After three "home" matches in Spokane and their first true home match in Seattle, the Reign ventured out on the road with a trip to Houston to face the Dash. The Reign were looking for a better performance following an extremely disappointing 3-0 loss to the Utah Royals at Lumen Field.
Battling some very wet and rainy conditions, Seattle was much more composed on Friday night against the Dash. They created several strong chances, but couldn't find the back of the net — in part due to some strong saves from Jane Campbell.
The Reign were solid defensively, forcing a high-pressing and strong-attacking Dash to take shots from distance. Claudia Dickey also came up big when needed.
Seattle Reign (3-2-2) are back at home next weekend, hosting the Washington Spirit (3-1-3) at Lumen Field. That game kicks off Sunday, May 10, at 4 p.m. PT and will air on Victory+.
June Ash Eden
Highlights
Stats
SCORING SUMMARY
N/ A
LINEUPS
All set ⚔️ Here's is tonight's starting XI vs Houston. Lineup Notes ➡️ rgnfc.com/3QNegPK
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) May 1, 2026 at 4:20 PM
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66' - Nérilia Mondésir for Maddie Dahlien; Sally Menti for Mia Fishel
81' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Emeri Adames; Angharad James for Ainsley McCammon
62’ - Clarissa Larisey for Kate Faasse; Paige Nielsen for Lisa Boattin
73’ - Cate Hardin for Danielle Colaprico; Sarah Puntigam for Maggie Graham
81’ - Messiah Bright for Kiki van Zanten
POSSESSION
Dash: 47.8%
Reign: 52.2%
EXPECTED GOALS
Dash: 1.12
Reign: 1.43
TOTAL SHOTS
Dash: 20
Reign: 16
SHOTS ON TARGET
Dash: 5
Reign: 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Dash: 7
Reign: 6
SHOTS BLOCKED
Dash: 8
Reign: 5
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Dash: 9
Reign: 10
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Dash: 24
Reign: 23
PASSES
Dash: 373
Reign: 409
PASSING ACCURACY
Dash: 75.6%
Reign: 78.7%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Dash: 120
Reign: 95
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Dash: 69.2%
Reign: 57.9%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Dash: 14
Reign: 14
CORNERS TAKEN
Dash: 5
Reign: 7
OFFSIDES
Dash: 1
Reign: 2
FOULS
Dash: 11
Reign: 10
YELLOW CARDS
Dash: 0
Reign: 4
RED CARDS
Dash: 0
Reign: 0
Houston Dash: 0 (1.2 xG) vs Seattle Reign FC: 0 (1.43 xG) #HOUvSEA | #HoustonDash | #HerefortheCrown | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) May 1, 2026 at 7:45 PM
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g+ GameFlow: NWSL Regular Season Houston Dash v Seattle Reign on May 01, 2026. #HOUvRGN ⚽️🤖
— g+ GameFlow (@gameflow.bsky.social) May 1, 2026 at 7:27 PM
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Quotes
Laura Harvey
Thoughts on the game:
I think it's a little bit of a mixture of ... really happy to get a clean sheet. Obviously after last week, we really wanted to make sure that we didn't give up anything sloppy or give them any opportunities. I don't think we did that. And then a little bit disappointed that we didn't take the chances that we created. And then a second layer to that is that that we didn't create even more chances in some relatively good opportunities that we got into. And probably a point is a fair result, but really proud of the group. They responded in a way that we wanted them to. It's just that little bit of quality in the final third. You guys have heard this from me a million times, goals change games, and I think in that first half if we'd taken one of a few chances that we had – I'm thinking like Mia's, Jane Campbell made a fantastic save off Maddie Curry, Sammy's header that goes past the post – you know, those little ones. Mia loses her footing in the second half when that ball rolls across the six. There was just little ones where we could have turned them into really good opportunities and that was a little bit like last week. So, I think that's the disappointing level, but really proud of the group on their work rate and effort and commitment to wanting to not concede goals because that's going to hold you in really good stead moving forward in the season.
On her message to the team:
You guys have heard me say this, too. I think if we weren't creating tons of chances, we created chances in the Denver game, we created chances in the Utah game, created chances tonight. If we weren't creating chances, I would be more worried. The fact that we are creating chances, and I think even tonight, the bit that we need to keep working on is like, do we need to go quickly? Do we need to be a little bit patient? Do we need to force that that killer pass or can we find a couple more passes to get it from being a half chance into a really good chance? I would be more concerned if we weren't creating chances, but we are. And yeah, I think that that's going to hold us in good stead moving forward.
On Mia Fishel's performance:
I think again very similar to the Orlando game, I think it's that final piece now with Mia that when she gets into those goal scoring opportunities, we want her to get that that little monkey off her back to get that first goal. I said to her oh, you lost your footing in in that second half. And she said, Yeah, but she was more disappointed with her chance in the first half, which says a lot about her. That's that's the type of player that she is. She wants to keep improving. She wants to be better. Her hold-up play is exceptional. So good. She brings people into the game really really well. Her defensive effort is brilliant. And that little final piece will come. I totally believe in that.
On the team dealing with a flu bug:
Honestly, everyone pretty much woke up better than they felt yesterday, but I have never been to Houston and been this cold in my life. It was absolutely freezing tonight. It was obviously torrentially downpouring all day and I think it was like 50° in the game. So unfortunately, touch wood, I'm hoping that everyone can get in the shower, a hot shower, and get it off and quick. But for those that have a bit of sickness, I'm sure tonight did not help them. So the good thing is we've got time now. We travel tomorrow, the players have a day off, and then we can focus back in on Washington with it being on a Sunday. Hopefully we can get everybody out of this little period that they're in and feel better going into next week.
Phoebe McClernon and Maddie Mercado
Thoughts on the game:
McClernon: I think from my perspective, we got out a clean sheet there in the second half. I think we had the better of the opportunities in the first half, but that's what happens when you don't put a team away. There's all this stuff. And I think we showed a lot of grit and determination, and I think it was a good response from last week. Obviously, there's a lot of things to work on, but I think it was a full team performance, so we'll take the positives where we can.
Mercado: Piggybacking off of what Phoebe said, obviously a clean sheet is great. We’d love a clean clean sheet every weekend. If we can do that, that's a goal for us. I think attacking wise, we were the better of the two teams. I think we created more opportunities. So, I think it it comes down to now this next week we talked about, when we're doing extras and finishing work and stuff, it's just the final details in and around the goal.
On the 3+ game goal-scoring drought:
Mercado: Yeah, I think once one comes, they're all going to start coming. I think that's kind of the nature of goals in a way. Especially in this league, I think once we kind of find our footing around the goal, that's typically when, I think the goals will start coming, but like I said before, I think it's on us as a forward line and midfield line to have quality in front of goal. I think we're creating enough chances and we need to be able to put one or two away. So, that's on us and that's something that we're definitely, I know, going to be working on a lot in the next couple weeks.
If the team feels like this was a big improvement from Utah:
McClernon: Yeah, I think, optimistically, I want to say last week was a fluke. I don't think that was the standard that we had set throughout the rest of the season. I don't think you're going to play a season as long as ours and have a perfect game every week and people are going to make mistakes, but it's about how you respond. And I think we didn't have the turnovers that we had last week that put us in bad positions. So, it was just good to see everybody out there and focused and just kind of controlling the things that we're able to control so that we can be in the best position to walk away from Houston with points. Road points are hard to get.
