For about 82 minutes against the Utah Royals, the Reign played fine but got a bit unlucky, hitting the crossbar twice, missing just wide of the post from close range, and seeing the ref wave off not one but two strong shouts for a penalty. Most of the time, that performance scores a goal, maybe more. Most of the time, you can't worry too much about any given frustrating outing where you probably should've been able to find the back of the net but alas, ball not go in.
This was not most of the time. Because, unfortunately, for about 8 minutes before that, the Reign played some of the worst football they've played this decade, and had practically already coughed up two goals by the time Matthew Thompson blew his whistle to start the match. You just cannot make those mistakes at a professional level.
You cannot set yourself up to need a historic comeback just to secure a point.
When you dig a hole for yourself, and then keep digging, you come away with no points.
Even when you try to dig up.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 4
Starting with an ignoble decision not to come out to claim the ball in the first minute, Claudia Dickey had one of the most forgettable matches of her Reign career. She did have a couple quality saves along the way, and there was nothing she could've done about the second goal, a well-struck shot that deflected just out of her reach, but both the first and third goals are ones Claudia's going to want back.
One for the goldfish bowl.
Defenders
Madison Curry – 4
The first-minute collapse started with Madison Curry misplaying a back pass, handcuffing Phoebe McClernon, and failing to follow Paige Cronin's trailing run. Aside from the error directly leading to the goal, Curry's match was a bit all over the place, seeing a ton of the ball and failing to connect with it. She did win six of seven duels and two free kicks, on the plus side. Even playing a distinctly not great match, Curry loves to steal the ball from people, has a real joie de give me that ball about her attitude, and we should all love and appreciate that about her.
...but on the whole, yeah, also one for the goldfish bowl.
Phoebe McClernon – 5
First-minute foible – wherein Phoebe McClernon misread Curry's back pass, got rinsed by Mina Tanaka, and could only watch in despair as Paige Cronin gave the Royals an instant lead – notwithstanding, McClernon was basically fine. She led the team in defensive contributions and had a couple key interventions to keep the scoreline from getting even uglier while the Reign tried to find their way back in, and she was one of too few Reign players with the wherewithal to just clear the ball all the way to the mountain when under pressure. She did lose four out of four duels, though, and Mina Tanaka rinsed her a few more times along the way.
What's that thing I've been saying? Yeah, goldfish bowl.
Emily Mason – 5
The front four for the Royals ate the back four for the Reign alive for the first 10 minutes or so, and though Emily Mason wasn't immediately victimized for a goal the way Curry and McClernon were, she spent too much of a bruising opening as a passive observer to events, only really finding her way into the game when it was already out of hand, and then getting completely cut out of the play on Utah's third goal. She was a strong defensive presence in the air through most of the match, and those long field-switching passes we've been watching slowly dial in look to be connecting more frequently, which is a positive to build on.
Anyway, to the goldfish bowl.
Sofia Huerta – 5 (off 78' for Ryanne Brown)
The only defender for the Reign that you probably can't pin a goal on directly, Huerta nonetheless wasn't much of a factor for the Reign. Which she should've been, given her 60 touches and 31 completed passes. It's just that none of those passes really opened space, none of them went down for a chance. She progressed the ball well, but couldn't unlock Utah with everything on the line, and only even made it into the attacking penalty area one time. I do have to acknowledge one picture-perfect, last-defender tackle to instantly deflate a potentially lethal counter-attack, one excellent dribble, and a few strong overlaps with Nérilia Mondésir that did contribute to good chances.
But all that said: bowl, goldfish, you know what I mean.
Midfielders
Sam Meza – 6
The midfield was at once mostly fine and a hot mess. Sam Meza exemplified this contradiction, struggling to find the game early, both overhitting and underhitting so many passes, but growing into things and really asserting herself as the game moved forward. Meza made mistakes we're not used to seeing her make, and also racked up 16! recoveries, won five tackles, and must've run a full marathon providing cover everywhere cover could've possibly been needed. She won 9 duels, padding her league lead in duels won, but uncharacteristically lost 10 duels along the way, gave up five fouls, and rightly saw yellow.
To stick to the theme, goldfish.
Jess Fishlock – 6 (POTM) (off 68' for Emeri Adames)
Through 67 minutes, it seemed like Jess Fishlock was where it was going to come from if the Reign were going to mount any sort of comeback, find a consolation goal, find anything good in the attacking third. She splintered the crossbar, she narrowly missed the far post, she set up her teammates, she won a dangerous free kick, she had five fleeting, dangerous moments in the attacking penalty area... and in the 67th minute, she jumped to clear a shooting lane for Maddie Mercado, the timing was just off, and she took a wrecking ball of a shot to her ankle as she landed, leaving the field in an air cast and on a stretcher.
Goldfish, and if there is any tiny fragment of justice in this universe, she'll be back for the Reign before the season is out, and we'll have the opportunity to see her career off like she deserves.
Sally Menti – 5 (off 78' for Angharad James-Turner)
Starting the match, Sally Menti struggled to contain Cloé Lacasse, and switched sides with Sam Meza, where she struggled to contain Mina Tanaka. I'm not necessarily even all that upset with Menti about it, either assignment is hard. Menti's strengths as a player are mostly not in playing through a really aggressive press on a fast pitch, and her struggles cascaded. She did have some moments of her own, including the best cross of the evening for the Reign.
Anyway, goldfish it and run through a wall next time.
Forwards
Brittany Ratcliffe – 5 (off 55' for Maddie Dahlien)
Though she's been one of the bright spots for the Reign this year, this was really not Ratcliffe's match. Too many times, she was in the right place, recovering Utah's mistake, and just lacked the quickness and physical presence to make it count. She didn't do all that much wrong. She just couldn't change the narrative, despite numerous moments that could've been punctuated with multiple exclamation points. Also, she was inexplicably penalized for a passive offside, erasing a stone-cold penalty that I guess the ref simply did not want to call and demanded an excuse not to. I don't hold that against her.
And as they say in the goldfish business, fuckin' damn, goldfish.
Maddie Mercado – 5
There's a better world out there where Maddie and Fishlock were a quarter-second better synchronized, Mercado scores a banger of a goal from just past the penalty spot, Fishlock does not leave the pitch in a cast, and the Reign storm back to steal points. We do not live in that world. I am sad that we do not live in that world. I am sad about many soccer-related things, but perhaps none so much as that: that rather than a goal and a celebration for a feel-good player story like Mercado, it's the cruelest sort of friendly fire and ongoing worry for the career of an absolute legend.
This, perhaps more than any other performance of the evening, must be introduced to the koi pond.
Nérilia Mondésir – 6 (off 78' for Mia Fishel)
No Reign performance held up better to rewatch than Coco's. It's easy to be frustrated with her losing the ball to too many defenders (though she only did that once) or fixate on the lack of end product, but for much of the opening half, Nérilia Mondésir was genuinely cooking her opposition. Utah could not defend her in space, and she created multiple big chances for the home side. They started fouling her cynically to stop it, but referee Matthew Thompson actually whistled them for it, an unusual but certainly not unwelcome development in Mondésir's time in the league. If one of her excellent moments of creation ends in the net, if she gets that huge mistake by Mia Justus under control a touch sooner, if she has someone running harder on the opposite side to draw one more defender off, maybe...
But none of it wound up mattering. Goldfish, though this one is under mild protest.
Substitutes
Maddie Dahlien – 5 (on 55' for Brittany Ratcliffe)
The match result notwithstanding, one of the big positives of the night was this: Danger Maddie played her first minutes for the Reign in more than a month. She got on the end of a decent chance, chose the wrong moment to shoot, and gave Utah's defense a lot to think about. The Reign aren't the same team without the threat of Dahlien's breakneck pace and joyous abandon in transition.
Emeri Adames – 5 (on 68' for Jess Fishlock)
What do you do with a really weird one for Emeri? She completed just two passes, but also had two successful dribbles, both leading to dangerous touches in the penalty area, but also lost five duels, but also came up with an enormous block, but also... the talent is real, the energy was a shot in the arm, the direction was sometimes, ah, directionless. Fishlock's injury likely changed the plan in a hurry, though, and Emeri held her own in tough circumstances.
Mia Fishel – 5 (on 78' for Nérilia Mondésir)
The match result notwithstanding, one of the big positives of the night was this: Big Fish played her first minutes for the Reign in more than a month, and with just 12+ minutes on the pitch, took several opportunities to remind how dynamic she can be, completing five of six passes and narrowly missing a back-heel flick inside the penalty area that could've been a truly sick-ass assist in the Better Timeline. Mia's holdup play and vision are elite, and one truly, deeply hopes the Reign can finally get her consistently healthy and on the pitch.
Angharad James-Turner – 5 (on 78' for Sally Menti)
For the last phase of the game, with the Reign chasing down a big deficit, Haz stabilized the midfield and gave everyone ahead of her license to run that little bit more. It didn't change the result, but she did admirable work in cleanup for those hard minutes in garbage time that nobody likes to play.
Ryanne Brown – 5 (on 78' for Sofia Huerta)
Ryanne Brown was one such everyone ahead of Angharad, coming on for Sofia Huerta and, in 15 minutes, finding more touches in the opposition penalty area than Huerta had in 78. It wasn't a game-changing performance or anything, but it showed plenty of desire and showed some of the traits Ryanne possesses that could make her a significant asset for the team, given more playing time.
Royals POTM
Mina Tanaka
You could probably quibble around the edges – a couple other Royals players also had good to great games – but Mina Tanaka made it happen from the opening whistle, pounced on Madison Curry and Phoebe McClernon as they struggled with their first touches, and manufactured a lead the Royals would never relinquish less than a minute in. Tanaka's pressing and running asked questions the Reign could not answer. It broke the Reign's lines, it unbalanced the Reign's defense, and ultimately, it secured three points for the visitors.
Sigh.
Referee
Matthew Thompson – 4
I don't want to make a whole thing out of the ref, who absolutely did not cost the Reign the game, but I'm still – still – staring in abject disbelief at the first-half penalty non-call. Officially, the reason was Brittany Ratcliffe's little no-contact bunny hop from an offside position when the ball sailed long over the top, a move that neither touched the ball nor in any way interfered with or affected any other player's ability to do so. Unofficially, I'm calling it a coward's bailout for an extremely obvious call that the ref simply did not want to make.
It's certainly not the standard of officiating for passive offside that PRO has displayed for the past several years.
And Another Thing!
Do the Reign have "the sauce"? Not long ago, I said yes, unequivocally. Now, I say yes, but somewhat more equivocally. I'm equivocating about it.
But I do still believe in the potential of this team, even if, whoof, they've turned in a couple trashfires to go with the good performances.
On to the next one. Let's right the vibes.
