Seattle Reign extended their unbeaten run to four games with a 1-0 win over the Chicago Stars at home. Maddie Mercado, who finished with nine shots, scored the only goal in the 53rd minute after some great combination play on the left wing. Mercado leads the team with six goals this season. The Reign dominated in nearly every other statistical category but couldn't find another goal.
The win temporarily puts the Reign (8-7-3) in 8th place, the final playoff spot, pending additional results this weekend.
The team now has a busy travel and match week, as they face Racing Louisville (5-11-2) on the road on Wednesday before traveling to Kansas City for another road game on Saturday. The midweek match kicks off at 3:30 p.m. PT and will air on NWSL+ and Fox 13+.
Highlights
Stats
Scoring Summary
53' - Maddie Mercado - SEA
Lineups
Our squad kicking things off in Seattle tonight 👑 #SEAvCHI Lineup Notes ➡️ rgnfc.com/4zkSQev
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 6:06 PM · Aug 14, 2026
[image or embed]
70' - Holly Ward for Maddie Dahlien; Nérilia Mondésir for Mia Fishel
83' - Ryanne Brown for Madison Curry; Emeri Adames for Sally Menti
90+2' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Maddie Mercado
Reporting for the night shift 🫡 ✨ Mal is back in the XI & wearing the captain’s armband ✨ The Stars have a 12-10-9 all-time advantage over Seattle Not available: Jordyn Huitema, Ryan Connaughton, Emma Egizii, Julia Grosso, Michelle Alozie, Natalia Kuikka, Aaliyah Farmer
— Chicago Stars FC (@chicagostars.com) 6:00 PM · Aug 14, 2026
[image or embed]
46' - Bea Franklin for Anna Gasper; Nádia Gomes for Mallory Swanson
74' - Micayla Johnson for Brianna Pinto; Jenna Bike for Jameese Joseph
ATTENDANCE
7,646
POSSESSION
Reign: 55.5%
Stars: 44.5%
EXPECTED GOALS
Reign: 3.33
Stars: 0.32
TOTAL SHOTS
Reign: 24
Stars: 5
SHOTS ON TARGET
Reign: 6
Stars: 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Reign: 13
Stars: 2
SHOTS BLOCKED
Reign: 5
Stars: 1
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Reign: 20
Stars: 3
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Reign: 44
Stars: 9
PASSES
Reign: 365
Stars: 302
PASSING ACCURACY
Reign: 77.5%
Stars: 72.5%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 140
Stars: 42
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 67.9%
Stars: 52.4%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Reign: 14
Stars: 4
CORNERS TAKEN
Reign: 13
Stars: 3
OFFSIDES
Reign: 0
Stars: 0
FOULS
Reign: 4
Stars: 5
YELLOW CARDS
Reign: 0
Stars: 0
RED CARDS
Reign: 0
Stars: 0
Seattle Reign FC: 1 (3.33 xG) vs Chicago Stars FC: 0 (0.32 xG) #SEAvCHI | #HerefortheCrown | #WithTheStars | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) 9:46 PM · Aug 14, 2026
[image or embed]
g+ GameFlow: NWSL Regular Season Seattle Reign v Chicago Stars on August 14, 2026. #RGNvCHI ⚽️🤖
— g+ GameFlow (@gameflow.bsky.social) 5:36 AM · Aug 15, 2026
[image or embed]
Quotes
Laura Harvey
On the team's overall performance:
"Overall thoughts on tonight, we probably made it a little harder than it needed to be. I felt that overall we played really well. We only got hurt in the first half through transition, which when you dig into transition normally means that you gave the ball away in an area you didn't want to. I felt we eliminated that in the second half for the majority of the time. But I said to the players at the end I think we had enough opportunities to make the game a little bit more comfortable for ourselves, and that's maybe not been our trait of late. We've been quite clinical. So the players feel good with the clean sheet and three points, but I love the fact that they're a little bit disappointed about that."
On generating so many chances despite scoring only once:
"We were just doing good things. I think Maddie Dahlien was a real threat one v one on the left. We were combining well on the right. Obviously Sofia [Huerta] got in for the goal, which was great. I felt we were really on the front foot, too, which was fantastic. And 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. I think we can be disappointed with that, but as you mentioned, it's been a while since we've only scored one goal. So we're not going to beat ourselves up too much about that, but it's definitely something we'll talk about, and we obviously want to continue on the vein we've been in of scoring multiple goals whenever we possibly can."
On the young team gritting out a game that didn't go to plan:
"It's great. I think of games this year where we've either lost leads or we've been in leads and made it a bit hard for ourselves. I think the biggest thing tonight was that we kept pressing them, we kept them in their own half, we made it hard for them to get anywhere near our goal — and that's the team we want to be. I think sometimes that will work for you, sometimes it won't. I think the biggest thing tonight, which we've learned from in recent games — thinking back to that Gotham game as well — is we want to get on the front foot and stay on the front foot as much as we can defensively. And I think the subs helped with that. I thought Holly [Ward] did a great job when she came on, Emeri [Adames] the same, Coco [Mondesir] the same. And then that last five minutes of Brit [Ratcliffe] just running and putting them under pressure, taking the ball to the corner, all those little nuances of the game, I thought we did a good job of."
On Angharad James-Turner stepping in for the injured/unavailable Sam Meza:
"It happened yesterday in training, last minute. It's not bad, but to get it turned around in 24 hours was going to be unrealistic. We've been preparing Haz for a while to get ready to play, with Ainsley potentially going to the U20 World Cup — it just came earlier than we thought. I thought she was fantastic tonight. But we know that about Haz, we know the player she is, we know the performances she can put in, and she put in a great shift tonight."
On Sofia Huerta's second-half performance:
"I thought she — second half especially — I actually think that's probably the best half of football I've seen from Sof this season. She was decisive, she was on her front foot, she was suffocating, and then on the ball she showed quality. I don't think she'll get the assist for the goal, but the sort of second assist of that, and then even late in the game she's doing little flicks around the corner and stuff, which just shows she's comfortable and confident. Since Madi Curry got the injury, she slid over to the left, which is a little bit different in how we play or how we ask her to play. We were debating, knowing we were playing Curry tonight, whether to flip them back, but with a three-game week we felt we might be chopping and changing a little bit, so keeping Sof on that side and having some consistency, we thought, would work — and thankfully it did. I thought the second half especially she was excellent."
On what this win means for the standings and the final stretch:
"We're just putting ourselves in a position where you can start to glimpse the end line, and the end line is 42 points — that gets you in. We're 15 points away from that, so 15 points, five wins away from getting into the playoffs with however many games left. That's what we wanted to set ourselves up for. And you mentioned those teams. They're all teams we're going to play, too. We've played the Gothams, we can't do anything about that. We've played Washington, we can't do anything about that. But we've still got to play a lot of the teams that are in and around us or above us who we could catch, so that gives us some really good motivation. Tonight was good motivation, too. It was a long time since we've beaten Chicago."
On the non-call on Mercado's challenge in the first half:
"We sat on a ref call this week with the league, and this actually came up a little bit. There's just a discretion between the box and outside the box, and I'm not sure I agree with it. We talked about it for a long time this week with the refs — if there's no connection with the ball from the goalkeeper at all, and they impede the attacker, that won't be given as a penalty in games, and they said ‘well, it depends on the intent and those things.’ But I'm like, if that happened outside the box, I think the goalkeeper gets sent off. There's just a very big discrepancy between inside the box and outside the box. I don't know if that's global, but it's definitely happening in our league. I don't love it, but I wasn't standing on the sideline thinking they were going to give it — even when they checked it, I thought there's no way, just knowing the conversations we've had this week."
On Maddie Mercado's form this season:
"Honestly, I was gobsmacked she wasn't in the team of the month in July. She scored in every game except one. I think it's leading off from last year when she came back from her loan with Carolina, I thought she was in a fantastic position then, and she's sort of followed that through this season. I don't know how many goals she's scored in the second half of the season versus the first half, but consistently she's been very, very good. She's a threat whether you play her wide or down the middle, she just has that ability to sneak out a goal. Hopefully it continues."
On winning in front of the crowd on Pride Night:
"It's great, we love playing here — I loved playing on the grass, it didn't serve us great with those points, but I think we know tonight's a special night for lots of reasons, being a Pride game as well. We're very passionate about that, it's great to see the fans turning up and being loud and proud — it just fills me with so much joy. To be able to win a game like this in front of those fans who come out and support us week in, week out is massive, and then the cherry on top is that it's the Pride game, and we can all go be happy and gay."
Ainsley McCammon and Maddie Mercado
On Maddie's night, including the goal:
McCammon: "She was great. I think she had so many great chances and I know she's disappointed she couldn't put away a few more, but just getting those chances and putting away that one is huge, a game changer. She does that in training daily, so I'm glad that she got the reward of getting one in the back of the net today. She's always so much fun to play with."
On grinding out the 1-0 win and closing out the game:
McCammon: "Obviously at the end of games, you've just got to grind it out. I think we did a better job of just wasting time in the corners, and not always just playing long, but keeping it when we could, too. There's always room for improvement – we can do a little bit of a better job with that – but I know we're super proud that we kept the clean sheet, and the backline was phenomenal today as well as Claudia."
On a season-high 12 corners, even with some headers not connecting:
McCammon: "Set pieces are such a big part of the game, and we've definitely put a lot of time and effort into that in trainings and everything, too. We had some really good service today. I think my role is just getting on the back post and trying to keep everything alive, so I'm disappointed I couldn't put one away. But it just goes to show that the amount of corners we're getting is related to how many chances and how many times we were in the final third — that kind of goes hand in hand, and it helps you gain a little bit more momentum as well."
On flipping the script from a flat first half to a dominant second half:
Mercado: "The second half for us has been something we've really focused on — how we can make that similar to coming out on 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 seemed like we were a little bit flat. So I think as a group we've really worked through that. And obviously when you're still hungry for a goal to get the win, that helps push you forward and motivate you. But I'd 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."
On the team's confidence being above .500:
McCammon: "It's super exciting. I think we've been working — we knew we could get to this point. So getting the results is just boosting the overall confidence and showing us that we know we can do it and we can be a top team. The team chemistry has been building like crazy, and we have people on the bench who can come on and make a difference and change the game. So building off of that is huge. Obviously it's a long season, so you've got to grind and dig deep at times, but getting points and a clean sheet any game is a huge win for us."
On covering for Sam Meza's absence:
McCammon: "We definitely missed Sam, we'll be happy to have her back. But I don't think we really changed too much — we knew that Haz was going to be able to step in and do her role, and she obviously did. She performed great tonight. So I don't think there were really any tactical changes, because we knew Haz could step in and perform like she did tonight."
On playing under assistant coach Lauren Barnes:
Mercado: "Having Lu back is awesome. She was obviously a great player for the Reign. She has a player's perspective, which I think is underrated in the sport. She sees the game from both a player's and now a coaching perspective. She has a good relationship with a lot of us, and I know she's new, so she's building confidence and trust with us. But for me, and I know Ainsley too, to have seen Lu as a player and now as a coach is just great. I think we kind of knew she would always grow into that role."
