On a balmy Friday evening at Lumen Field, Seattle Reign came out with energy and intention. From the opening kick, they were on the front foot, bringing the game to the visiting Chicago Stars. The Reign controlled possession and pinned Chicago back with consistent pressure, taking shots, winning corners, and finding touches in dangerous areas.
And yet, it was the Stars with the game's first bona fide chance. Mallory Swanson – who else? – nearly did it all herself, cutting into the top of the Reign's penalty area and rifling a 7th minute shot that required a big save by Claudia Dickey.
After that nervy moment, the Reign took over completely. Ainsley McCammon tried her luck from long range in the 8th minute, forcing Stars goalkeeper Katie Atkinson to save it over the crossbar. On the ensuing corner, McCammon got to it again, putting a strong head to the ball but sending it wide. It was the start of a flurry of Reign pressure and Reign corners with clean opportunities off dead ball service: Phoebe McClernon forced another huge save out of Atkinson in the 12h minute. Fishel got a chance of her own in the 13th, followed by another free header by McCammon seconds later.
In the 24th minute, McCammon would get a fourth bite at the goal, winning yet another open header off a corner, but once again, the Reign had everything but the finish and couldn't find the goal. The Stars found a few low-percentage looks of their own as the half closed out, mostly through Swanson's individual efforts, but never seriously threatened Claudia Dickey's goal again.
Near the end of the half, Mia Fishel found a streaking Maddie Mercado with the cross, and Atkinson appeared to take Mercado down in the penalty area. However, after a brief pause to review, referee Marie Durr confirmed no call, and play resumed for a few inconclusive kicks before the halftime whistle.
The second half started with much the same energy. Chicago, after substituting off Swanson, had little threat on the break, and the Reign ratcheted up the pressure. Mercado shanked a shot from 18 yards out in the 47th minute, then bobbled a good-looking header wide in the 49th, then saw another chance glance out in the 51st. Despite the Reign's dominance, they had no breakthrough, and the tension was growing.
But the 53rd minute changed everything. Sofia Huerta, marauding up the left wing, sliced into the penalty area and cut the ball back to Sally Menti – who offered a cheeky one-touch clip to Mercado, making another diagonal run. With both Stars centerbacks pulled out of shape by Mia Fishel's withdrawing movement, Mercado had one defender to beat, and after squibbling it through her legs, pounced on the loose ball and tucked it home.
Goal, lead, finally some reward for a game the Reign had controlled the ebb and flow of for nearly an hour.
The last 40 minutes of the game were an even more frustrating replay of the first, with the Reign not just dominating but creating enormous chances time after time but failing to find a second goal.
Mercado had two good looks for a brace, first in the 58th, then in the 60th minute, but couldn't keep either on target. Maddie Dahlien got an open look in the 63rd, but her shot skimmed just wide. In the 65th, she beat the entire back line on the run, but took her shot under pressure and put it well over the crossbar. In the 73rd, substitute Nérilia Mondésir got her head to a teasing cross, but couldn't keep it on target. In the 87th, Emeri Adames worked her way into the penalty area for a well-taken strike, but Atkinson was once again able to save Chicago's chances.
All told, the Reign outshot the Stars 24-5, and 15-0 in the second half.
The inability to find the second goal notwithstanding, the Reign were able to slow the game down as stoppage time ticked off, putting on ball drills in the corners and leaving the Stars chasing shadows and ghosts until Durr whistled full time.
In the end, the scoreline flattered Chicago, but sometimes that's soccer, and the wasteful wins still count as wins on the table: the Reign secured three huge points and lifted themselves back into a playoff position.
WHAT WORKED: Switching the point of attack
The Reign created chances upon chances, both before and after the game's lone goal, and they did it from all over the pitch. With Sofia Huerta and Maddie Dahlien running one side and Madison Curry and Maddie Mercado on the other, the Reign effectively used their width to pull and stretch Chicago's defense, and constantly made themselves an option to switch the ball wide in either direction when the play started fizzling out. With Sally Menti and Ainsley McCammon dealing from the middle of the pitch, the Reign were able to work the ball back and forth, searching for seams and finding ways through the defensive lines.
While it was a fight to the finish getting one over the line, the stats speak for themselves: the Reign had 24 shots, 44 touches in their attacking penalty area, 17 shots from the danger area within the width of the goal posts, and 13 corners. Per Opta, they finished the match with 6 big chances and an xG of 3.33.
WHAT WORKED: Finding a way through
All the big chances in the world don't matter if you can't find a way through, and for the first 50 minutes, it looked like the Reign were having one of those days. As the adage goes, sometimes ball not go in.
Fortunately, Maddie Mercado was not to be denied on this specific day, and she put the finishing touch on what was at once a beautiful team goal with combination play through Dahlien, Huerta, and Menti and supporting runs by Fishel and McCammon before falling to Menti, and also kind of a mess, as she pounced on the loose ball after it just squeaked through defender Leila Ouahabi's legs.
Tic-Tac-Mercado Maddie Mercado notches her 6th goal of the season 👏
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 8:36 PM · Aug 14, 2026
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WHAT DIDN'T WORK: Finishing chances
While they did, ultimately, get one over the line and one goal proved enough in a match where the Reign thoroughly dominated the Stars, missing 5 of 6 big chances and only putting 5 of 20 shots from inside the penalty on target is a recipe for disaster. When you let a team hang around, sometimes they'll hang around and steal points off you at the very end.
The Reign avoided that fate this time out, but when you're creating all the chances and not finding the finish, you're leaving yourself too open to one bad moment undoing a good night's work.
Quotes
“Just that final end product”
In her remarks postgame, head coach Laura Harvey praised the aggression the team showed in attack while lamenting that they couldn’t make more out of the myriad chances they had.
“We were just doing good things, I think Maddie Dahlien was a real threat 1-v-1 on the left, we were combining well on the right, Sofia got in for the goal which was great, I thought we were really on the front foot, too, which was fantastic,” she remarked. “We had good positioning behind the ball, too, where it made it hard for them to get out of wherever we were attacking from. Just that final end product; their keeper made a couple of good saves but the amount of corners we had, the amount of set pieces we had, I’m picturing Maddie Mercado’s volley as well, just good chances, and I think we can be disappointed with that, but it’s been a while since we only scored one goal so we’re not going to beat ourselves too much up about that. It’s definitely something we’ll talk about and we’ll want to continue on the vein that we’ve been in of scoring multiple goals whenever we possibly can.”
“We’ve worked through that as a team”
Maddie Mercado had praise for how the team has come out more aggressively in the second half of the last two games, following a string of let-downs in earlier matches which saw several leads evaporate.
“I think the second half for us has been something that we've really focused on – how we can make that similar to coming out in the front foot like we do in the first half. I think the first few games of the season, we struggled coming out in the second half. It's seemed like we were a little bit flat. I think as a team, as a group, we've really worked through that. And obviously when you're still hungry for a goal, to get the win, that that helps kind of push you forward and motivate you. But I would say we've really talked about that and had some honest conversations and worked through that as a team, and I think you're seeing that come to fruition on the field.”
The Reign won't have long to celebrate the win or dwell on their missed opportunities. Up next, they face Racing Louisville on Wednesday, August 19th at Lynn Family Stadium. The match will kick off at 3:30 PM, and will broadcast on NWSL+ and Fox 13+.
