Reign battles with Angel City to draw as Ivory and King make big plays
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In their second mid-week match of the 2023 season, the OL Reign battled to a scoreless draw against Angel City FC, the clubs splitting points once again as it was the second time they’ve faced off this year and both have been in the Challenge Cup. With a mostly second team lineup, as the club continues to battle numerous injuries, the Reign had a few chances as forward Tziarra King hit the post and was just wide on another attempt, but Angel City had more of the offensive pressure in the match. A defensive unit that saw former Washington Husky Shae Holmes at center back and backup goalkeeper Laurel Ivory was able to make the right plays at the right time to secure a clean sheet and split points in this Western division Challenge Cup battle.
OL Reign forward Tziarra King’s match through pictures (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Tziarra zips a few chances on net
Reign forward Tziarra King made another start this season, providing the only major chances that the club had in this UKG Challenge Cup match at Lumen Field. In the 8th minute of the match, King evaded an Angel City defender to find a free lane into the box, whipping a curling ball towards the net that hit squarely off the far post and zinged just past teammate Veronica Latsko for what could’ve been a volley chance with opposing goalkeeper Brittany Isenhour on the turf. Following an overturned goal for Angel City, King was able to give the Reign an excellent chance at a response, just needing it to go a few inches to the left for what would’ve been a certified banger of a goal.
“I think with our team, we always anticipate that. We don’t ever anticipate ending a game 0-0, we don’t ever want to end the game 0-0. I think with the threats that we have on the field, any moment could be a game”
The second opportunity that Tziarra created also came in the first half of the match, but 34 minutes after the first shot. Play had begun in the back as outside back Sofia Huerta brought the ball from the Reign half, slowing down around 15-20 yards out from the Angel City box towards forwards Elyse Bennett and King. Two Angel City defenders were nearly able to connect with the ball to clear it out of the box but failed to do so. King was able to receive the cross, take a few steadying touches, and fire a shot with some solid space around, but the ball snuck past the outstretched glove oof Isenhour and the far post. In the win over Chicago two matches ago it seemed that everything went in, tonight was not the same.
OL Reign goalkeeper Laurel Ivory saw her first NWSL minutes (Regular season or Challenge Cup) in her career (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Younger faces in the backend hold strong
With this match being a Challenge Cup competition and the club wanting to deal with rest and current injuries that they’re battling, the Reign had a back four that saw some changes and a different face in goal for this contest against Angel City. Similar to the Challenge Cup that these two teams played down in California at BMO Stadium, a backup goaltender for the Reign got the start. This time, as opposed to Claudia Dickey who did in the aforementioned match, Laurel Ivory locked down the fort for the Reign while rookie defender out of the University of Washington Shae Holmes was joined by second year defender Ryanne Brown.
“I thought they were solid. I thought Ryanne and Shae were really good. Obviously, we expect high standards from Sammy and Sofia because of the amount of games they’ve played. Yeah, I thought they were great. I thought Laurel made some good saves.”
“Obviously, there were a lot of nerves surrounding today but at the same time, I just felt really good because my team was so excited for me to get this opportunity. I knew they had my back in whatever was going to happen. So, that kind of gave me the ability to just play freely and it’s a 90 minute game and I was like, I’ve got to lock on for 90 minutes so, don’t do much but that’s my job - stay in it the whole entire time. So yeah, it was fun. I had a really good time today.”
Ryanne Brown made one of the biggest plays of the night for the Reign, as she was positioned perfectly to make a goal line clearance in the 63rd minute off an Angel City corner kick. Ivory, just like Dickey had in the last match, was rock solid in the net in the limited opportunities that she was challenged upon but had to do so when it mattered most. A rocket outside of the box from Angel City’s Savannah McCaskill blasted a ball from atop the box that nearly tucked itself into the far top corner of the goal, but Ivory leapt into the air to punch it away and keep the match scoreless. Holmes the local was able to play 90 solid minutes of play as the left center back, showing (just like Brown did) that the club has solid depth all over the board except for midfield right now where most of the availability report has been.
OL Reign outside back Sofia Huerta, wearing the captains armband tonight, through the night in pictures (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
The draw brings the all-time series to 5-0-1 between the Reign and Angel City FC.
Reign continues to dominate against Angel City FC across all competitions. The Reign remain undefeated in all six meetings against Angel City (5-0-1), outscoring the second-year team 11-4.
With tonight’s clean sheet, OL Reign holds the record for all-time clean sheets in the UKG Challenge Cup with nine. The Reign have earned a clean sheet in half of their Challenge Cup games all-time (nine of 18).
Reign is the only team in the league to have three different goalkeepers with a clean sheet in 2023 across all competitions.
Goalkeeper Laurel Ivory made her NWSL debut tonight, recording two saves to help the Reign earn their second clean sheet of the 2023 UKG Challenge Cup.
Forward Veronica Latsko extended her league record for all-time appearances in the UKG Challenge Cup to 20 games. The forward has played in nine Challenge Cup games with the Reign and 11 games with the Houston Dash.
Kwame and Chelsea, from the show “Love is Blind” attended tonight’s match (Photos by Liz Wolter)
What’s next?
The Reign return to action a few days from now, with limited to no opportunity to get training in when they get back to NWSL regular season play. The club will host the Houston Dash at Lumen Field for a Saturday, May 6th showdown with a kickoff time of 7PM PST. Houston comes into this contest, the first between the teams this season, with middling success so far as they’ve tallied three draws on the season and only one victory through five games. The Reign just played the second of three matches in a seven-day span, and they’ll need a strong effort from their lineup when they welcome the Dash to town on Saturday to stay near the top of the NWSL table.