A cagey affair with few real chances, too many hard hits, and plenty of frustration to go around ended 1-0 in favor of the visitors as the North Carolina Courage took all three points at Lumen Field. The result was an enormous pickup for North Carolina and an enormous drop for the Reign, and sees the Courage take over the 8th and final playoff spot by a margin of two points.
The first half was a hard-fought but low-chance affair, with both sides getting out at pace but neither getting a good look at the goal. Gianna Paul had a half-chance off a corner and caught the woodwork. Phoebe McClernon started and nearly finished a beautiful move, playing a give-and-go with Mia Fishel that stung Kailen Sheridan's palms. Ryanne Brown dialed up a venomous shot from the top of the arc, but Sheridan parried it wide and the Reign couldn't follow up. Evelyn Ijeh beat the Reign's back line on a well-timed run and throughball, but couldn't corral the feed, and deflected it harmlessly out for a goal kick. The opening half passed with few disruptions, plenty of running, and no goals, and referee Mark Verso blew the whistle for halftime at the stroke of 45 minutes.
The second half started with more of the same – hard running and half-chances, little that looked clear cut, a game balanced on a knife's edge between two teams playing each other hard and providing few openings. But it shifted in a hurry – North Carolina drew first blood in the 48th minute. After a spell of around a minute of sustained pressure but no real open looks, the ball fell to a wide open Gianna Paul near the top of the area, and she settled and shot. Ainsley McCammon got a foot to it to block, but the deflection was brutal, looping it up, out of Claudia Dickey's reach, and into the top corner.
The Reign nearly got it back seconds after kickoff in the 49th minute with some quick and incisive buildup, but the final ball skipped just out of Mia Fishel's reach and into Sheridan's steady hands. A 54th minute corner created some chaos and dangerous touches, but the Reign couldn't find the clear shot before the Courage cleared it. In the 57th minute, Jordyn Bugg intercepted the ball in midfield and started the Reign on the break, but Maddie Mercado's curler missed just high over the bar.
A pair of 61st minute substitutions – Coco Mondésir and Madison Curry – made an immediate impact, the two combining to spring Mondésir up the left wing where she instantly won a corner. Moments later, Mondésir won the ball back on the clearance and won a free kick centrally, breaking through the Courage midfield as the Reign dialed up the pressure searching for the equalizer. The chances were coming, but the clear look at goal remained elusive.
The substitutions continued to create moments as time wound down: Sally Menti received the ball and drove into the area, earning a free kick as Carly Wickenheiser fouled her just outside the line. Mondésir's ensuing free kick glanced off a North Carolina head and splintered the corner of the woodwork, the second time the Reign missed out on a top corner goal by inches in as many matches. In the 85th minute, Emeri Adames went down hard under a reckless challenge on the left wing, winning another dangerous free kick, but the Reign were once again unable to take advantage.
A minute into stoppage time, with Dickey coming forward as an additional target on the corner, the Reign came agonizingly close, but nobody could find the touch to finish Jordyn Bugg's ball flashing across the open face of the goal. A 94th minute ball appeared to glance off a North Carolina defender's arm in a way functionally identical to the penalty called against the Reign in Los Angeles, but VAR declined to intervene.
The Reign had a few more half-chances, and Sam Meza denied Ashley Sanchez's last gasp attempt at an open goal, but ultimately Paul's deflected shot held up as the game winner. Mark Verso blew his whistle for full time, and the Reign settled for their third loss in three high-leverage matches with their rivals for a playoff berth.
WHAT WORKED: Containing Sanchez
Ashley Sanchez has been having a great season, and remains on the cusp of taking sole possession of the single-season goals record. Though she was her usual tricksy and talented self, the Reign allowed her virtually nothing, and she finished with just one chance created and one shot on target – taken from nearly 40 yards out on an empty net, and corralled by a backtracking Sam Meza. Ryanne Brown and Maddie Dahlien's positioning proved effective at frustrating her, and though she connected passes, got touches in dangerous places, and had plenty of quality on the night, she couldn't get the shots or the cutbacks she's thrived on, and the Reign kept her off the scoresheet and out of the record books for at least one more week.
WHAT WORKED: Changing the approach
After North Carolina's goal, Harvey turned to the bench fairly quickly, bringing on Madison Curry, Nérilia Mondésir, and Sally Menti by the 70th minute. The three combined to tilt the field in the Reign's favor, and were responsible for the Reign's best opportunities of the night. Later, the addition of Emeri Adames and Brittany Ratcliffe gave the Reign another shot of energy, and their pressure and movement forced North Carolina into conceding numerous dangerous set pieces to close things out. The Reign couldn't find the breakthrough, but the opportunities were there, and the bench was able to tilt the field to give them the chance.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK: Pressuring the shooter
Over the past two seasons, the Reign have been amongst the best in the league at harrying and pressuring opponents in their shooting lanes, and they've been rewarded for it by consistently outperforming expected goals against by most models and metrics. Against the Courage, the Reign were once again getting good results fighting to get a foot in on the shot right up until they weren't: Gianna Paul shook off her defender and got free all alone at the top of the area, and while Ainsley McCammon recovered quickly to try to block the strike, instead of breaking up the chance, she gave up a horrific deflection, floating the ball just out of Claudia Dickey's reach and surrendering the opening goal.
WHAT DIDN'T WORK: Prolonging the magic
For the first time in 18 matches, the Reign failed to score a goal. The "Etsy Witch" goal-scoring streak was the longest in club history. While neither the Reign nor the Courage did all that much in the attack, the match didn't have the same feeling of futility that earlier scoreless outings for the Reign did. The chances were there to take the lead in the first half or to draw level in the second. That they didn't comes down to execution, and they'll have to get back to training, get a new streak going, and make the last three matches count if they want to fight their way into postseason soccer.
"This league's too unforgiving"
Laying out her view on the balance of the match, Laura Harvey was unhappy with the Reign's execution and attention to basics:
"I said to the players at the end there, there's basics in football, our quality of pass, quality of touch, decision making, winning first and second balls. We didn't do enough of it. And this league's too unforgiving. When you don't do those things well enough, at a higher percentage than the opponent, you tend not to win games."
Elaborating on the Reign's failure to turn good attacking movements into good chances, she added:
"Just quality. I think we lacked quality in those moments. And it's tough, you know, I think obviously the goal was unlucky, and at the end we were unlucky. Even then, we were pushing. Any time we had a little bit of quality, good things happened. A corner, make [Sheridan] make a save. We didn't show enough of that tonight. Disappointing, in that respect."
"That was pretty gutting"
Asked about her overall thoughts on the match, Phoebe McClernon didn't mince words:
"I think that was pretty gutting. Losing on a goal like that is obviously going to hurt. I think we're disappointed in the way we came out in the first fifteen [minutes] or so. But there's still everything to play for. I don't think we feel defeated by this loss, I think you've seen our mentality on the stage this whole season. When we get knocked down, we get back up, and we come back stronger. This is another opportunity for us to do that."
Sam Meza concurred, adding:
"I don't think we came out the best in the first half, to be honest. We weren't really winning our one on one battles, we weren't really connecting our passes. The goal didn't really come off of a ton – it's not like they completely broke us. But when you don't do the basic things correctly, a goal like that can go in. So obviously, not happy with the goal. But like Phoebe said, we still have so much to play for. We have a short break for the people that aren't going off to international teams, so hopefully we can reset a little bit, enjoy that break, and come back ready to go to Chicago and get three points."
It's not over until it's over, and after the international break, the Reign have an opportunity to get right back into the mix when they visit the Chicago (Red) Stars at Martin Stadium on Sunday, October 18th. The match kicks off at 4:00 PM Pacific, and will be available streaming on The Roku Channel.
