Seattle Reign FC picked up a 1-0 win over the Houston Dash on Sunday, with Maddie Dahlien's second-half finish off a Maddie Mercado assist proving to be the difference. It wasn't the most efficient performance in front of goal, but it was a dominant one from start to finish, with the Reign smothering Houston's midfield and never allowing the Dash to find any rhythm going forward.
Here are three stats that help tell the story of the Reign's win at Lumen Field.
Alli Haynie
31
While this was truly an exceptional team effort, two players stood out for winning what felt like every single ball that came in their direction: Ainsley McCammon and Phoebe McClernon.
These two combined for 31 recoveries in Sunday's match, with McCammon winning possession 16 times and McClernon 15.
McCammon's 16 ties with Sam Meza for the most recoveries in a match for a Reign player this season. The 19-year-old midfielder added five interceptions, while McClernon won six of 10 duels.
Credit also needs to be given to the ball-winning machine that is Sam Meza, who unsurprisingly finished with a game-high five tackles after missing three games with a thigh injury.
As head coach Laura Harvey said before the match, a lot of Houston's offense flows through their double-pivot midfield of Maggie Graham and Danny Colaprico. In their last three matches before facing the Reign, the average passing numbers for these two players were:
- Colaprico: 27/34 (79%)
- Graham: 29/34 (85%)
Against the Reign, Colaprico went 22/32 (69%) and Graham 18/29 (62%) — a fairly consistent number of attempts but a significantly lower completion rate. This is just one stat that illustrates how frustrating it was for Houston to try to play through the Reign's midfield.
Speaking to reporters after the match, Harvey praised McClernon's growth as a leader.
"There's no doubt this has been Phoebe's best year at this club. In all aspects of her game she's gotten better. Defensively, which has always been her strength. She's got better on the ball. She's a better leader than she was before, just growing into that, she takes that responsibility on really well."
Harvey also spoke about McCammon's growth in reading plays, knowing where to pop up, and getting to that spot.
"She's been exceptional, especially [in the] second half today. I thought she broke play up, and that's been a big part of her development, her movement off the ball to read things and be able to solve problems, which maybe earlier in her career with us she wouldn't be able to get there, and now she gets there."
(Bonus stat: Phoebe is a perfect 100% when it comes to leaping into goal-celebration huddles, and it's my favorite thing to watch when the Reign score.)
7
Houston had just seven touches in their attacking box all match, the fewest of any Reign opponent this season. The Dash also only had four shots, another season low for a Reign opponent, and finished with just 0.17 expected goals (xG). You guessed it, that was also a season low for a Reign opponent.
Only two of their shots came from inside the 18-yard box and only one was on target. They also attempted just one cross, which wasn't successful.
What worked so well for the Reign defensively? Well, thanks to the attack and the midfield, they were able to press the Dash high up the field and keep them pinned back for the entire game. As this chart from Cata Bush / @NWSLStat on Bluesky shows, the Reign's line of confrontation was really high. The average height of the team's defensive actions was 52.11 meters. The only time it's been higher since the summer break was against Chicago (52.53m).
Unlike in prior games, where the Reign's press was effective early in the match before fading, Seattle managed to keep the pressure on the Dash for all 90 minutes and looked even more dangerous in the second half.
1.84
Now for a bit of a negative. While this wasn't a stressful game at all thanks to an organized defensive effort, the Reign absolutely should have won by a lot more.
Their 1.84 xG was their 5th-highest of the season (behind 3.33 vs Chicago, 2.56 vs Louisville away, 2.30 vs Gotham away, 1.92 vs Bay), and their second-best offensive performance at home, yet the Reign only scored once.
Some of Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell's saves against the Reign
The Reign have now scored one goal in four straight games, when in all but one of those games (against KC) they put up much higher offensive numbers.
Still, it was promising to see how the Reign were creating goal-scoring chances. They consistently found Maddie Dahlien in transition, and the left winger took five of Seattle's 17 shots (29% of the team's total). Dahlien put four of them on target and generated 0.66 xG (36% of the team's overall xG).
The Reign are finding ways to get Dahlien much more involved in their attack since the summer break. According to American Soccer Analysis, Dahlien has 5.98 expected goals + assists (xG+A) in the Reign's 10 games since July 1. She's earned two goals and two assists in that timeframe. Before the summer break, Dahlien had just 2.05 xG+A in nine matches (and one lone goal).
On Sunday, the Reign found Dahlien consistently, and while she should have scored more, their ability to find her in behind the Dash was a big reason the Reign were so dangerous going forward.
"I know Maddie Dahlien, she'll be annoyed at herself, but that's what makes her such a good player and such a winner," Harvey said. "No one's going to be harsher on Maddie than she is on herself, but I thought she got herself in great spots tonight."
On another day, Dahlien likely finishes one of her breakaway chances, Jordyn Bugg connects on her wide-open header at the far post, or Mia Fishel converts the dangerous chances she had in the first and second half, so it's probably not worth getting too worked up quite yet. But this is starting to be a bit of a theme, and as Harvey noted, "When you're creating that much, we've got to put that in the net, and then the game becomes so easy. You can turn what is 1-0 into 5-0 real quick."
The Reign are back at home next weekend and will be hosting a tough San Diego Wave side that sits in fourth with a 12-7-3 record. That game kicks off Sunday, September 6, at 6 p.m. PT and will air on ESPN2.
