Seattle Reign finally found their goals and earned a 2-1 road win over the Boston Legacy in their first meeting with the expansion team. Sofia Huerta buried a penalty in the 11th minute after a handball in the box, and early in the second half, Maddie Dahlien volleyed in Madison Curry's pinpoint cross following a corner kick. The Reign gave up a late goal in the 94th minute, but held on for an important win.
Seattle (4-4-2, 14 points) will stay on the East Coast for the week, as they close out the first part of their season against the Washington Spirit (5-2-3, 18 points) on Saturday, May 30. That game kicks off at 3:30 p.m. PT and will air on ION. Following that match, the league takes a month-long break for the FIFA Men's World Cup.
Highlights
Stats
SCORING SUMMARY
11' - Sofia Huerta (Penalty) - SEA
51' - Maddie Dahlien (Assisted by Madison Curry) - SEA
94' - Aïssata Traoré (Assisted by Emerson Elgin) - BOS
LINEUPS
Our starting XI for tonight's first-ever match vs Boston 🔥 Lineup Notes ➡️ rgnfc.com/4o3Fqi5
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 4:04 PM · May 22, 2026
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71' - Mia Fishel for Sally Menti; Emily Mason for Jordyn Bugg; Nerilia Mondesir for Holly Ward
89' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Maddie Dahlien
Our first XI in RI 🌊
— Boston Legacy FC (@bostonlegacyfc.com) 4:02 PM · May 22, 2026
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64' - Amanda Gutierres for Sammy Smith; Laís Araújo for Laurel Ansbrow; Nicolette Hernández for Barbara Olivieri
81' - Aleigh Gambone for Jorelyn Carabalí
POSSESSION
Legacy: 55.2%
Reign: 44.8%
EXPECTED GOALS
Legacy: 1.67
Reign: 1.63
TOTAL SHOTS
Legacy: 15
Reign: 12
SHOTS ON TARGET
Legacy: 5
Reign: 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Legacy: 8
Reign: 3
SHOTS BLOCKED
Legacy: 2
Reign: 4
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Legacy: 11
Reign: 10
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Legacy: 25
Reign: 21
PASSES
Legacy: 434
Reign: 348
PASSING ACCURACY
Legacy: 78.6%
Reign: 75.6%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Legacy: 124
Reign: 70
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Legacy: 68.5%
Reign: 64.3%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Legacy: 17
Reign: 13
CORNERS TAKEN
Legacy: 4
Reign: 7
OFFSIDES
Legacy: 1
Reign: 4
FOULS
Legacy: 11
Reign: 16
YELLOW CARDS
Legacy: 0
Reign: 1
RED CARDS
Legacy: 0
Reign: 0
g+ GameFlow: NWSL Regular Season Boston Legacy FC v Seattle Reign on May 22, 2026. #BOSvRGN ⚽️🤖
— g+ GameFlow (@gameflow.bsky.social) 8:03 PM · May 22, 2026
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Boston Legacy FC: 1 (1.67 xG) vs Seattle Reign FC: 2 (1.63 xG) #BOSvSEA | #Legacy | #HerefortheCrown | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) 7:46 PM · May 22, 2026
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Quotes
Laura Harvey
On breaking the goal-scoring drought:
Yeah, I think exactly that. I think scoring early was good. I think it settled us down. I thought we had some really good performances today. I thought as a collective we knew that there was non-negotiables we had to do, which was we worked really hard, defend for our lives at times. And then the group's disappointed at the end to concede late. So we spoke about it and said, "It will be a good lesson for us. And when you win, you can really dissect those moments." But anyone who's been following us over the last five weeks knows that tonight was about getting three points and you saw it in some of the performances. Maddie Dahlien, Maddie Mercado, or the whole frontline, the people that started and the people that came on just worked so hard. Ainsley [McCammon] and Haz [Angharad James-Turner], I thought did such a good shift centrally in midfield. And then the backline were so disappointed at the end to concede. So I think that says exactly how they felt about the game.
On the importance of this road victory against a team close to them in points:
Honestly, I didn't look at the table or anything prior to this. I think the run we've been on, not being able to take chances, not being able to score goals – points don't matter if you can't do those things. So breaking that tonight was great. And I think getting three points on top of that is so crucial for us right now, for us to now go on the road. We're staying on the road to go to DC next week, which is a really difficult place to go. Off the back of this, we can work on some of the things that we maybe weren't as happy with tonight this week, but in a mindset that we know that we're still continuing to keep pushing and we're not the finished article, but we will continue to develop, game in, game out. And you could sense a little bit of relief at the end of the game from the group of just finally getting over the line and getting three points.
On playing the first NWSL game in Rhode Island:
Well, I'd never been to this state either, so I'd tick that off my list. So that was cool. We trained here yesterday. The stadium's great. I don't know when it was built, but it seems pretty modern and the atmosphere tonight was fantastic. And obviously we sort of felt this going to Spokane. It's a little bit different, but the crowd turned up for Boston tonight, which was great and thankfully we were able to silence them a little bit.
On Maddie Dahlien's performance:
I said to her at the end of the game, she maybe didn't get on the ball as much as she wanted. I can't think of loads of time she touched the ball, but she was so effective defensively. Her work rate was phenomenal and all those little things that you don't see on the stat sheet, you don't necessarily see it on broadcast, but she works so hard tonight. The thing you know about Maddie Dahlien, she's a winner. She cares deeply about winning and I think you saw that tonight in her performance.
On Maddie Mercado's performance:
Exactly what she did, holding the ball up. Maddie, I think, played the most minutes out of any forward in the team. And I think at the end of the Washington game and then going into the Gotham game, she was just tired and not like tired, fatigue. It wasn't like drama, but for someone like her and the game that she plays, she needs to be able to be physically strong and hold the ball up. And I thought tonight she did that superbly well, got knocked about hard, challenges all over the place, but she kept doing it and doing it and doing it. And then obviously to be able to bring Mia [Fishel] on to help her with that was great. And I think that that's when teams press like Boston did, we knew that they're very aggressive in their press. They're pretty man-for-man all over. You've got to be willing to take that hit, and Maddie was willing to take it and I thought did a great job.
On the team's culture to overcome their recent challenges:
I think you can have vulnerability and be brutally honest and really dig in if you have good culture. If you don't have good culture, sometimes those things can mean that people turn outward and they turn against each other a little bit. That did not happen this week. It hadn't happened in the last five games. It's been very much about ... we felt after the Gotham game we were at a crossroads of we couldn't keep saying the same things and keep doing the same things. We needed to go a little bit deeper than that and our culture allows us to do that. And it gets tested. There's no doubt it gets strained. But when you have good culture, ultimately the people in that room care, you can come out the other side of it. And I think you saw that tonight in not only the win, but how we got the win, the work rate of people willingness to put their body on the line, willingness to do whatever it takes to score a goal. I think you saw that tonight.
Sofia Huerta and Maddie Dahlien
On what worked offensively:
Huerta: I think before the game we really focused on just going back to the basics, not overcomplicating it, getting stuck in, having pride in keeping the ball and winning it back when you lose it and just doing the little things right. And when you do that and you stop overcomplicating it, then good things happen, which you saw in the game tonight. Both our goals were in my ... Well, leading up to the PK, it was quality. Haz played a great ball into Maddie. Maddie contested, obviously got a handball. And then the goal was great. I mean, MC [Madison Curry] plays a ball in and Maddie's on the end of it. So I think tonight we recognize that it hasn't been easy the last five games. It's been really hard. It's really difficult to get out of that, but we just stayed true to who we are and wanted to show everyone that we're not going to let it get to us and anything can happen in this league. So good team win. Two goals. Obviously we're disappointed in conceding, but it's neither here or there.
On getting the road win:
Huerta: I mean, we needed that. There's no secret there. We really needed that. Like I mentioned before, anytime you go through a stint where things aren't going your way, it's really difficult to stay positive and to take positives out of those games. But the Reign superpower is the culture and we stayed positive through it all. Even at times when you wanted to get negative, we just didn't allow that. And so I think we know as a team that if we just control it, we can control and keep working on the little things and stay disciplined, then we can get results in this league. And I think we can compete with anyone despite the last five results and that's something we believe and that's all that matters.
On Sofia Huerta's leadership:
Dahlien: I don't even really think I can describe her impact. It's immense on this group. And I think the biggest thing is obviously we talk about the stint we've been going through. She's really stepped up leadership-wise and led us through and this team would not be in a place that we are right now without her. And she just puts in shifts day in and day out and is not only good on the field, but off the field, and you can just really count on her all the time.
Huerta: So sweet. I also just want to say the group is easy to lead. We have a lot of young players who really want to learn and are like sponges. There's not a lot of egos. There's no egos on the team. Everyone's really just wanting to get better and puts in the work. So shout out to the team too, because it's been difficult.
On the relief of getting her first goal of the season:
Dahlien: I think that's the exact word [relief] to describe it. This team is really hungry. I think there were elements of our performance that we'll go over and that we can improve on for next game. I think we can do a better job of imposing ourselves earlier in the game, but once we settled in, it looked like us and I'm just really proud of gritting it out, but obviously there's always strides we can take next game.
On how the team tried to counter Boston's press and attack:
Huerta: Boston is a very good team. I'm not going to lie. I'm very surprised how good they are just being an expansion team and there's growing pains there. They play really good football, have quality players. Going into it, we definitely spoke on that and just knowing that they were patient in their possession and that they created a lot of chances just with their holdup play and being able to get people isolated. So definitely we did our homework on them and they had chances. It wasn't this easy game that we won just easily. It was a tough game. But like I said earlier, I think we felt like if we just focused on the details that we would win this game if we focused on the first and second balls, if we pressed and committed all together and won the ball in higher areas, we felt like we're going to be able to expose them. So I think that you saw that at times tonight, for sure.
Dahlien: And I think too, it is a road win. Anytime we can win on the road, that's a huge deal. And Boston's a great team, like Sof said. So I think we're just relieved but also ready and hungry for next week.
