Maddie Mercado's two goals helped propel Seattle Reign to a 3-1 win over the Chicago Stars on Sunday evening. Nérilia Mondésir added a third goal, coming off the bench in the second half to help give the Reign some much-needed momentum. Jess Fishlock, Sofia Huerta, and Brittany Ratcliffe earned assists on the plays.
The win lifted the Reign back into 8th place, the final playoff spot, as the North Carolina Courage fell to San Diego.
The Reign (13-11-4) play next on Friday, October 23, heading to Utah to face the Royals (14-10-4). Their final road match of the regular season kicks off at 6:30 p.m. PT and will air on NWSL+ and Fox 13+.
Susie Rantz
Highlights
Stats
Scoring Summary
38' - Maddie Mercado (Assisted by Jess Fishlock) - SEA
80' - Nérilia Mondésir (Assisted by Sofia Huerta) - SEA
84' - Maddie Mercado (Assisted by Brittany Ratcliffe) - SEA
90' - Simone Charley (Assisted by Maitane López) - CHI
Lineups
Today's starters against Chicago ⚡️ Lineup Notes 📝 rgnfc.com/4k3ltHZ
— Seattle Reign FC (@reignfc.com) 3:49 PM · Oct 18, 2026
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65' - Brittany Ratcliffe for Holly Ward
74' - Nérilia Mondésir for Mia Fishel; Madison Curry for Ryanne Brown
86' - Angharad James-Turner for Maddie Mercado; Sally Menti for Jess Fishlock
Your Halloween night starters 👻 ✨ Mal’s wearing the captain’s armband ✨ Hal starts in goal for the first time this season Not available: Ryan Connaughton, Julia Grosso, Jordyn Huitema, Natalia Kuikka, Racheal Kundananji 📋: Wintrust
— Chicago Stars FC (@chicagostars.com) 3:06 PM · Oct 18, 2026
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60' - Simone Charley for Emma Egizii; Michelle Alozie for Jenna Bike
82' - Anna Gasper for Mallory Swanson
89' - Maitane López for Micayla Johnson; Elise Evans for Brianna Pinto
POSSESSION
Stars: 39.5%
Reign: 60.5%
EXPECTED GOALS
Stars: 0.45
Reign: 1.19
TOTAL SHOTS
Stars: 7
Reign: 18
SHOTS ON TARGET
Stars: 1
Reign: 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET
Stars: 4
Reign: 5
SHOTS BLOCKED
Stars: 2
Reign: 8
SHOTS FROM INSIDE THE BOX
Stars: 1
Reign: 14
TOUCHES INSIDE THE OPP. BOX
Stars: 9
Reign: 33
PASSES
Stars: 337
Reign: 519
PASSING ACCURACY
Stars: 76.9%
Reign: 86.1%
PASSES IN FINAL THIRD
Stars: 58
Reign: 122
PASS ACCURACY IN FINAL THIRD
Stars: 37.9%
Reign: 68%
CROSSES (EXCLUDING CORNERS)
Stars: 3
Reign: 7
CORNERS TAKEN
Stars: 1
Reign: 2
OFFSIDES
Stars: 0
Reign: 5
FOULS
Stars: 10
Reign: 6
YELLOW CARDS
Stars: 0
Reign: 0
RED CARDS
Stars: 0
Reign: 0
Chicago Stars FC: 1 (0.45 xG) vs Seattle Reign FC: 3 (1.19 xG) #CHIvSEA | #WithTheStars | #HerefortheCrown | #NWSL | 🤖⚽
— NWSL Analytics (@nwslstat.bsky.social) 6:45 PM · Oct 18, 2026
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g+ GameFlow: NWSL Regular Season Chicago Stars v Seattle Reign on October 18, 2026. #CHIvRGN ⚽️🤖
— g+ GameFlow (@gameflow.bsky.social) 7:33 PM · Oct 18, 2026
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Quotes
Laura Harvey
On Jess Fishlock’s role in the win
“Jess knows how to win. When we heard the devastating news about Maddie [Dahlien], we were all sat at training discussing it, and I didn’t think that just putting somebody straight in was necessarily what we needed, especially with how we played against North Carolina. And I said, ‘Fancy a bit of Pinoe action this week?’ We collectively spoke about it as staff and we spoke with her, and that little movement of Jess coming in and Maddie Mercado going in behind was something that we thought could cause them a problem. And it did in the first half. I think they solved it a little bit better in the second half, but she just knows how to win. I think her leadership all year, her guiding people in the right moments and then showing quality when we needed to, the ball she played for Mercado’s first goal as an example, the goal she scored that was offside, just those little bits of quality that we needed. It’s huge that she’s with us. It’s huge that she can perform. And huge that she’s around the group right now because I think that they really need her.”
On the win in Chicago
“It’s a double-edged sword when you’re the last game of the weekend at this stage of the season. You’re watching all the other results come in. You’re trying to work out what’s good results for you, what’s not good results for you. But at the end of the day, you’ve got to take care of business yourself. It doesn’t matter what anyone else is doing. Yes, things can help you along the way, but if you don’t take care of your job, none of that matters.
After the North Carolina result and the performance in some ways, we wanted to come out and show a little bit more of ourselves. I think we played really well in the first half. We really controlled the game. The start of the second half, I thought we were a little bit lax. We were giving them a little bit too much. We didn’t recognize the shifts that they’d made quick enough. I thought the substitutions that came on obviously had a huge impact. Disappointed to concede late, but that’s something that we can take away to work on. But to come here, score three goals, I think that’s the fourth time we’ve won here in our history. This is always a tough place for us to come, but obviously the three points was the most important thing and I’m glad that we could get over the line.”
On Nerilia Mondesir's goal
“She’s come from Haiti, right? Playing for Haiti in Europe, in France, and the stuff that she’s asked to do for Haiti, she’s asked to do a lot for that team. She looked really sharp in training yesterday. Sometimes when she comes back from those big trips with the amount she’s asked of her, she can be really fatigued, but she looked really, really sharp. I think that showed in her goal. She turned quick and got a great finish on it, which is really hard to do in those moments. So really happy for her.”
On the team’s resilience and the late goals
“At the start of the second half, we were a little bit lax and they came out a little bit on the front foot and we had to ride a bit of a wave. It wasn’t major, major pressure with a lot of shots, but we were giving the ball away where we weren’t giving it away in the first half. Then we start to get a little bit of momentum going around 70, 75 minutes. And I think ‘goals change games’ is a great term to use for tonight, where obviously the second and the third goal coming when they did sort of killed the game off. But again, we leave knowing that there’s something that we can grasp on to to work at and be a little bit better at, because we wanted a clean sheet and we wanted to come out of here not conceding. That late goal was something that we can talk about and try and fix for the next game.”
On the quick turnaround to Utah
“At this point I’d prefer a little bit more rest, both for ourselves and Utah, we both need a result. We go there now knowing that if we can beat Utah, we go level on points with them. To me it’s not just about us and North Carolina. With the results that have happened, other teams have got dragged into it. Friday is a huge opportunity again for us. But I think that’s part of our growth: how can we replicate how we came into the game today from a resiliency, quality, work rate perspective and put that out again on Friday. That’s going to be really important for us. Rest, recovery, how professional we can be in these next four days to get ourselves in the best possible shape to go out on Friday and put out a similar performance that we did tonight.”
On winning first and second balls
“I think we did all right, and when we didn’t, they got into our attacking third, and that’s football, right? On a field like the field that we played on today, which is similar to Lumen, we know that in these moments you’ve got to be good in those little, I call them the horrible side of the game, first and second balls. I thought we did a really good job of it for long periods. I don’t know what the percentage was, but I would guess it was high. It’s so important because in those moments when we didn’t do that, it gave them a little bit of momentum. We know that if we can do the really basic, important sides of football, it makes our life a little bit easier and then we can go and play the football that we want.
On Mia Fishel’s role up front
“We spoke about it in the week that we wanted fluidity between Maddie and Mia, that if one came short, the other one could go in behind and vice versa. I thought in the first half Mia did really well at opening up space for other people. Her work rate was great. She had a very specific job defensively. Sam [Staab] can be very, very influential and her job was to make that not be the case. For long stretches of the game, she did that.”
On Ainsley McCammon's continued growth
“She has everything. She reads the game very well, which she has to do because she’s not blessed with loads of pace like Sammy’s blessed with pace. What Ainsley’s blessed with is a football brain. She sees things quicker than most. She has a range of pass that can open up the opponent. She’s very young in her career too, and every game, every minute that she gets on the field, she’s continuing to grow and continuing to push herself. I thought in the North Carolina game she was off by a half a bit, and that’s how good she is, that it impacts that much in our games. Then tonight I thought she was on it for 90% of the time, and that’s how influential she is. She’s a massive influence on the way we want to play.”
Ryanne Brown and Maddie Mercado
Maddie Mercado on Jess Fishlock's influence
Mercado: “In that specific play when Jess received that ball, obviously something we talked about is Ryanne plays Ainsley and she switches the ball, creates space for us. Sofia making that run gives Jess a second longer on the ball, and then for me it was getting on the back shoulder of that defender, because I know Jess can put a ball on a dime.
In terms of playing with her, she’s so smart and I don’t think people really understand it unless you’ve been in the environment with her. I think every single person on our team would describe her as extremely smart and she just understands the game. She’s a great leader. Having her on the field to see space and adjust as it’s happening is great. She’s invaluable to us and I love her as a human being, as a person, as well. It’s going to be very sad next year without her.”
On the impact of the subs:
Mercado: "Brit is extremely determined, gritty. I think she’s fast. She can get down a line and take on defenders. When she got in that position, for me, being in the box, [it was about] finding that space and getting on the end of that cross. But Brit was great. Coco was amazing when she came in as well, obviously scoring that goal. I just think it’s so important for us when people come off the bench and make a difference. I think every single person that came off the bench today was great and really made a difference, specifically those two who produced. So shout out to them.”
On the team's defensive performance:
Brown: “I think it was just about staying organized in the back, recognizing their threats. You always want to be aware of where Mal Swanson is, and I thought we did a really good job of that. Like I said, just being organized and having good awareness.”
On winning the first and second balls:
Brown: “I kind of blacked out trying to remember the game. I thought in the first half we did really well. In the second half, I felt like we let them get a little bit of momentum, but when the subs came on, we got that momentum back and started picking up a lot more first and second balls. I think they really helped us out a lot.”
On her two goals:
Mercado: “Both of them came from crosses. The first was obviously a little bit more nuanced in certain ways. You’ve got to know personnel and the types of balls they put in, where they are on the field, just obviously being deeper and having the ability to hit it over. For myself, it was just putting myself in the frame of the goal, and in that moment it was on the back shoulder of the defender, and then the finish in that moment is big too, because that’s obviously not always easy.
“The second goal, like I mentioned earlier, credit to Brit. She’s just so tenacious and has the ability to get down the line and wants to take on players, especially when you come off the bench, and she just brings a different level of intensity for us. When she was in that position, I was just like, I’m going to crash the box. She drove it into my head, which I didn’t hit great, but I honestly prefer that. It’s easier for me to redirect it than have to put power into it. Great, great balls. I obviously wouldn’t score those goals without them, so most of the credit goes to those two.”
On the impact of Ainsley McCammon:
Brown: “There’s just so much trust in Ainsley, which is crazy to say. She’s so young, but every time I pass her the ball, I know she’s going to do something amazing with it. I’m not afraid to give it to her under pressure or anything. I think that speaks to all the work that she’s put in since she got into the league. She’s huge for us. She’s able to play those balls in behind, which makes us an even bigger threat. So shout out to her.”
Mercado: “I would say something very similar. Ainsley and Sam in general are an extremely good pair. They complement each other very well in terms of their strengths. Ainsley has a great range of pass, which helps us switch the ball quickly. She understands how to play in between players and spaces to break them down and move their shape, but for her to be so technical and have the soccer IQ she does at 19, I think is just so impressive. It’s so fun for me to play with her. I know Ry probably feels the same way, but I’m excited to see how she continues to grow.”
On reaching double-digit goals:
Mercado: “It’s great obviously. As a striker that’s what you want to produce. At the end of the day that’s what helps your team win and that’s my job, so that feels good. But the bigger picture for myself is the more I can put myself in those dangerous spots and finish, create chances, the better our team’s going to do. As a group, we’ve worked so much on creating more chances and creating different types of chances, not being so one-dimensional, but creating chances through balls in the air, balls through, around them, whatever. I think we’ve done a great job of that as a group. It feels good obviously, but credit to the group, and I can’t score goals all by myself.”
