Three years ago, Seattle Reign general manager Lesle Gallimore stepped into her role during a period of vast uncertainty. While the Reign were performing well on the field and pushing toward the playoffs, OL Groupe also announced in April 2023 that they were selling the club. The Reign went on to reach the 2023 NWSL Championship, where they fell 2-1 to Gotham FC and saw club legend Megan Rapinoe tear her Achilles in the final game of her career.
The Reign quickly fell from near the top of the league to the bottom in the following season, and it's been an uphill climb ever since. With so much uncertainty that offseason, as the sale wouldn't be finalized until mid-June 2024, the Reign lost U.S. Women's National Team players Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle in free agency, along with Brazilian midfielder Angelina.
"We lost a lot of free agents at the end of 2023, the sale was still happening. And so it was just an interesting time for our roster," Gallimore emphasized in a recent conversation with Ride of the Valkyries.
The 2024 season was rough, as the Reign couldn't build the roster they wanted while up for sale. Had the Sounders and Carlyle Group taken over in the offseason instead of halfway through, things might have looked different. But that's not the reality that Gallimore got to live. Instead, she started by looking for the next generation of Reign players.
"Looking at a club that had three OGs in it, and we were not necessarily getting younger as the years were going by."
Gallimore told Ride of the Valkyries that top-of-the-table teams seem to have an average roster age of about 27-28. Over the last two years, that's what the club has been building toward — adding young talent to this squad that are starting to have a big impact, including the U-18 signings of Emeri Adames, Jordyn Bugg, and Ainsley McCammon in 2024, the addition of Sam Meza and Maddie Mercado in the 2024 college draft, and bringing in Maddie Dahlien and Emily Mason as the first set of college players signed as free agents in the post-draft era in 2025.
The club's belief in these young players was a big reason the Reign didn't make many signings this offseason. They believed this roster could compete now. But that wasn't the only reason for a lack of big moves. Gallimore said the front office has had to be so reactive over the last two years, and they felt like they were finally in a place where they could build a winning team over the long term.
"We felt for two years that we've just been kind of scrambling to put a winning club together, and we've had time to step back and stop reacting in the moment as opposed to longer-term planning."
Ride of the Valkyries sat down with her recently to discuss the team’s plans now that they’ve been able more fully assess where they stand, where they want to go as a club, and how best to accomplish those plans.
A quiet summer transfer window
The Reign's long-term vision may look beyond 2026, but the club is in a good position for a playoff push this year — sitting in 8th place with four matches remaining in a very tight table. That's again why Gallimore didn't make any panicked decisions during this summer window, aside from bringing in a promising forward talent in Ami Diallo.
