Twice in relatively quick succession, the Reign have played a heavily favored Washington Spirit and shown the blueprint for isolating and frustrating a talented and deep attacking corps. Twice in relatively quick succession, the Reign have given up a late game-winner to that Spirit team despite playing them strong up to the fateful moment.
On a blindingly sunny Saturday afternoon in Washington, D.C., it was Hal Hershfelt who delivered the dagger, floating into space vacated by Sam Meza high up the pitch and scoring a deflected strike that Claudia Dickey, already committed, could not recover to stop.
Prior to that 81st minute tally, the game had been remarkably even.
The first good opportunity of the match belonged to Seattle, in the 8th minute. Sally Menti got her foot to the ball from the six yard line, but didn't have the placement or pace to beat Sandy MacIver. It was ultimately Washington on the board first – 10 minutes later, Leicy Santos curled a beautiful free kick to the far post, bending it past Dickey and into the side netting.
Aside from that moment from Santos, though, neither side created many clear-cut opportunities, with Maddie Dahlien trying a bit of an audacious hit on a 35th minute set piece and Washington settling for one good look that Sofia Cantore shanked wide moments later.
The Reign's equalizer came off a weird one that won't show up on the chance sheet but counts nonetheless. A dangerous ball over the top handcuffed Tara Rudd, and Maddie Mercado got position on her with her face to goal. Lucia Di Guglielmo, arriving late to the play, got her foot to the ball first – but with a split second to make contact, floated the ball high, over her goalkeeper and into her own net.
It was, perhaps, a bit of an undeserved goal, but the even score at halftime was a fair reflection of the play on the field, and no Reign fan is about to apologize for a bit of goal luck after a month of shattering the woodwork.
The second half started strong for the Reign, with a long stretch of positive possession and a long stretch of almost. Halftime substitutes Nérilia Mondésir and Sam Meza helped the team assert themselves in the middle of the pitch, and Mondésir had a number of probing passes that gave Washington's back line fits. Menti's vertical runs and Meza's range created huge problems, and Menti even looked to have a decent penalty shout midway through the half. Unfortunately, for all the positive play, the Reign couldn't manufacture an actual chance out of it, and things began to unravel.
A series of unforced errors by Claudia Dickey and Phoebe McClernon portended the trouble, with uncharacteristic giveaways in their own defensive eighteen leading to narrow misses for Washington. Then, in the 81st minute, it all fell apart. With Meza too high up the pitch, Angharad James-Turner slow to recover, and nobody stepping to the ball on Washington's counterattack, Hershfelt collected the ball, struck it from just outside the box, and was the beneficiary of a friendly deflection that saw it tuck past Dickey and give the Spirit another late winning goal.
While the Reign had a couple opportunities to dig deep and pull themselves back into it, they looked more likely to concede a third than find a second of their own, with miscommunications and giveaways plaguing the back line for the final 10 minutes. Two late corners in stoppage time created chaos but came to nothing, and Alex Billeter blew the whistle for full time just past the stroke of the 93rd minute, sending the Reign into the June break on a frustrating loss.
WHAT WORKED: Making your own luck
Was the Reign's goal a bit of a lucky break? Sure. Did it happen because they put in a dangerous ball and Maddie Mercado did not give up on it, forcing Di Guglielmo to execute a play under pressure and with no margin for error? Absolutely.
Sometimes ball hit post, crossbar, side netting, crossbar again, referee, crossbar and it seems like you'll never score again in all of human history. And sometimes ball floats on the defender's desperate last-gasp touch and you force an own goal by just hustling for it. Footie is a funny game like that.
That hustle from Mercado ⚡️ Maddie's run helps tie things up in the Capital!
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 4:33 PM · May 30, 2026
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WHAT MOSTLY WORKED: Containing Trinity
While she'll be administratively credited with an assist on the game-winning goal, the goal itself was basically entirely on Hershfelt's audacity and the Reign's failure to step to the ball. From the opening minute, Trinity Rodman didn't find much joy in this match, first running into a brick wall in Sofia Huerta's defense, then switching sides and running into another brick wall in Madison Curry's.
It wasn't just Rodman, either: across two matches against the Spirit, the Reign have effectively neutralized their big attacking pieces, holding a lineup with Rodman, Cantore, Santos, Rosemonde Kouassi, Gift Monday, and more to primarily speculative efforts rather than real opportunities. The Spirit were able to stack up some opportunities in the final 15 minutes, but all of the big chances came off unforced errors in bad places by Reign defenders – Washington's attack found themselves isolated, without options, and running hard to no avail time after time.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK: Giving it up late
While the Reign had played a mostly very strong game for the first 75 minutes, there's 90-plus minutes in a soccer match, and the signs of trouble started mounting in the final quarter-hour. Uncharacteristic giveaways, underhit clearances, and a struggle to get the ball out of their own defensive third all presaged Hal Hershfelt's game winner, and the Reign were a bit lucky not to have given it up before that.
Ultimately, after a couple close calls and heart-stopping moments of panic, the Reign's luck ran out when they overextended searching for their own winner. With Sam Meza out of position, Hershfelt stepped up to deliver a goal for the Spirit on the ensuing counterattack.
Some individual brilliance from Hal Hershfelt puts @washingtonspirit.com in the lead ‼️
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 5:17 PM · May 30, 2026
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Unfortunately, once Hershfelt put the Spirit back on top, the Reign never looked particularly likely to equalize again, struggling with the ball and finding only a few final chances to get players forward.
“I was a little upset it wasn't me who touched the ball”
Speaking about the play that got the Reign back into the game just before halftime, Maddie Mercado deferred credit to Madison Curry before lamenting that it was an own goal and not her own shot that got them on the scoresheet.
“I mean – I'm pretty sure it was M.C. [Curry] who played that great ball again. She had one in Boston that we all saw. So, we kind of thought that we'd be able to expose them, switching the field quickly to put it in behind. And so for me, obviously being in that forward role, I just wanted to be able to make those runs and put pressure on the back line. I think I was a little upset that it wasn't me who touched the ball, but at the end of the day, it was in the back of the net, so it didn't matter.”
Curry added her thoughts on the Reign's strategy for containing Rosemonde Kouassi, Trinity Rodman, and Washington's many dangerous wide players.
“The Spirit have so many great wingers, it was going to be a tall order no matter who I got. But I think we worked really hard this week to be ready for those situations. I think, just being as physical as I can early on, try to get her off her game as much as possible. Hanging in there, and taking it tackle by tackle and moment by moment with the help of my teammates.”
“We just gave them too much time to be able to do something”
After watching another strong defensive performance come to nothing on a late goal, Laura Harvey talked through the breakdown but reiterated that she was disappointed with the results, but not necessarily the performances.
“We were probably on the front foot and had a lot of momentum at the moment where we conceded the second goal. I just said to the players there – that's something we've got to keep working at. In those moments, we've got to try to suffocate the opponent and make it really challenging. I thought we just gave them too much time to be able to do something. [...] I'm disappointed not to come away with something. I think what we've shown in the two games we've played against these guys who, you know, they've got a lot of quality in their team. They've got a lot of winners who've been there and done it. And we can hold our own, we've held our own twice now, and come out of it disappointed with the result, maybe, but not necessarily fully disappointed with the performance.”
With the disappointing loss behind them, the Reign have a month to lick their wounds, figure out what signings they need to elevate the roster, and get Jess Fishlock and Lynn Biyendolo closer to their return.
The Reign's next take the field on Saturday, July 4th against the North Carolina Courage. The match will be played at WakeMed Soccer Park at 3:30 PM PT, and will air on ION.
