After picking up a point last week against Angel City, Seattle Reign are back at Lumen Field on Friday night. Hosting their annual Pride match, the Reign will face the Chicago Stars, with kickoff at 7 pm. PT. The game will stream on NWSL+.
Show your Pride from the moment you walk through the gates 🏳️🌈 The first 4,000 fans at tomorrow’s Pride Match will receive a wearable Pride flag from Trupanion! Wear it loud and help us fill the stadium with Pride 🐶🌈
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 12:23 PM · Aug 13, 2026
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The Stars are a team in transition (more on that below), having parted ways with their head and assistant coaches earlier this week. Sitting at the bottom of the table, they are a team with nothing to lose — and that makes them extremely dangerous. They are also a team that plays with a lot of grit, a trademark since Chicago's early days.
"They're always a blue-collar team," said head coach Laura Harvey. "They always have a never-say-die mentality. We felt that last year when we were leading by a significant amount of goals, and they came back late. That's the core value of who Chicago is, and that makes them really hard to break down. And it means they never go away."
Both teams are coming off a home draw. Mia Fishel and Sally Menti scored for the Reign in a 2-2 draw against Angel City while Chicago and Bay FC played to a scoreless draw. The Stars may be without Mallory Swanson (availability report pending), who entered as a sub in last week’s game but came off again with an apparent knee injury. While Jess Fishlock is back training with the team, Friday may still be too soon for her — and the team is going to need to rely on a lot of rotation for their three-match week.
Seattle Reign FC
Head-to-Head
- The Reign are 11-12-10 against Chicago, and have an 8-3-6 record at home.
- Seattle has scored 49 goals across the series; Chicago has scored 48.
- The last meeting came on August 18, 2025, at Lumen Field. The Reign went up 3-0 before letting Chicago come back to earn a 3-3 draw.
2026 record
Seattle Reign FC: 7-7-3 (24 points, 9th place)
Chicago Stars: 4-13-1 (13 points, 16th place)
Key stats
- The Reign are 3-3-2 at home, while Chicago has a 1-8-0 road record.
- The Reign have scored 22 goals and conceded 23. Chicago has scored 9 and conceded 33.
- Six of Chicago's nine goals in 2026 have come from set pieces. The Reign have conceded seven goals from set pieces, second-most in the league.
- Ryan Gareis leads the Stars with two assists.
- Jordyn Huitema was having a strong season and led the team with four goals before tearing her ACL last month.
- The Reign average the third most accurate crosses per match (5.1), while Chicago connects the fewest crosses in the league (2.2 per game).
Who to watch
Sam Staab
While Sam Staab didn't start last match, apparently due to a coaching preference, she's been the team's most consistent defender. As her player radar confirms, Staab can deliver lethal set pieces, is a key part of Chicago's possession play, and is dangerous at sending long, progressive passes to her frontline. She leads the team in passes and long balls. The Reign have struggled to defend set pieces this year. They also got caught flat-footed on Angel City's second goal last week. Can they make sure to not repeat the same mistakes on Friday?
Katie Atkinson
Goalkeeper Katie Atkinson has been a huge bright spot for Chicago. She's averaging five saves per game and has prevented 10 goals for Chicago in 10 games. The Reign will need to be clinical in front of the net to beat her.
Jameese Joseph
The 24-year-old forward isn't having her best season (she has zero goals and zero assists) but has been one of Chicago's most dangerous forwards for the last two years. Able to play anywhere on the frontline, Joseph is quick, likes to take players on, and can score with both feet. Her eight goals and five assists in the last two seasons have earned her five caps with the U.S. Women's National Team. With Mallory Swanson coming off the field last week due to an apparent knee issue, Joseph is going to be asked to step up — whether she starts or comes off the bench.
What to watch
New coaching staff, new tactics?
Chicago comes into the match with a completely new technical staff. The club announced mid-week that it had fired head coach Martin Sjögren, who only joined this year, as well as assistant coach Anders Jacobson. Assistant coach Karina Báez, who has been with the Stars for three seasons, was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season, while former Stars head coach Lorne Donaldson is returning as "interim director of coaching" until the end of 2026, apparently at the request of several players (he has a strong relationship with Swanson).
Donaldson will be in Seattle for the match. The club welcomed Nicole Lukic as a new full-time assistant coach; she was most recently head coach of the now-folded Spokane Zephyr. The Stars also fired general manager Richard Feuz in May and have added Kate Cohen as interim technical consultant and Garga Caserta as interim director of high performance.
That's a lot! These changes make a struggling Stars side really unpredictable. Will the team fight hard to get a result for their new coaching staff? Will we see Chicago deploy new tactics to stay in matches? We'll have to tune in Friday to find out!
Set pieces
Six of Chicago's nine goals this year have come from set pieces. Now, they no longer have Jordyn Huitema to target in the box. But they do have good delivery, and defending set pieces is an area where the Reign have struggled. The Reign have conceded 7 set-piece goals (which includes corner kicks, direct free kicks, throw-ins, and other set pieces). While it wasn't counted as a set-piece goal last week, Angel City's first goal against the Reign started with a quick restart off a foul. The Reign didn't get set quick enough, which allowed Gisele Thompson to go 1v1 against Sofia Huerta. We know what happened next.
On the other end, Sally Menti and Nérilia Mondésir have been delivering more dangerous corner kicks of their own — and Chicago has conceded five goals off set plays. Can the Reign dominate both offensively and defensively in these moments?
A full 90-minute performance
How many times has this been a key thing to watch for Reign matches? Too many times! If the Reign want to continue progressing up the league table, they will need to be dominant throughout an entire match. They showed last week they can respond well in the second half of a match after falling behind. Can they go up first against Chicago and hold that momentum?
Don't let the opponent's record make you feel comfortable. Chicago has been a team that the Reign have found hard to beat in recent years. Their last win was at the end of the 2023 season. Still, if the Reign play their type of game for a full 90 minutes, they should be able to come out on top.
"Building on our momentum from the past couple of games, we've had a really great couple of weeks, and we're building on that going against any opponent," forward Holly Ward told reporters. "All of our goals are team goals. It's really important to build off each other's individual strengths and qualities."
Kit matchup
Injury / Availability Report
Seattle Reign
Pending league report
Chicago Stars
Pending league report
How to watch
Seattle Reign kicks off against the Chicago Stars on Friday, August 14, at 7 p.m. PT. The home match will air on NWSL+.
