia didn't have to make too many saves in that period that were big saves, which again, says a lot about where we're at as a team, but that's an area that we would definitely focus on ... is how when a team has momentum, how you can get it back. I felt we could have been a little bit better on the ball. We tried to shift our defending shape and get someone higher and that didn't really work. So we just need to fine-tune some things. And like I said, I don't think that's in isolation in this game. The momentum hasn't shifted this much in a game where we've been even.

So I think we can look at it and we can improve on it. And honestly, the players are already talking about it, which says a lot about our group, is we've come out of here, we're tired and exhausted, but they're already thinking about how they can be better for the next thing. And that would definitely be a topic for us.

On Janine Sonis being a threat and how the Reign responded with their defensive shape:

What we'd seen of Denver leading up to the game is that Janine Sonis gets higher in the build. Early in the first half, she didn't do that as much, which meant that Maddie Curry couldn't get pressure on her. When she could, it stopped all that threat. So we tweaked our defending a little bit and told Coco [Nerilia Mondesir] to just stay a little bit lower for longer and let Jess and Maddie deal with the centerbacks a little bit more. I think that's where that came from. But as the game got stretched, those centerbacks started to get higher and higher, and we wanted to get a little bit more pressure, hence why we pushed Maddie Mercado higher. But still then when that happened, our midfield has got to react to that, and we couldn't quite solve that. So we went back to just letting the centerbacks have it. And we got some joy in the counters in that sort of last 5-10 minutes of the game where Brit, Sally, we got some momentum going forward. So again, little things that we can look at, but that was the plan.

On Maddie Mercado's performances in the striker role:

I think Maddie's been superb over the last four games. She's put a shift in. She works really hard on both sides of the ball. She's a threat in the box aerially and on the ground and she holds up the ball really well. And even late in the game, you saw just getting that one pass to get the second pass can just trigger things. Mia [Fishel] was brilliant at doing that against Orlando, and Maddie's had to take that mantle on. And I just said to the players then, we've had five games in four weeks. We now get time to take a breather, but then we've got a massive six games before the summer break where – fingers crossed – we can get people healthy and fit and fresh so we can real have good competition within the team and we're not dragging Maddie through 90 minutes. We're hopefully being able to utilize other people in those roles. But I think she's been brilliant. And again, tonight she comes off and at the end of the game then she's just frustrated. She didn't take her chances, which I'll take that all day. I think I'll really take it, but sometimes you just have to remind them about where we're at and the journey that we're on so that we can keep improving every day.

Phoebe McClernon and Madison Curry

 On Denver shifting momentum in the second half:

Curry: I think momentum always changes the games, and I thought Denver did a good job at handling that at the beginning of the second half. I thought we dug in and didn't concede, which is really important in those times, and we turned the momentum around at the end of the game. Obviously, we could be better in a lot of ways than we were tonight, but I think we're really proud of the four games we put together on this first stretch of games.

On the team's defensive performance:

McClernon: I think that team is probably one of the more exceptional teams in terms of their ability to score from crossing situations. And I think we did an incredible job of shutting them down when we were inside our own 18. So I think that's something that we can take a ton of pride in. And I also just think that we're a gritty defensive team. I think we have players all over the field who want to get stuck in. And maybe the next evolution of that is just the decision after we create that turnover.

On getting 7 points in three Spokane games:

Curry: I think we've been through it all in these first five games. There's nothing that we haven't faced, quite honestly. And what we've learned about ourselves was that we're resilient and we take what we can from each game and each situation that is completely out of our control and totally within our control and we're accountable and vulnerable, whether it's on the film room, how we feel each day, and we show up for each other when the times get hard. And I think this home away from home served us well when we really dug into that mentality. We're not going to lose three home games because it's a flight away. So I'm proud of us for seven out of nine points.

On Emily Mason's performance:

McClernon: I think Mason is a great player. I think that we've known that since she was here last year. And I think it really speaks to Mas's character the way that she stepped into that role when JB [Jordyn Bugg] went down. And I think that there's nothing but good things that could come from multiple players being competitive in the same position. I think that's your dream situation on a team. So regardless of who's healthy or what that starting lineup looks like, I think that we're all better.

On Denver getting chances on the right wing through Janine Sonis:

Curry: I think we prepare for each team and how we think that they're going to play. And obviously they don't always play that way. So when teams do something different than what our game plan suggested, we're amendable. We change and we evolve and we try to fix the things that maybe hurt us more in the first half. And at halftime, we look at some clips and get together and say what we need to do better. And a lot of that's just a mental and technical execution on our part. If we were cleaner, then we could have stopped a lot of those things that happened for them.