Seattle Reign extended their scoreless run to five straight games in their 2-0 home loss to NJ/NY Gotham FC on Friday night. The visitors scored a goal in each half, with Jaedyn Shaw opening the scoring in the 24th minute and Tierna Davidson adding a second in the 57th.
It was a frustrating night all around for the Reign, who struggled to create truly dangerous chances, finishing with an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.74. Gotham controlled possession, moved the ball more confidently, and were the more clinical side.
The Reign (3-4-2) now head on a two-game road trip before the league takes a month-long break to accommodate a FIFA international window and then the Men's World Cup. Next up is a trip to the East Coast to face expansion club Boston Legacy (2-5-3). That match kicks off Friday, May 22, at 5 p.m. PT.
Alli Haynie
Highlights
Stats
SCORING SUMMARY
24' - Jaedyn Shaw (Assisted by Savannah McCaskill) - GOTHAM
57' - Tierna Davidson (Assisted by Sofia Cook) - GOTHAM
LINEUPS
45' - Maddie Mercado for Emeri Adames
62' - Holly Ward for Mia Fishel; Brittany Ratcliffe for Nerilia Mondesir
72' - Jordyn Bugg for Shae Holmes
81' - Sally Menti for Angharad James-Turner
45' - Emily Sonnett for Jess Carter
73' - Katie Lampson for Sofia Cook; Lilly Reale for Midge Purce
84' - Sarah Schupansky for Jordynn Dudley
91' - Talia Sommer for Guro Reiten
POSSESSION
Reign: 42.7%
Gotham: 57.3%
EXPECTED GOALS
Reign: 0.74
Gotham: 1.22
TOTAL SHOTS
Reign: 9
Gotham: 13
SHOTS ON TARGET
Reign: 2
Gotham: 3
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Reign: 6
Gotham: 7
SHOTS BLOCKED
Reign: 1
Gotham: 3
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Reign: 5
Gotham: 8
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Reign: 19
Gotham: 28
PASSES
Reign: 390
Gotham: 539
PASSING ACCURACY
Reign: 76.2%
Gotham: 83.1%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 81
Gotham: 101
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 53.1%
Gotham: 63.4%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Reign: 17
Gotham: 8
CORNERS TAKEN
Reign: 4
Gotham: 6
OFFSIDES
Reign: 1
Gotham: 0
FOULS
Reign: 8
Gotham: 5
YELLOW CARDS
Reign: 0
Gotham: 1
RED CARDS
Reign: 0
Gotham: 0
g+ GameFlow: NWSL Regular Season Seattle Reign v NJ/NY Gotham FC on May 15, 2026. #RGNvNJ/NY ⚽️🤖
— g+ GameFlow (@gameflow.bsky.social) 5:40 AM · May 16, 2026
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Seattle Reign FC: 0 (0.74 xG) vs NJ/NY Gotham FC: 2 (1.24 xG) #SEAvNJY | #HerefortheCrown | #GothamFC | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) 9:46 PM · May 15, 2026
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Quotes
Laura Harvey
Thoughts on the game:
Not enough good moments, honestly, I think tonight. I thought their experience showed. One thing that we talk about a lot is about being dangerous and how we're going to be able to do that. We didn't put it in the areas we'd spoke about putting it in enough, I didn't think in the game. We played too much in front of them and not behind them. When we did late in the game, good things happened. But yeah, I mean obviously Sunday's game [against the Spirit] was a ... We created chances, we didn't take them. We didn't create enough tonight. I mean, we had half chances of Brit's [Ratcliffe] late. I won't talk about Maddie Dahlien's one. But yeah, not enough good moments, I didn't think.
On some of the chaos in the Reign's defensive box:
I'm just a believer that prevention is better than cure. I always have been. I think on the first one, we don't deal with it well enough, higher up the pitch. Jaelin Howell plays a pass. We watch her. She receives the ball back, has 30 yards on the field to be able to drive and do what she wants. We don't get them. So we can't give them to other people, but we did. Left Shae [Holmes] isolated 1V1, which we'd spoken about we didn't want to do. And yeah, they showed some quality in that moment. And then the second one, yeah, set piece. And we didn't deal with the first ball. Didn't get out quick enough to the person on the edge of the box, and Tierna [Davidson] was marked and her mark was lost.
On the Reign's midfield limiting Gotham:
Yeah. I mean, first half they completely exited the middle of the field because I think that they knew that we could dominate them in that moment. And when we got good pressure on the ball, they gave it back. When we didn't, first goal is a great example. They can hurt you in that moment, and they did. And they didn't have loads of opportunities to do that, but that's the team that they are. They're full of experience, they're full of winners, then they know how to win games.
On how the team measures up against top teams like Gotham and the Spirit:
Defensively, we can match anybody on our given day, but we're not scoring goals. That's reality. You're not going to win games if you don't score goals. We talk a lot about being hard to beat. We are hard to beat. I didn't think we played well tonight, but still, if we get maybe Brit's chance that she goes through, if that goes in, we then created a couple more half chances off the back of that. That's who we are. We can stay in games. We can compete in games. We'll be there or thereabouts, but right now we're not quite giving ourselves enough opportunity to get over the line. And to me, that's what tends to happen with us right now, when things aren't going our way, we revert to a game that I don't know we've been training all week.
And that's what happened tonight. They're a team that pressed really high. The space is all in their half. How many times have we put the ball there? Hardly ever. And I said to them at half time, like, "That's the game they want. They want you to play short all the time." And then suddenly we started to open it up a little bit, get the ball out wide, put it in behind them and lo and behold, the game opens up. But that comes with experience, and they have tons of it. How many people in that team have won a World Cup? How many people in their team have won this league, Euros, the lot. When you've experienced winning, and you know how to win, these games show and that's what we need. We need to get in a place where we can understand how to win.
Sam Meza and Angharad James-Turner
Thoughts on the game:
James-Turner: Disappointing. I think overall just frustrated with the performance, with the result. We have worked hard this week to try and nullify the threats and I don't think we did that. Especially second half, we didn't have much control of the game. I thought first half we broke them down and got it into areas that we'd worked on in the week, but then struggled to progress from there. I feel like that's been a common theme for us the last few games is progressing. Our buildup has been good and it's what's next after that. So it's stuff that we know that we need to work on as a group and we are working really hard. We have standards and we're not meeting them right now and we will do everything we can as a group to regroup to watch that game back and learn and hopefully be better for our next game.
On the scoreless run:
Meza: Yeah. I mean I think anytime you lose it's tough, anytime you lose or you're scoreless it's just hard to kind of take in. Obviously, it is a long season, so we're definitely trying to stay positive. At the end of the day, we can't do anything but try and stay positive and keep trying to like push each other in training and keep trying to like just look at what we need to do better and how we can do that and go in day in and day out and just put our best foot forward. We have to figure it out. I'm pretty positive in the fact that I think we're able to do that, I think.
James-Turner: We're a really good group. We stick together in the tough times, and we hold each other and ourselves accountable, and we'll do that tonight for the performance. We'll hold our hands up, and we'll say that we're not good enough and it needs to be better, and there's no shying away from that. But as Sammy mentioned, we have to remain positive. It's a long season, and we've got two big games before the next international break that we can go away from home and pick up hopefully the results that we want.
On the mental side of having this scoreless run:
Meza: I think scoring goals, one is the hardest part of the game, but secondly when you're not scoring, like you're not winning games and ultimately that's what we're trying to do. At the end of the day, we have to go into training and again, keep looking at film, keep looking at things that we can do better and then on the pitch and training it's about looking at the finer details and making sure that we hone in on those and that we commit to those and that we keep our standards within those pieces. Like I said, it's a long season, so it's just about staying positive and just pushing forward.
