Falling short of Reigning supreme: Gotham wins NWSL Championship over Seattle side
By Charles Hamaker
San Diego, CA – This playoff run seemed different than the rest for the OL Reign. In the past four years (Not including the 2020 year that didn’t have a real playoff run), the Reign had seen their postseason die in the Semifinal match no matter how talented their roster was. It was their own version of a curse, failing to get to a final despite the loaded rosters they’d possess, and even before that four-year stretch the two finals that the Reign had gone to ended in them being runners up. This year felt different, it had all the makings to be different. With Megan Rapinoe’s playing career coming to an end, this Reign roster showing resiliency, and plenty of talent up and down the lineup, they looked ready to bring home their first NWSL championship. In the very early minutes of the match there was hope, before at the five-minute mark when Megan Rapinoe had to exit with a non-contact injury. The wheels had fallen off, and the final destination for the Reign wasn’t the one that they had intended.
OL Reign forward Megan Rapinoe is surrounded by team trainers and teammates Rose Lavelle and Lu Barnes after suffering a non-contact injury 5 minutes into the NWSL Championship. (Photo by Orlando Ramirez)
Seattle begins with heart break
So much media, attention, spotlight, however you want to put it had been placed on the fact that it was the final match in the playing career of Megan Rapinoe. A career that’s seen World Cup victories, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and an incredible impact to lives off the pitch, was finishing up and there was the possibility of closing the door with a Championship that the former Portland Pilot had never captured. Despite struggles to do so last season and while having played in the USWNT’s World Cup run that took place during this current NWSL season, Rapinoe had been a fixture in the Reign lineup and hadn’t particularly shown signs of injury. The injury itself didn’t even take place on a particularly strenuous act; Megan was just approaching the Gotham player with the ball. That’s how cruel sports can be, a simple motion and it’s over. All the air seemed to come out of the Reign as they watched a player that’s changed not only this club, but the sport, walk off just five minutes into her final game.
“Everyone is always like, ‘Who kicked me?’ And obviously no one was even around me and I was pressing. That’s what it felt like. Just a huge pop and I can’t even feel where the Achilles is, but pretty sure I tore my Achilles. The worst possible outcome. Thank God I have a fucking deep well of a sense of humor. It’s devastating to go out in a final so early,””
“It’s heartbreaking. I think she knew right away, so we knew as well. You don’t expect things like that to happen, but as professionals, you just had to take it. I just said, it could be another motivation for us to go out there and win that for her. Obviously, she is a tactic so it’s hard to not have her on the field. But I think boats stepped in and did well and was able to kind of execute what we needed her to do.”
“I was devastated. I thought it was her ankle, I wasn’t sure. I said just wrap it up and I’ll see back out here in a couple minutes. Then I saw the sub come on and it’s a different story.”
After suffering her injury in the 5th minute, Rapinoe stayed with her teammates on the bench to do her best to help and support. (Photos by Jennifer Buchanan / The Seattle Times)
Regaining composure to equalize, but a sudden strike changes things going into half
The mood changed a bit for the Reign following the loss of Rapinoe to injury. That early offensive burst we saw from a club that seemed to have so much momentum coming off their Semifinal victory and with this being Rapinoe’s final match was gone, and Gotham had taken control. The first goal of the match saw NJ/NY take possession deep into the Reign half before a desperate clearance eventually did see Gotham hold on, opting to reset at the back with Ali Krieger. The reset moved its way up the side of the pitch where Midge Purce was and allowed the forward to go to work. Purce used her first touch and speed to get around Reign defender Phoebe McClernon who bit on the touch, was able to get around the sliding tackle attempt of Jess Fishlock, again got around a stab as she maneuvered around Lu Barnes, before having two options to pass to in the box. Purce had her choice of Esther González, who was closer to the actual goal itself, or Lynn Williams, as the two Gotham players created a two-on-one with Reign defender Sofia Huerta in the middle. Purce opted for Williams who had streaked into the box behind Huerta, easily scoring on the open net as goalkeeper Claudia Dickey was near post. Gotham had drawn first blood.
It was tough to feel as though the Reign were going to be able to pull things out from there. The air had been let out of them with Megan’s early exit, and now they had conceded the first goal. The Reign needed a jumpstart to get them back on track, and one player in particular rose to the occasion, and yes, I used that word on purpose. Midfielder Rose Lavelle didn’t waste much time in helping her club find an equalizer, but the buildup play didn’t give much hope that it was going to result in something positive. Gotham continued to make things hard on the Reign in the midfield, clogging all passing lanes. Gotham had looked to seize control and get another attack going, but Alana Cook was in place to intercept and get things moving the other way as she found Jess Fishlock. Fishlock looked up field to Bethany Balcer, the substitution for Rapinoe, who was able to send a strong through ball to a blazing Rose Lavelle, getting in behind the Gotham back line. With nobody to beat besides goalkeeper Mandy Haught, Lavelle took one touch inside the box and fired what looked like a fast knuckleball of a shot to Haught’s left that she never had a chance on. The spark they had needed was officially lit, thanks to the play of Rosemary Kathleen Lavelle.
“It frees up everything on the field. She’s an X-factor, we talk about it all the time. There’s no way of stopping her, she’s able to take a lot of role and a lot of pressure, essentially. In doing that, she kind of relieves other areas on the field where we can build out and really focus on. I think just having her healthy is such a positive for us, too.”
OL Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle celebrates her goal in the 29th minute of the NWSL Championship against NJ/NY Gotham FC. (Photos by Cody Cervanka)
The Reign did continue a strong push after the Lavelle goal, as Jordyn Huitema nearly had the second goal of the match for the club but was offsides off the service from Lavelle. Gotham hadn’t been kept completely on their heels, though, as they had a chance hit the cross bar in the 37th minute and were pressing once again in stoppage time ahead of the halfway break. A run by Lynn Williams had been knocked out by Sofia Huerta for a Gotham corner, creating a dangerous set piece towards the end of the half. Midge Purce whipped in a ball that perfectly curled towards the direct center of the 18-yard box, finding Esther González who was able to leap towards the ball unbothered and head it strongly past Claudia Dickey, who never had a chance to react to the ball as it went into the corner. The life had once again gone out of the Reign, and this score right before the break felt like it could be the one that truly hurt them. Goals change games, after all.
Close chance after close chance, but no final ball even despite last minute chaos.
The second half was all Reign in terms of chances generated, starting just three minutes into the second half as Rose Lavelle brought a dangerous possession down towards Gotham’s box. It eventually ended at the feet of Bethany Balcer, who chested a ball in the air before volleying a well struck attempt towards goal. While dangerous and hit well, the ball went just to the side of goal and out for a goal kick. The Lavelle show continued in the 59th minute, as Rose looked trapped by three Gotham defenders but was able to get out of that space with nifty moves. Rose continued the already highlight worthy play as she sent excellent service to Veronica Latsko, streaking up the wing and past the Gotham backline for a one-on-one opportunity with Mandy Haught in goal. Latsko, looking to be a hero a third time during this playoff run for the Reign, opted to go low and near post to Haught’s left, but Gotham’s keeper was able to get down and get a hand on the ball to make the save. The Reign had chances flowing, but they weren’t capitalizing.
Gotham had attempts of their own as they attempted to get a third goal to truly put the final nail in the coffin, but their two notable chances weren’t enough to challenge Dickey in goal for the Reign. Time continued to waste until we got the six minutes of added time, as the Reign needed a miracle to equalize and give them any sort of chance of finding hope for their first ever NWSL Championship. That hope came in an odd form, but they certainly weren’t going to complain, as Phoebe McClernon challenged a ball in the midfield, sending it up and over Gotham’s high backline. Reign forward Elyse Bennett, who had been subbed on for Jess Fishlock in the 85th minute, got in behind to chase after that ball and looked on a collision course with Gotham keeper Mandy Haught. The ball landed just in the awkward position to where it was outside of Haught’s box and in reach for Bennett, and the ruling we got from VAR created absolute chaos to end this match. A red card was issued to Haught for denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity, and simply put: Haught had touched the ball with her hand outside of her box, which you obviously cannot do, and had denied Bennett of what had been a surefire goal scoring chance. The Reign had final hope, and a miracle appeared to be taking place.
The play in which OL Reign forward Elyse Bennett attempts to head a ball that NJ/NY Gotham FC goalkeeper Mandy Haught touches out of her box, resulting in an obvious denial of a goal scoring opportunity. (Photo by Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times)
The chaos continued, as Haught had to come off due to her red card and Gotham could not make a substitution. Midfielder Nealy Martin had to put on the goalkeeper gear to step in, Lynn Williams was standing in the middle of the Reign huddle, Gotham coach Juan Carlos Amoros was yelling at the officials: all of it created the madness as we ticked further and further into the added time and the Reign were planning how to find their equalizer. Rose Lavelle, Sofia Huerta, and Jordyn Huitema all stood around the ball as they looked to cause problems for Gotham as to which one of the three was going to take the shot. With all Gotham players besides Martin in goal in the wall to block the shot, Huitema pretended to back up and take the shot, but it was Lavelle who sent in the attempt. Going against the 5’7” Martin in goal and with the ball at the feat of the Reign hero, the hope was at an all-time high as the shot left Lavelle’s foot. That hope was crushed as soon as the attempt hit the head of a Gotham player in the wall, and even more so as the Reign failed to get any real chance against Martin in goal. The final three blows of the whistle had sounded, and the Reign had experienced heartbreak in the final for the third time in as many attempts. They had come up just short again.
“You don’t always get to have the perfect ending. I’ve had so many perfect endings. You go back to 2019. That was the whole perfect script. On balance, I don’t think anything negative about it.”
The magic runs out, giving us the bad ending
The sort of dramatic magic that the Reign had been able to conjure during this playoff run ran out once Gotham scored that second goal of the match, coming just a minute into added time before the halftime break. The balls were played into the right spots for the club to be able to strike, but they couldn’t complete the final touch to bury those chances like they had before, and the Reign certainly didn’t have luck on their side as they did with Veronica Latsko’s shot in the semifinal. The pressure and the attacking effort were certainly there for the club in this championship match, with Rose Lavelle orchestrating most of it, but the common theme with this group remained true in the failure to complete the chances that they had crafted. It’s not the ending any of us wanted, and not the ending that this group deserved, but that’s sports. Sadly, this chalks up to another hell of a learning experience for the Reign to build off.
As mentioned at the top, the Reign playoff run was different than their last four. The club had managed to get over the hump of the semifinal and had battled back from the adversity of losing Megan Rapinoe early into the match and a goal shortly after that. Despite conceding right before the half to go down by a score once again, the Reign had several chances to equalize and were putting the pressure on Gotham, but the issue of failing to get that proper final touch came back to haunt them. An issue all season long, and for the past few seasons before this as well, played a role in why this team didn’t secure their first championship tonight. Other things obviously factor into the loss, as Midge Purce was clinical for Gotham in the two goals that they scored, but the chances aspect certainly comes to mind considering the opportunities missed in the second half.
“I think just seeing the support of our family and Seattle coming down is incredible. Making history along the way has been so fun, the numbers don’t lie about where the sport is going. I think that’s something to appreciate, really take in, and it’s exciting. And then, getting to a championship is really fucking hard. You got to enjoy that. It’s been fun to see this next generation kind of coming through... You gotta just take those positives away.”
Quick notes
Attendance for tonight’s NWSL Championship between our OL Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC at SnapDragon Stadium was 25,011
That’s the highest attendance ever for the leagues title match
Reign midfielder Rose Lavelle scored her first ever NWSL Playoffs goal in the loss
Last week in the Semifinal win over San Diego, Lavelle tallied her first ever NWSL Playoffs assist
Reign forward Megan Rapinoe had to exit the match in just the fifth minute due to a non-contact injury
What’s next?
Following tonight’s loss in the NWSL Championship, the OL Reign enter the offseason with a few questions to answer roster wise, and a major one to answer regarding the state of the club itself. This sadly puts a final stamp on the career of Megan Rapinoe, cruelly ending her club career just five minutes into her final match and a title match that, if the Reign had won, would’ve given her one award that had alluded her during her illustrious career. For the Reign themselves, the sale of the club to a new buyer after Olympique Lyonnais completes the move will be interesting when it comes to how the new ownership handles everything as the club continues to try and keep their championship window open. A few key free agents for the club include Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle, two players the Reign surely want to see return.
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Cover photo by Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times
Check out previous articles written by Charles Hamaker here