It has literally been a decade since the last time the Reign had a player with 10 or more goals. Maddie Mercado's done it with two matches to spare. She has a shot at eclipsing Megan Rapinoe's 12-goal campaign in 2017, albeit in a longer season.
Her brace powered the Reign to a comfortable win over a hapless Chicago side, and honestly, I think she's only just getting started.
A special, and basically entirely unheralded, player doing big things in a tough league.
There was a lot to like in this match overall, and a bit to dislike, but the most important thing was securing three points. The Reign did their job and got all three. Those three points gave the Reign a huge boost, propelled them back into playoff position, and most importantly, put the Reign's fate in their own hands.
The math got real simple. Win our last two, and we're in, no matter what anybody else does.
It's a good spot to be in.
It's a good day to have the energy of the Maddies on our side.
First, A Disclaimer
Yes, everyone looks better when they're playing Chicago this year. Yes, when I say "best game in awhile", "vintage performance", "looked up for the part", it invariably includes the context that it was against a tragically hapless Chicago Tsars side. I'm not going to include that context in every single rating, just understand that I, too, understand that Chicago is not a good team this year, but also that the players can only play the team that's on the field with them, and not a platonic ideal of what NWSL competition is supposed to look like.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 6
Plus. Claudia's sweeper credentials have been growing stronger over the past couple years. Already confident with the ball at her feet, she's grown significantly in her ability to come high off the line and clean things up, jumpstart attacks from the high claim, and help break through an aggressive press. Her 7 recoveries and 93% completed passes (and 100% on passes shorter than 15 yards) against Chicago represented another good showing building out of the back and confidently holding things down while her defenders got forward.
Minus. When you're only facing one shot on goal, and the team hasn't kept many clean sheets lately, and you're a talented goalkeeper gunning for the top job for one of the world's top national teams... you gotta find a way to cut off that angle, come up with that one big save when the moment comes. Dickey's had a hard time with that over her last few matches.
Defenders
Sofia Huerta – 7
Plus. This was Huerta's best chance-creating outing in a long (long) while – at a quick glance through my match notes, quite possibly her best chance-creating match since August 0f 2025, also against Chicago. With 6 progressive passes, 5 key passes, and 6 shot-creating actions, Huerta was a danger woman all night whenever she got on the ball. Her defensive counting stats were nothing exceptional, but it's important to note in a match like this that Chicago simply did not challenge her at any point in time, she kept her defensive shape when it was important to do so, and her single duel and 2 defensive contributions reflect a night where she could and did go all-in, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
Minus. It's became so very Sofia Huerta to deliver a half-dozen killer balls and see zero of them go for assists, and I think that's extremely rude of everyone else involved. Somebody finish off more of these chances and get our g'l her flowers.
Jordyn Bugg – 6
Plus. It is a joy and a privilege to watch Jordyn Bugg continue to grow into the creative centerback she's well on her way to becoming. It was another day of sharp positional defending and clean, incisive passing from Bugg, who completed 91% of her passes overall on 85 touches, and particularly put in some clever work to help involve Holly Ward in the game, finding the right winger streaking to stretch the field whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Minus. With all that said, she also made some very "twenty-year-old defender" decisions, diving into a tackle for a foul when she had coverage, losing clean on a duel when she would've been better served recovering her shape, biting on the dribble and getting rounded, and just getting beaten cold by Simone Charley's run for Chicago's late goal. Making these choices, rolling with them, and learning from them are part of the process for a young player, and it's not hugely worrying.
Phoebe McClernon – 6
Plus. Leading all players in touches has become pretty routine for Phoebs, who once again held that distinction, driving possession with 97 touches while completing 78 of 87 passes. Needing the win and seldom seriously challenged by a Tsars team in an identity crisis, McClernon also picked plenty of moments to get forward, delivering a very good cross (that didn't go for a key pass but was a shot-creating action) and getting a couple possession-preserving touches in the attacking penalty area along the way.
Minus. If Chicago was going to build out a transition goal, it probably would've been in one of the moments McClernon got caught too far up the field when the ball turned over. But that's a pretty big if, given I'm not entirely certain Chicago realized they were allowed to attack the penalty area until around the 85th minute.
Ryanne Brown – 7 (off 74' for Madison Curry)
Plus. A vintage performance from Ryanne, one of the best she's turned in for the Reign, she ran the touchlines, overlapped with a feisty Holly Ward, and provided some excellent service to balance Huerta's. I want to focus on Ryanne's service here because it wasn't, for the most part, crossing and looking for the perfect bend – she created three chances with direct passing, cutting out defenders and finding seams. You can see it in the numbers, too: 10 passes into the final third, 4 shot-creating actions, and 7 progressive passes. The Reign are a team that's been very successful taking space wide and then crossing the ball, but I really love seeing this skillset from Brown, and hope she continues to showcase it.
Minus. Much like Sof, I want to see Brown get rewarded with an assist when she makes an absolutely killer pass. I would like the Reign to simply be more ruthless and really run up the score the next time they get a litany of opportunities from their outside backs like this.
Midfielders
Ainsley McCammon – 6
Plus. The overlapping midfield coverage that Sam and Ainsley provide is just beyond superlatives. Ainsley was all over the field, again, winning duels (7), tackles (4), and recoveries (8) while dishing out progressive passes (9), passes into the final third (10), and shot-creating actions (4) like Halloween candy. She was everywhere, she did everything, the kid is so gotdang good and she's getting better before our eyes.
Minus. Being everywhere and doing everything does come with the noted exception of holding onto the ball in possession, as Ainsley did get caught out and dispossessed twice when she had time to pick a pass. Neither burned the Reign, but against a more competent opposition they could, and she'll need to clean that up as she continues maturing her game.
Maddie Mercado – 9 (POTM) (off 86' for Angharad James-Turner)
Plus. The first-ever multi-goal game for Maddie Mercado, who prior to this season had one (1) career NWSL goal, and with two matches left to play this season is now the Reign's first 10-goal scorer since Megan Rapinoe in 2017. The trap and finish for the opening goal was a thing of beauty, a pure-class striker's strike that turned the Reign's advantage in play into a tangible advantage on the scoresheet. The second, though a bit less technically astonishing, was still a memorable face-goal that really stuck the knife in just four minutes after Mondésir's hit doubled the Reign's advantage. Ostensibly starting as a midfielder, Mercado switched fairly fluidly with Fishel between the nine and ten spot, and was always at her best when playing closer to goal; she led all players with 5 touches in the penalty area and 4 shots, 3 of which were on target, and two of which lit the flamethrowers.
Minus. Nope.
Sam Meza – 6
Plus. I talk a lot about Sam "Duelz (with a z)" Meza's defensive work rate and absolutely ridiculous ability to challenge for the ball, but in this one I want to highlight a different facet of her game that Chicago's lack of serious pressure allowed her to showcase. Alongside keeping tidy care of the ball (completing 33 of 37 passes on 49 touches), Meza was an avid and aggressive runner, finding 2 shots of her own, winning 2 free kicks, and kickstarting the attack from high up the pitch by winning the ball back immediately in the soft spaces 3 times.
Minus. While her defensive work rate was (as ever) very, very good, Meza did get beaten a few times, including on Simone Charley's late consolation goal for Chicago, when her own aggressive move took her too far from the midfield to even try to contest the pass that led to the touch that led to the finish. What Meza brings in grit and glory in the middle of the park is indispensable, and the Reign need her to be situationally aware when she gets forward like that.
Forwards
Holly Ward – 6 (off 65' for Brittany Ratcliffe)
Plus. On the whole, I really enjoyed Holly Ward in her first start since August 19th. With Maddie Dahlien out for the foreseeable future with a torn ACL, it fell on Ward to stretch the defense and provide wide service or cut inside with the ball. She responded to the opportunity, completing 14 of 16 passes and 1 key pass on a work hard and make the most of it sort of shift at right wing, and while she may on paper have been the "least-involved" of the Reign's main four attackers, she did plenty to keep Chicago's defense honest and showed flashes of more.
Minus. It's hard to read too deep into it on a night when Mercado scored two goals and looked electric, but Ward at the right wing spot displaces Maddie from her strongest position (and the position she'd returned to when she scored her second); the Reign have gotten such good value out of Maddie on the right, and given Ward can also play left, it seemed a little off to scrub the roles of some of the Reign's biggest pieces over their good run of late summer form.
Mia Fishel – 6 (off 74' for Nérilia Mondésir)
Plus. On my live watch, I found Fishel's night incredibly frustrating, but on rewatch, with the benefit of a lot of time to break down plays, I softened significantly: while she had a number of annoying failed receptions in holdup, her overall success rate was quite good, and she was frequently receiving difficult balls under pressure with very high potential value to the successes. The numbers liked her game quite a lot too – she completed 11 of 14 passes, had 1 key pass, 4 shot-creating actions, and 3 shots, all from good positions, and American Soccer Analysis really liked her goals added value both passing and receiving, rating her second on the team after Mercado. It's been in many ways a season of almost breaking out for Mia, but that she's so consistently in and around these dangerous positions is good and does bode well for her long-term value coming good with the tangible counting stats too.
Minus. All that context aside, those annoying failed receptions are still annoying, those three shots failing to challenge goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz is annoying, and a season of almost breaking out could also be seen as a season of never actually breaking out. This wasn't a disaster performance, but in a game of inches, the gap between really good and merely acceptable can still feel unfathomably wide.
Jess Fishlock – 7 (off 86' for Sally Menti)
Plus. For 35 minutes, Jess Fishlock felt like something of a non-factor on the left wing, lacking the speed to break down Chicago wide and finding the field crowded when she cut inside for more central touches. But then she did that thing she always seems to do, no matter where she plays, and conjured a moment of magic. The assist to Mercado, dear gods, it was a beautiful delivery. After that assist, Fishlock came alive in a big way, and though she didn't get on the scoresheet a second time, it was all Chicago could do to contain her. She finished with 2 shots, 3 touches in the penalty area, 5 shot-creating actions, the hockey assist on Coco's game-winning goal, and a white-hot zone burned through the left wing pocket on the heat map, as once she found that soft space, she just delivered magic from it time after time.
Minus. We're not really used to seeing Jess cough up the ball, but cough it up she did, especially during an opening half hour where she really struggled to find the game. Forcing and sometimes rushing her passes to make up for her inability to get in behind consistently, Fish ended the attack for Seattle with a rushed touch or poorly chosen pass four separate times before she found the game and simply started slaying.
Substitutes
Brittany Ratcliffe – 7 (on 65' for Holly Ward)
The Closer struck again, as Ratcliffe helped the Reign put a bow on a big win by assisting Mercado's second goal in the 84th minute. What an assist, too, absolutely laced from the touchline across the face of goal for Maddie to nod home with her, ah, well, face. Well, they all count the same on the scoresheet. Ratcliffe made every touch matter, completed every pass she attempted, won every duel she went into, won a free kick... you can't ask much more of a substitute than this.
Madison Curry – 5 (on 74' for Ryanne Brown)
The obligatory Brown / Curry outside back hotswap came in the 74th minute of one of Ryanne's best matches in a Reign kit, and Curry held serve for the 20 or so minutes to see out the result. Madison didn't really put a foot wrong, but she also didn't really put a foot, so to speak, touching the ball 4 times and completing 3 of 3 passes. Chicago didn't ask much of her, and you can only play the game as it exists on the field.
Nérilia Mondésir – 7 (on 74' for Mia Fishel)
The bench killed it for the Reign in this one, with Coco Mondésir the standout among standouts. The game-winning goal belonged to her, and it was sensational. Fishlock's switch of the field to Huerta, Huerta's quickly driven cross, Coco's magnificent touch to contain and then ludicrous turn to fire the ball cross-body and tuck it home at the far post. Ridiculous shit. She also created a big chance, completed 6 of 6 passes, 3 of which went for shot-creating actions, and positively ate Sam Staab alive in the air late in the match. Not a bad way to spend literally just 13 touches.
Angharad James-Turner – N/A (on 86' for Maddie Mercado)
A short shift for Haz with 8 touches, some good play to hold possession and keep the tempo for the Reign, and even a couple attempts to break out Coco and Mercado along the way. She did get burned on Chicago's goal a couple minutes after subbing on, which isn't ideal, losing out on the duel that led to the pass that led to Charley in behind and scoring.
Sally Menti – N/A (on 86' for Jess Fishlock)
A short shift for Menti with 4 touches, but – and I want to be as clear as I can about this – those four touches included (1) a shot in the danger area, (2) a completed progressive pass, (3) another shot in the danger area. If you can find a better way to spend 4 touches and fewer than 10 minutes, I'd love to hear it.
Tsars POTM
Simone Charley
I cannot even be mad about the goal. Okay, I can be a little mad about the goal, but it was ultimately a pretty fuckin' sick finish by Simone, and already being up 3-0 enables a degree of magnanimity for appreciating a sick finish that I do not always otherwise possess.
Referee
Jeremy Scheer – 5
Fun fact: Jeremy Scheer shows an average of 5.2 yellow cards per professional match. I say fun fact because you'd never know it based on this match, wherein he showed zero cards despite having at least a few opportunities to do so. I prefer referees to show cards for repeated infractions in a relatively even-handed manner, but I also won't necessarily mark him down too harshly for correctly adjudging that he could keep things cool with his words.
There was little, if anything, controversial or over the line in this match, and given that, Jeremy was fine. Most PRO refs are mostly fine. I would prefer to watch games with a style of officiating less common to PRO, but that's a philosophical disagreement.
And Another Thing!
We're technically still alive for fourth place, if a whole lot of things fall our way!
...but let's just win our matches and not worry about what anybody else is doing.
