TUKWILA — With Seattle Reign now rotating which coaches speak to reporters after training, it was goalkeeper coach Lloyd Yaxley's turn to chat on Thursday afternoon. Yaxley, now in his third year with the Reign, spoke about the club's attacking surge, the goalkeeper corps, and set-piece defending. Sounder at Heart also caught up separately with goalkeeper Cassie Miller, who made the most of an extended run as Claudia Dickey's injury replacement, including a start in the Reign's biggest win of the summer against Portland.
Miller's long, "crazy" road back
Miller's three-match stint as the Reign's No. 1 this July came at the end of a journey longer and rockier than almost anyone realized. Last season, her hamstring completely tore off from her bone, turning into an 11-month recovery due to a setback along the way that reset the clock.
"The estimated [timeline] wasn't 11 months, and it ended up being 11 months," Miller said. "There was a part, three or four months in, where I was back on the field, and then something else happened, and I was back to square one. It ended up kind of being an ACL in a way. But I've never been this strong in my career. I feel the most explosive, the strongest that I ever have."
Two months after getting taken off the season-ending injury report, Miller was called upon. After Dickey went down with an ankle injury picked up at U.S. Women's National Team camp, Miller started three matches: a loss at North Carolina, a statement win over Portland, and a heartbreaking loss at Gotham. Of the three starts, the 45th Cascadia Clash stood out. Miller made a career-high nine saves in a 2-0 win over Portland, earning Player of the Match honors in front of 14,793 fans at Lumen Field and getting her first taste of the rivalry.
"I've never been in the Cascadia rivalry," Miller said, noting a funny personal trend against Portland from her previous NWSL clubs: she's never lost to the Thorns. "Going into that, I didn't tell a soul. I was going to jinx myself if I said anything. I just know who I am as a goalkeeper and that I could be one of the best ones in the league. It just felt like another day on the job, and happy that we got the win against them. That's the biggest one of the year, usually."
Miller's path to Seattle ran through Yaxley, who coached her in Kansas City and was the first call she made when searching for her next step ahead of last season. "The goalkeeping world is hard, similar to the quarterback in the NFL. There's only so many spots," Miller said. She was at Gotham and knew it was going to be hard to break through behind Ann-Katrin Berger. "I wanted a good environment, to be pushed every day... So I called [Yaxley] and said, 'Hey, any space for me?'" Fortunately, there was, as Miller came over in a trade that also sent Lynn Biyendolo to Seattle.
Once with the Reign, Miller found more than just Yaxley pushing her. "Laura's an incredible head coach," she said of Laura Harvey. "She's a wizard as a coach."
Yaxley credited Miller's Portland performance with giving Dickey extra time to fully recover. "I was a big advocate of bringing her here because I know what she's going to do to be ready to perform," he said. "It gave us confidence in giving Claudia more time to recover, and allowing Cassie to reap the rewards of her performance." He also touched on the club's depth at the position, which influenced their decision to send Neeku Purcell out on loan to Dallas Trinity: "The four goalkeepers we have are a really cool blend — no pro experience in Evan [O'Steen], Cassie with 10 years, and Claudia as a senior national team goalkeeper. They work really well growing themselves and each other."
Miller is again nominated for the Lauren Holiday Award for her work with the Nick of Time Foundation. Heart health is personal for her, as she had open-heart surgery at two months old and again in college. During the World Cup window, she and the foundation held a free EKG heart screening and CPR training event at the barge on the Seattle waterfront, a core part of the organization's mission. "There were a few kids that had undetected heart conditions," Miller said. "It truly is saving lives."
What's clicking in the attack
Turning to on-field matters, Yaxley spoke about the team's scoring turnaround in the attack since the summer break. The Reign managed just nine goals across their first 11 matches before the break. Since returning, they've scored 11 in five games. Yaxley said the coaching staff identified goal-scoring as a specific target during the break and built training around it.
"That was a key thing we identified as one of the things that we wanted to be better at coming out of the break. We put a larger emphasis on numbers joining the attack, people making certain runs to develop certain situations. The other part is our defensive players being higher when we're attacking, so we can keep the attacks going."
The results, he said, have been obvious: "We've seen a big difference in our performances in the attacking third. We're creating more opportunities. We feel like we look like a way more dangerous team than we did pre-break."
Mia Fishel has scored two goals since the summer break and is getting more opportunities in the attack. Asked what she is contributing beyond the goals, Yaxley pointed to a young player still carving out her role. "She's figuring out what she can bring, and I think the goal scoring's going to continue to come. Defensively, Laura's spent a lot of time with her on pressing triggers, getting us on the front foot so we're in better attacking areas."
The post-break surge has come with a wrinkle: the Reign keep building two-goal cushions and having to sweat it out, including Bay FC's well-worked set-piece equalizer two weekends ago. It was the seventh set-piece goal the Reign have conceded this year. Yaxley, who oversees set-piece defending, said the focus is on winning the second phase of set pieces, while also recognizing this is a really young roster that's going to need to keep learning and practice to make their defending instinctive.
"We don't have two or three players that are going to win every header, so we've had to change some roles," he said. "Last year we conceded a load of goals to Portland from the second phase. With players like Ainsley [McCammon], Emeri [Adames], and JB [Jordyn Bugg] in their second full season, that problem-solving is only going to get better as they see it more."
Fishlock update
Yaxley confirmed Jess Fishlock was held out of Thursday's session and was getting a full medical evaluation. While Harvey will likely have a more official update in the club's pre-match press conference on Saturday, staff are cautiously optimistic about her recovery timeline. "We're pretty hopeful it's not as serious as we thought, but Laura will get more information from medical."
The Reign are back at Lumen Field this weekend after a three-match road trip, hosting Angel City FC on Sunday, August 9. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. PT; the match will air on ESPN.
