Seattle Reign started their three-game road trip on Saturday with a visit to New York City to face Gotham FC at Icahn Stadium — a new venue, as Gotham's typical home stadium, Sports Illustrated Stadium, was being used as a training ground for the FIFA Men's World Cup final. While the Reign started on the front foot in the first half, it was all Gotham from that point forward — and the Reign conceded three goals after the 81st minute to fall 3-2 on the road.
Kickoff was delayed two and a half hours due to lightning and a torrential downpour that started during warmups, and the match was moved to ESPN2 instead of ABC. The Reign appeared much more up for the match for the first half, putting Gotham under a lot of pressure in transition.
In the 14th minute, Mia Fishel got her first goal for the Reign, scoring a penalty. The play started when Maddie Dahlien got the ball in space on the left wing. She beat Jess Carter and got to the endline before cutting the ball across the goal to Maddie Mercado. Her first touch was a little rough, ricocheting off her legs, but the ball fell kindly to Mercado in front of an open net. As she swung to take the shot, Mandy Freeman lunged from behind — attempting to poke it away — and got Mercado's legs. Mia Fishel snuck her penalty shot just under the arms of a diving Ann-Katrin Berger and into the lower right corner.
BIG FISH SCORES IN THE BIG APPLE! 🦈 GFC 0 | 1 SEA
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 11:55 AM · Jul 18, 2026
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Mercado doubled the lead in the 23rd minute on a very similar play. A long ball from Phoebe McClernon found Dahlien, who easily got behind Carter again on the left. Dahlien dribbled into the box and sent a pass on the ground across the goal. It was slightly behind Fishel, who then screened Tierna Davidson from being able to step to the ball, and it fell perfectly to a streaking Mercado. The forward didn't have to do much as she passed it into the net with her first touch.
Fourth goal on the season for Maddie Mercado puts us up 2-0! ⚡
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 12:06 PM · Jul 18, 2026
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The Reign were given another chance to build a cushion in the second half. In the 57th minute, after a long delay to review the play, the Reign were awarded amother penalty after video review determined Emily Sonnett fouled Sally Menti in the box. This time, Dahlien lined up for the kick. Unfortunately, her shot pinged off the left post, and the score remained 2-0.
It was all Gotham from that point forward. In the 82nd minute, Jaedyn Shaw got too much time on the left wing and crossed it to the far post for second-half substitute Esther González, who was questionable heading into the match. Bugg leapt into the air to try to clear the ball, but couldn't connect, and it fell to González for a one-time volley past Cassie Miller at the near post.
Esther González pulls one back with a fine finish at the back post ⚽️
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 1:25 PM · Jul 18, 2026
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Gotham equalized in the 94th minute on another cross into the box. Bruninha had the ball just inside Gotham's half, with all the Reign players dropped back. She sent a long cross into the box, which Shaw chested down. It missed a couple of Reign players and snuck behind to González, who finished from close range.
GOTHAM STORMS BACK! 💪 Esther González buries the chance from close range to equalize!
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 1:38 PM · Jul 18, 2026
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Rose Lavelle scored the game-winner in the 97th minute. González played the ball to Sam Kerr at the top of the box. She tried to get a shot off, taking a hard touch to the right that slipped out of her reach. Unfortunately, it fell right to Lavelle, who ran onto the ball and slotted her shot into the upper left corner to make it 3-2.
IT HAD TO BE ROSE! 🌹 Rose Lavelle scores a late winner for Gotham!!!
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 1:41 PM · Jul 18, 2026
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What worked: Balls in behind
In that first half, the Reign were constantly finding Dahlien in behind on the left wing, and putting numbers in the box. It had Gotham scrambling and forced them into two half-time subs to bring Midge Purce and her speed back to right back to slow down Dahlien, and to add Guro Reiten on the left to bring more possession and quality on the ball. The Reign did so much right in the first half to put themselves in control of the match.
"I thought in the first half, we did a really good job putting the ball in places that they didn't want us to," Harvey said.
"We did what we wanted to as part of our game plan getting into this game with our press... they had no answer to it. They started going long, going wide, which is exactly what we wanted," Fishel added about that first half.
What didn't work: No possession in the 2nd half
The Reign defended well for most of the game, even with Gotham putting them under constant pressure. But when you have players like Sam Kerr and Esther González subbing into the match, your bend-but-don't-break mentality is really going to be tested.
The Reign could have held on a little longer if they were able to keep the ball for longer spells. Instead, they finished the second half with just 31% possession, six touches in Gotham's box, and 60 completed passes (and a 57% pass completion rate). The numbers in the first half weren't significantly higher, aside from the fact that the Reign had 86 completed passes, 12 touches in Gotham's box, and four shots in the box from close range. The Reign were so smushed into their defensive half in the second half, and nobody could seem to get them out of there.
"You've got to decide which areas of the field you want to be really good in, and I think we just got caught up in doing half of each one... we tend to be a prevention team, but the gaps were starting to get big. We were fatigued," Harvey said.
"I think we got too defensive too quickly. Instead of keep going at them — three, four, five, six goals — that's where we went wrong," Fishel added. "That game was on us [as players]. We did it to ourselves."
What didn't work: A missed penalty
It was certainly not the reason for the loss, but it sure would have been nice if the Reign could have gone up 3-0 in the 57th minute. Fishel's penalty was nearly saved, and Dahlien was having a fantastic match, so I see why she'd get the chance to take the kick. Unfortunately, the Reign wouldn't get the momentum they needed on that play, as Dahlien missed, and the team folded to the pressure shortly after.
"She was pretty adamant about it, and when a player wants to take a PK, I can't really say much, so I just let her take it," Fishel said on Dahlien taking the second penalty opportunity.
What didn't work: Sub options
Gotham was behind 2-0, and they managed to add:
- Norwegian international and former Chelsea player Guro Reiten, along with one of the most dangerous forwards in Esther González, at halftime.
- Brazilian international Bruninha and the NWSL all-time leading scorer Sam Kerr in the 63rd minute.
- NWSL veteran and Ireland's most-capped player Denise O'Sullivan in the 82nd minute.
"In the first half we did brilliant things and caused them real problems... it was a completely different type of thing we had to solve once Esther and Guro Reiten came on," Harvey said. "We didn't have as much joy in the second half doing the same things — partly because we stopped doing them, partly because they tweaked their personnel to stop it."
The Reign went to a five-back after bringing Holly Ward and Nérilia Mondésir into the match in the 69th minute – pushing Dahlien to left wingback and Mercado to right wingback. It wasn't the worst idea. Gotham was looking increasingly threatening on crosses. But the adjustment didn't work. The Reign didn't pressure the ball enough or mark tightly in the box. And when the Reign did win the ball back, they had too many players deep and were unable to progress it up the field.
"The subs they brought on were causing us problems, so we felt we needed to solidify things centrally — we went to a back five... but you can't have a back five and have Esther in the middle of the goal. Little things like that, goals change games," Harvey said.
While Jess Fishlock finally returned to the pitch, coming on along with Brittany Ratcliffe in the 83rd minute, it was too late. The Reign just didn't have the depth like Gotham to see this match out.
The Reign, who had the chance to be equal on points with 8th-place Orlando, instead fell to 5-7-2 (17 points) and 12th place. The Reign continue their three-game road trip with a trip to San Diego to face the Wave (9-5-2, 29 points). The match kicks off on Sunday, July 26, at 2 p.m. PT and will air on CBS Sports Network.
