Seattle Reign visited the Utah Royals on Friday evening for their final road match of the regular season with a potential playoff berth on the line for both teams. Although Utah had the better of play, neither side was able to break through thanks to some excellent Claudia Dickey saves and a general lack of passing quality, so both teams are left watching other results around the league and with big Decision Day matchups to come next week.
Utah started with the better of the play but had little to show for it aside from a long, speculative Nuria Rábano shot that skimmed off the top of the crossbar in the sixth minute. Neither side created much danger after that, trading low-quality shots that were either blocked or went wide, until Narumi Miura hit a hard, low shot from the top of the box which Claudia Dickey stretched out to tip just wide. Utah had one more dangerous look just before halftime when Ana Tejada hit a rocket from distance, but Dickey was able to get her fingertips to it and nudge it off the crossbar and out for a corner.
The second half saw more of the same, with neither side able to find a dangerous look on goal and only getting some speculative half-chances. Seattle started gaining some momentum in the final 15 minutes of the game after making some subs, but still the quality on final passes was not quite enough to challenge Utah goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn beyond one respectable but long-distance shot from Sam Meza late in the game.
With the game deadlocked when the final whistle blew, neither side was able to qualify for a playoff spot thanks to their result. However, with Portland defeating North Carolina shortly after, Utah has now clinched a spot and the Reign remain in control of their playoff fate heading into the final game of the season. A win next week will see Seattle into the playoffs, while anything less will leave them nervously watching out-of-town scores.
WHAT WORKED: Bend don’t break
Seattle conceded a lot of possession to Utah (58%) and gave up 8 corners, but the Reign defense came up strong time and time again to disrupt final passes, block shots and otherwise limit the danger the Royals attack presented, keeping them to only 0.80 xG on the night. Claudia Dickey was asked to make four saves – two were routine shots from distance, and two were highlight reel, finger-tip stops.
CLAUDIAAAAAA 🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 7:12 PM · Oct 23, 2026
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Fingertips to crossbar 🧤 What a save from Claudia Dickey @reignfc.com!
— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 7:32 PM · Oct 23, 2026
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Utah’s Cloé Lacasse was essentially marked out of the game, with just two distant, low-quality shots that were both blocked and 9 of 20 passing. The Reign were also consistently successful in playing out of Utah’s aggressive high press, even if they tended to turn the ball over again on errant passes soon thereafter.
WHAT WORKED: Going to the bench
Seattle made two rare halftime subs in this game, pulling Jess Fishlock and Ryanne Brown after both reported small knocks. Madison Curry and Sally Menti entered for them, with Curry immediately making a big impact on the game with her crisp passing and alertness to cut off passes.
“I thought Madi Curry was exceptional when she came on,” Laura Harvey mentioned postgame. “She's done that a lot this year, and I thought she played really, really well in the second half.”
Brittany Ratcliffe came on in the 81st minute and similarly brought a spark to the Reign attack, acting as a willing runner along the sideline and putting several dangerous balls into the Royals box.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Connecting passes
Whether it was the short rest, the altitude, or Utah’s extremely aggressive press, the Reign struggled to find teammates with long passes in this game. The Reign finished with an abysmal 69% passing accuracy, more often than not either badly underhitting or massively overhitting passes that could have sprung runners behind the Royals defense.
Quotes
“They're always on the front foot”
Asked about the challenge of playing against Utah’s aggressive press and with the need to make riskier long passes to break through it, Claudia Dickey was realistic about the challenge the team faced and how they handled it throughout the game.
“Their press is insane. It's been insane all year. They go hard on every single play and they have against every single team,” she noted. “We knew that coming in. And obviously we want to try and play as best as we can, but we have to play what the game gives us, and Laura says that a lot. And I think playing short is just playing into their hands. They're always on the front foot. They're always ready for the next person to get it to press. And I think us being willing to be able to skip it obviously isn't ideal for us, but I think if that's what was out there, I think it was working for us at times. So I think just our ability to adapt is a credit; over the year, we've gotten so much better at that, but I think we knew coming into this if we played short and tried to play little intricate passes, it wasn't going to end well.”
“We overplayed a little bit at times”
Asked what the team might have been missing in terms of getting those final passes and shots off to create more danger, Harvey was honest in her assessment that the team decison-making wasn’t quite up to the usual quality.
“I just think there was just glimpses and moments where, could it be take one less touch and get a shot off? Instead of laying it off to somebody else, take the shot yourself. We overplayed a little bit at times. Sammy's [Sam Meza’s] was probably the best chance of them all,” she remarked. “I think it was just individual decisions and whether to take the take that extra touch or make the run. I think there was one where a cross came in and Sally tried to like chest it on to Sof and if she'd have just left it, I think Sof would have got it. Just tiny little things that I think we could have done a little bit differently. But I think those are the things that when you're away from home, if you can just get one of those to bounce your way, we could’ve come out of here with more than what we got.”
The Reign wrap up the regular season and will celebrate Jess Fishlock’s final game at Lumen Field on Sunday, November 1 when they host the Orlando Pride. In addition to the free kids ticket promo, the team is offering several ticket packages for the game. The game will kick off at 2 PM PST as part of league-wide simultaneous kickoffs on decision day. Broadcast info will be announced following the completion of this weekend’s games.
