The Tiny Dragon. Welsh Legend. Seattle OG. Jess Fishlock.
The 39-year-old midfielder scored two goals from outside the 18-yard box to help Seattle Reign earn a comfortable 2-0 win at home against the Boston Legacy. Maddie Dahlien played a role in both goals — picking off a pass near half that got to Fishlock for the first, and then taking the ball toward the endline and finding a short cutback pass to Fishlock at the corner of the box for the second goal.
Next up for the Reign (12-10-4) is a home match against the North Carolina Courage (12-10-3), where the club will be recognizing Fishlock ahead of her retirement at the end of the season. That game kicks off Friday, October 2, at 7 p.m. PT and will stream on NWSL+.
Highlights
Stats
SCORING SUMMARY
23' - Jess Fishlock - SEA
64' - Jess Fishlock (Assisted by Maddie Dahlien) - SEA
LINEUPS
Our lead squad headed into battle tonight ⚔️ #SEAvBOS
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 4:34 PM · Sep 25, 2026
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68' - Sally Menti for Jess Fishlock
77' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Mia Fishel; Madison Curry for Ryanne Brown
85' - Nerilia Mondesir for Maddie Dahlien; Angharad James-Turner for Sam Meza
How we're lining up against the Reign 🫡
— Boston Legacy FC (@bostonlegacyfc.com) 4:30 PM · Sep 25, 2026
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56' - Lilly Reale for Deja Davis
75' - Amanda for Barbara Olivieri; Ella Stevens for Sammy Smith
ATTENDANCE
7,116
POSSESSION
Reign: 40.7%
Legacy: 59.3%
EXPECTED GOALS
Reign: 0.98
Legacy: 0.42
TOTAL SHOTS
Reign: 15
Legacy: 8
SHOTS ON TARGET
Reign: 5
Legacy: 2
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Reign: 6
Legacy: 2
SHOTS BLOCKED
Reign: 4
Legacy: 4
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Reign: 6
Legacy: 4
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Reign: 29
Legacy: 18
PASSES
Reign: 322
Legacy: 488
PASSING ACCURACY
Reign: 77%
Legacy: 82.8%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 107
Legacy: 103
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Reign: 70.1%
Legacy: 72.8%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Reign: 18
Legacy: 16
CORNERS TAKEN
Reign: 5
Legacy: 6
OFFSIDES
Reign: 1
Legacy: 1
FOULS
Reign: 6
Legacy: 11
YELLOW CARDS
Reign: 0
Legacy: 1
RED CARDS
Reign: 0
Legacy: 0
Seattle Reign FC: 2 (0.98 xG) vs Boston Legacy FC: 0 (0.39 xG) #SEAvBOS | #HerefortheCrown | #Legacy | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) 8:45 PM · Sep 25, 2026
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Quotes
Laura Harvey
Her overall thoughts on the match:
"I thought our biggest message all week was that we wanted to come out on the front foot, defensively and offensively, and I thought we did that. I think we know this about ourselves, and I think that's what was so frustrating about the last two games prior to tonight — when we commit to something, whatever the commitment is, collectively, we do it as a group, good things happen. And that's what we did. I think we limited their opportunities because of that, we made it hard for them to stop what we were trying to do. They're a tough team to play — very physical and combative, quite man for man, so it's challenging to play against them. But there was a very clear message all week that we had to decide what we were going to do, commit to it, and enable us to be able to solve it if it wasn't working. And I thought the group did that."
On Jess Fishlock passing Megan Rapinoe for the club's all-time goal-scoring record:
"I think Jess getting the minutes she got in down in LA was really good for her. Obviously the result and the performance wasn't necessarily what we wanted, but with where she'd been at — coming back from the injury, then tweaking a hamstring, coming back again — it'd been 10, 20, 30 minutes maybe. So to get her into a game and get 70 minutes under her legs was really important to set her up to potentially start. Honestly we were quite undecided on who we were going to start this week, and she played her way into the team because of how she trained, and she has the ability in moments to show quality, and that's what she did. So you can't ask more than that. I didn't know she was anywhere near breaking any record until Ryan [Reign media manager] told me at the end of the game, and I'm just really happy for her. I think we've always wanted to send all of the OGs off in the right way, and I remember Pinoe at the end of her career was doing similar things to what Jess is currently doing. I've said all year she's so important to this group, so important on and off the field — whether she's starting, whether she's off the bench, whether she's just there, she's huge. Tonight was her opportunity to get some flowers, and I'm glad that she did."
On balancing the emotion of Jess's moment with 30 minutes still to play:
"She'd changed the game at that point, so she'd done her job. She came off and she said — she literally, in the hug, went, 'I told you I was ready.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, you did, and you showed it, so I can't argue with it.' That's sort of the relationship I've had with Jess, and with a lot of players — I trust them, and I think they trust me. Jess's role has changed over the last two years, and I think that was challenging for her initially, but there's no doubt that she's so impactful when she comes off the bench. But there are games where, if we need her and she's available, it's important that she can start. I just felt all week that once she felt good and was able to wrap her head around what we needed to do and execute it, she was pretty much the first name in the front four — because she played herself into that team. We want to send her off in the right way, and I'm glad she was able to give us a really good chance to do that again tonight."
On Claudia Dickey's performance in goal and going down with a knock in the game:
"I think she's okay — I haven't really seen her since. Claudia has really special attributes: how dominant she is in her six-yard box, claiming crosses, killing the game off at times — obviously had to make maybe two decent saves, and then she set us up on a few transition opportunities with her feet. Today was a tough one for her because of the way they play, she sort of has to be the playmaker, and that's not necessarily what you want your goalkeeper to do, but she has the ability to do that. At halftime we talked about a few different pictures, and they came out and were showing different things, so she had to be able to see that — not everyone can do that, and it's something we keep working at. She's one of those goalkeepers that if you press her, she'll get out of it, and if you don't press her, she's going to play different passes into different areas. If you go back and watch a lot of Boston games, most of the time when the opponent's goalkeeper has it, whatever pass they play, they give it away. I'm not sure we had a perfect record of that, but I think we kept it more than we probably gave it away, which was partly down to her."
On making runs for each other and the buildup to the first goal:
"I preach it and I will preach it until the day I don't have a coaching job — if you can defend well, you give yourself a chance to score goals. And that chance purely comes off Mia's initial press, Maddie Dahlien winning the ball, and then Mia making a run that opens space up for Jess. I think when we believe, good things happen, and that's what happened."
On Jess's experience against a physical team factoring into the pressing:
"I knew we needed our press to be spot on, and she's just really smart — she's a bit of a conductor. Even if she's not the one necessarily pressing, the others trust that if she's telling them to go, they should go. I think you saw that with Mia, Maddie Dahlien, and Maddie Mercado. Jess isn't necessarily the one always getting the press going, but she's the conductor of it all, because she understands it. And the great thing — I've spoken about this before — yesterday before training I'm watching Jess and Sally [Menti] sitting around a computer going through clips together. So not only is she doing it because she knows she needs to, she's doing it because she knows Sally's the next generation of person who's going to take the mantlepiece on from her."
On the team dominating despite Boston having nearly 60% of the ball, and what's different about this year's defending:
"I go back to how we defend. When you started to see Mia tire, and Jess felt something — nothing bad, she was just being smart about it — and Maddie Dahlien can't quite keep doing it, you bring on Coco, you bring on Brit, you bring on Sally, and bring on Madi Curry, and suddenly we're back on the front foot again. I think in '24 and '25 we probably possessed more than we had in previous years but weren't necessarily as solid defensively. This year, keeping that mentality of being defensively solid — it doesn't matter if the opponent has the ball. There's been teams in this league, Kansas City last year were one of them, that didn't even want the ball because they knew they'd dominate you if they didn't have it. What I think we have the ability to do is both — when we commit on our defending and then show our quality with the ball, that's when good things happen to us."
On the connection between Jess and Maddie Dahlien, and comparisons to Jess's connection with Rapinoe:
"Maddie really respects Jess's opinion. She believes in the conductor side of Jess, and that works with the ball too — like when Jess picked it up in midfield and was dribbling, and Maddie's making a run, and then Maddie realizes she's not getting the ball and screams out to go to Maddie Mercado instead. There's a recognition of what Jess can do to trigger those guys to show how good they are. That's what Jess and Pinoe did for 10 years — I don't know how many assists Jess gave her, but there was probably a lot. And Maddie Dahlien has really special qualities — I've actually spoken to Pinoe not long ago about connecting the two, because I do think what Maddie has, Pinoe had. Maddie's just blessed with a little more pace than what Pinoe had, which is scary. What's really cool about this group, as a collective and as individuals, is they're so eager to learn off these experienced players and the coaching staff and each other that tells me the ceiling is so high for them. Maddie Dahlien's ceiling is so high — she just has so much she can bring to the game, and I don't think we're scratching the surface yet with her."
On the team regaining momentum after Boston's physical start:
"There's the basics of football that don't get talked about — winning the first ball, winning the second ball, all those little things. When we lost momentum, we weren't necessarily doing them. The way we got that back was either winning first ball — Phoebe [McClernon], Jordyn [Bugg] — I thought Jordyn was exceptional tonight too — and then Sofia [Huerta] and Ainsley [McCammon] winning second ball, and suddenly that gets us the next pass or gets us 20 yards higher up the field and puts them on the back foot. It's all the little, horrible sides of the game — defending throws, little things — that when we do them well, gives us a chance to get momentum back. And I think we did that."
On becoming the first team in league history with five straight home shutout wins:
"So happy. This league's the most unforgiving league in the world, in my opinion, and travel's really hard. So if you can win games at home, you give yourself a chance to be successful. I actually thought there was a period where we were really good on the road too, picking up points — Bay, San Diego, I'm thinking of. That's going to ring true even with the last four games — two home, two away. We want to be really good at home in front of our fans, and there's no bigger game coming up than Friday against North Carolina, which could define playoff positioning. So we're in that sandwich place where this is a huge result, coming back home again next week fills us with confidence, but we know we have to put on as good a performance, if not better, again next week, then go on the road and pick up some points before we come back home and hopefully solidify getting into the playoffs."
On the impact of substitutes closing out clean sheets this season:
"I think it's a role you don't really want — I find this role-clarity stuff really interesting as a coach, because if I tell you that's what you are, you're not going to be very happy about it. But if you commit to it and you're good at it, it can be so valuable. Brit Ratcliffe is a really good example of that. Madi Curry's become a bit of that lately, and we all know she can be a starter — there's no question, she's just playing behind two people who are really in form. Is she happy with her role? No. But is she embracing it? Yeah, because she wants to win, they want to compete, they want this team to be successful. Brit's spoken to me many times this year — 'I don't care about [my role], I want this team to win.' And when you have that in your group, good things happen. Coco was so honest this week — she said she didn't play well against Denver, that wasn't the best version of her — but then she comes on tonight and has a huge impact. Sally the same — comes on after Jess needs to come off and works her tail off to show her quality and make sure we win the game. As long as you have that mentality across the group, good things will happen."
Jess Fishlock and Maddie Dahlien
On Fishlock passing Rapinoe for the club's all-time scoring record:
Fishlock: "Well, firstly, I can't wait to text her and tell her that, unfortunately, I broke a record — I'm joking. No, I don't even know these stats, to be honest, when I go into games. Obviously it's nice to know that I've played for so long and I'm doing something useful, so that's nice. But it's more about the team and what we were able to do today. We were disappointed in ourselves last week, and this was a chance for us to bounce back and react in the ways we know we can. So yes, obviously I scored the goal, I got the record, which is super fun, but we got three points and I think we put on a good performance today, and that's the most important thing."
Dahlien: "She leaves me speechless a lot of the time. She's one of the best players I've ever played with, and to play alongside her is such an honor. I'm learning from her every day, and I'm going to be so emotional when she leaves. It's just really great to be able to learn from her, and I have no doubt in my mind when I pass her the ball that she's going to put it in the back of the net. So just grateful for her and her leadership, and I look up to her a lot."
On team resilience bouncing back after a difficult week, with the playoff push in mind:
Fishlock: "It's huge. We know how unforgiving and relentless this league is, and it pushes you in so many different directions all the time. Last week was definitely a moment for us to regroup, reflect, and move forward, and I think we did that today. Our record at home right now is great, and we've made this place a really difficult place to go, which is tremendous for us — that'll give us confidence going into these next couple of games. But the most important thing is to take what was very good in this game and roll it over, and that's just the bare minimum standard of work rate, working together, pressing together, helping each other, being strong, being physical — which really helps with the clean sheets, our defenders were great too. It's going to take a whole team effort of coming together, believing and trusting what we're doing, and when we do that — and we did that today — good things tend to happen. Of course we can be really confident, but we have to remember why it's so successful when this happens."
On scoring twice from distance:
Fishlock: "Perhaps when I was a little younger, I shot from distance more than I do now — I have to check my hips can get the range these days, I'm only joking. No, it was just, I was in the position, and I identified that the best thing to do in that moment was to shoot. I'm always going to back myself, whether it comes off or not, it doesn't really matter to me — I know I have the capability of doing these things, and I'm going to trust my talent. But at the end of the day it's not just about me. The reason I was able to shoot on the first goal was Mia — her run took the defender, opened up the space, the defender went with Mia, and that allowed me time to get a shot off and make sure it was a quality shot. On the second one, there's this girl next to me — she runs, takes the defender, plays a perfect pass, it opens up. So yes, I take the shots, I take the goals, but it's never just about me on my own. It's such a team effort, and without these players around me doing what they do, I don't get the opportunities to trust myself."
On Ainsley McCammon's performance since returning from the U-20 World Cup:
Dahlien: "I don't think it necessarily did anything different for her — she's been consistent for us all year. Her distribution is world class, she's really able to find pockets and spaces, whether it's in behind or in pockets for our midfielders. But Ainsley's grown so much, and it's been really cool to see her growth this season, especially with the national team — she was such a leader for that team. Couldn't be prouder of her."
On signaling to the sideline and coming off:
Fishlock: "I'm good, I'm good — I was just feeling a little something, and it was around 65 minutes. The beauty of our group is I'm not going to push myself into an injury when I know the talent we have to come on and do exactly the same. So I trust this whole squad — I know for a fact that when I come off, Sally comes on and she's going to do exactly what we needed to do. So that was more about protecting myself, obviously, but belief in this group and every single one of them."
On the hug with Laura Harvey and closing out her final season:
Fishlock: "Of course it means a lot. It's always nice to have those moments with Laura, because we've had so many over the years — and not just good ones, we've had bad ones too, we've really gone through a roller coaster journey. But I've said it before and I'll say it again — I love every minute of being with this group. I love going into training all the time, even the road trips that are so long and awful, I love, because I really do love being with this group, and I really believe in their journey, our journey, and their future. So it's just a joy and an honor to be able to finish my career with a group I truly enjoy playing with. You don't always get that, I know that, and I understand that — so it's just such a grateful feeling to be able to finish with this group specifically."
On Maddie Dahlien's performance against a physical Boston defense, and the comparison to Rapinoe:
Fishlock: "It's not just today — like I said, I've played with many people, I played with one of the best players in the world, let's be clear, on the left wing, and I get a similar feeling of excitement playing with Maddie as I did playing with Pinoe. And it's not just now, it's been since the moment she came into the club. Obviously she's a lot younger and there's a lot more time for her to grow into who she can be, but the raw talent is so exciting to me. Even today, on the second goal, I get the ball in the pocket and I'm immediately looking for Maddie — very similar to when I was playing with Megan, it's like, how can I help, what does she need from me in that moment, does she need me at all? Mostly no, she never does, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to stop being there and available for her. I think the sky is the limit for Maddie — she's incredible, and the thing I love most is her mentality. She knows the sky is the limit and she wants to reach it every single day, and that's how I know she will. I love being able to speak to her, we talk together in training all the time — I love trying to help her reach that, but also give her the freedom to be exactly who she is, because she's incredible, she's dangerous, she's going to create something, she's going to be a nuisance. It's truly a career I cannot wait to continue to watch, and not only play alongside her now, but when I'm done, I know I'm going to be watching her — probably texting her, probably being on her about it — to help as much as I can for her to reach wherever she wants to go."
On hearing that praise:
Dahlien: "I don't get emotional often, but I'll get emotional about this one. I talked about it earlier, but just the honor of playing with a player like her — she's single-handedly helped me develop so much at this club, and I'll really value our relationship throughout the rest of my career. I'm really sad to lose her, honestly, but we have four more games to celebrate her and make it a season to remember."
On countering Boston's early physicality advantage:
Fishlock: "I think honestly it's a great question. Initially they came out with that physicality, and what I'm most proud of from us is that we were able to turn that momentum — we took it for probably the first five, eight minutes, and we were like, okay, we need to match it. That takes a group effort, a group mentality to really shift that momentum, and that's not easy — it sounds simple, but in a game environment it's tough to do that collectively. We did it by matching their aggressiveness but then adding our quality, and that's how we ended up changing it and getting them on the back foot, taking control of the game a little bit. Sometimes when you play teams like this you have to be okay with them moving it around and playing short passes, because you know the moment you pounce, you're going to hurt them, and we were very good in understanding that today — not opening up the gaps they wanted, being calm when we needed to but also fast and intense when we needed to. The ability to do both was what really hurt them, because they were unsure whether we were going to keep it or go. We have players to do both, and I was really proud of our team today, especially after the last two games, to start like that and be able to switch it — that's huge for us."
