Balcer’s penalty pushes Reign to win over Wave, clinching Challenge Cup’s West Division
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Returning to club action for the first time in 21 days, the OL Reign pulled out a tight 1-0 victory over the San Diego Wave, remaining unbeaten against the expansion side while taking the West division of the Challenge Cup and securing an automatic berth to the tournament’s semifinal round. Without their NWSL leading eight players away at the current FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Reign used a “younger” side to try and get more minutes to specific players as they looked to secure victory. With a squad average age of 25, captain and forward Bethany Balcer’s penalty in the 71st minute was the winner as the Reign tallied their fifth clean sheet in as many Challenge Cup matches this year.
Pre-match sights and scenes ahead of the OL Reign victory over the San Diego Wave in UKG Challenge Cup action (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Grinding first half
The first half of this match between the Wave and the Reign largely felt like what we could’ve expected from this Challenge Cup contest: two teams without their international players, feeling things out. There were limited opportunities on both ends, with neither team getting a dangerous chance on goal. The Wave had a couple of semi-worrying possessions, failing to get more as they didn’t have much of the ball in the Reign half at all through these first 45 minutes, but keeper Claudia Dickey was able to make the saves when called upon. The Reign attack wasn’t able to get much going, as the trio of Olivia Athens, Bethany Balcer, and Tziarra King couldn’t get the right service into Elyse Bennett up top to challenge Wave goalkeeper Shae Yanez. Not a poor half, per say, but the Reign were certainly looking to get jumpstarted after the halftime break.
Boats battles, punches home the penalty
After a few substitutions in the second half, the Reign got some attacking presence going. Defender Ryanne Brown had come on in the 65th minute for midfielder Olivia Athens and was able to make her mark on the match. With the Reign in the Wave half, Brown did some give and go with forward Tziarra King, darting into the box as two San Diego defenders shifted their focus to King. Having gained some separation after the pass from King, Brown continued to move laterally as she looked for the best possible pass to create an opportunity for her team to score. In an attempt to catch up to Brown, San Diego’s Meggie Dougherty Howard fouled her within the box to force a penalty and give the Reign a golden opportunity to score in the 70th minute.
OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer buries the penalty kick in the 71st minute (Photos by Liz Wolter)
With the Reign’s top three (Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, Jess Fishlock) designated penalty takers out, or at least those were the three named as we were told after Sofia Huerta nailed a penalty earlier in the season, tonight’s captain took the responsibility. The strike that Bethany Balcer delivered couldn’t have gotten much better, tucking the ball into the top right corner of the goal and far out of the reach of Wave goalkeeper Shae Yanez. The stellar strike from Boats was all that the Reign needed for the victory, and it was fitting that she took the responsibility of the penalty on the night that she was wearing the captain's armband.
“Going into PKs, you kind of have an idea of what you want to do. If the goalie moves early, you kind of adjust. I went back and forth between a couple of spots I wanted to hit it, but I had been taking a lot of them that way. So I just went there. And thankfully, she didn’t get it.”
“No, I literally thought of it today. I gotta plan them sometimes. And my boyfriend bet me that I wouldn’t do it. It gave me all the more reason to go out there and do it. So, the corner flag didn’t bounce back as quickly as I thought it would. But I think it still looked kinda cool.”
OL Reign forward Bethany Balcer celebrates her goal by shadow boxing with the corner flag (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Clean sheet? Common
In recent memory, the Reign have stood out defensively and that’s been in large part to their first team back line of Sofia Huerta, Alana Cook, Sam Hiatt, and Lu Barnes. Those four hold things down in front of young rising star Phallon Tullis-Joyce in goal. But, when Challenge Cup comes around and when you add the current World Cup into the mix, all those players except for Barnes and Hiatt are removed. Tonight, one of them was present as head coach Laura Harvey gave Barnes the night off for rest, leaving Hiatt. With a much different backline of Veronica Latsko, Sam Hiatt, Phoebe McClernon, and Shae Holmes, the Reign continued to show strong defensive form as goalkeeper Claudia Dickey held things down in goal. The Wave never really had an attack that could be considered a big, missed chance and when San Diego did threaten, Dickey was able to make the save.
“Definitely the first half, like you always know that Taylor Kornieck is gonna be in the game and that’s gonna be their target, always. But I think just anticipating that, and the defensive side wall marking, it was never even an issue like I never had to go up and compete with her on it. So, I think that helped a lot, they did their job so I could do mine. It made it a lot easier for me than I thought it was gonna be, basically. And then second half is the same thing, like we did so well marking, we didn’t let anybody into the box, and our line held. Because of the defenders it makes it look very easy. So, I’m very grateful for them.”
OL Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey made some quality saves as the club recorded their fifth clean sheet of this years Challenge Cup (Photos by Liz Wolter)
While Challenge Cup has seen the Reign take out their stellar backline and Tullis-Joyce, they haven’t seen a dip in defensive fortitude. As mentioned, the Reign have recorded a clean sheet in every Challenge Cup match that they’ve played so far this season, rotating different defenders in. There are a few exciting things to analyze when it comes to those clean sheets, in addition to the fact that it’s great to completely deny your opponent from scoring whatsoever. The first is that while the Reign have rotated goalkeepers (Laurel Ivory and Claudia Dickey) through these Challenge Cup matches, both have looked strong and appear to be able to seamlessly fill in for Phallon Tullis-Joyce if the occasion arises during regular season play. The other note, in a similar vein, is that the young defenders (Shae Holmes, Ryanne Brown, Alyssa Malonson, Phoebe McClernon counts here too) have been able to show some dynamic ability as they’ve made different appearances along the backline and have been solid. There have been some definitive learning moments and teaching points, but more noticeable was how strong they’ve looked.
“I think that’s been the greatest thing, probably throughout the journey, has been Laurel and Claudia putting on performances that we see every day and showing that to the fans. I think it’s given them two things, I think it’s given them trust within the group, because until you play in games there’s always a question mark, when they’re ever called upon, then it will be a seamless transition. Secondly, just for their development and their careers, they need to play some games. We identified that the Challenge Cup would be games that they would get and we’ll be continuing our rotation with those guys because they’ve obviously been performing at a really, really high level. And I just was speaking to Laurel before I came in here, she’s already thinking about next week, she’s already prepared for what she wants to try and make sure she does in preparation for playing against Portland, which says everything about them.”
The Reign backline consisting of Veronica Latsko, Sam Hiatt, Shae Holmes, and Phoebe McClernon with substitutes like Ryanne Brown helped the club record a clean sheet in tonight’s match (Photos by Liz Wolter)
How the West was won
The clean sheets play a big factor in why the Reign were able to become the first team to clinch their spot in the semifinals of this year's Challenge Cup playoffs. The Reign did so in dominant fashion, going undefeated through the five matches they’ve played, and not conceding a goal through those matches. In the offseason, head coach Laura Harvey discussed how the roster was built to be ready for this World Cup stretch where they’d be without notable names, aiming at depth and versatility as opposed to adding another big weapon to the roster. That appears to be paying off to this point, as players like Latsko and Nikki Stanton are veterans that don’t necessarily see tons of first-team minutes but have filled the holes asked of them throughout the season and largely in Challenge Cup play.
“We’ve managed it very purposely, I think we’ve made sure that players who we want to get minutes, we’ve got minutes. We’ve tried to utilize as many players as we can. I think in this period where we have a lot of players missing, either through the World Cup or through not being available, it’s meant that we could continue that sort of trend of showing up and putting in some good performances. I didn’t think tonight was the best performance. But I do think that the one thing that I’ve been really proud of the group throughout the process has been how professional we’ve been every game, and how professional we’ve been in our performances and I thought we were professional again tonight.”
The younger, sometimes rookie players have also been able to fill in nicely for the Reign through these Challenge Cup matches, picking up their play in bigger moments to help the club get to this point. While the Reign haven’t been the flashiest or most offensively dangerous team in these tournament matches, they’ve been efficient and strong defensively, things that the first team squad tends to take after anyway. Elyse Bennett, a young and physical forward that the Reign acquired via trade around the draft, is in the top five of NWSL for shots and shots on goal during this Challenge Cup, slotting in nicely up top. Claudia Dickey, tonight’s keeper, leads the league in both saves and shutouts during this year’s Challenge Cup, doing her best impression of a brick wall. They’ve still got room to grow for sure, but these Reign players are showing a bit of what the future of this club will hold.
Quick notes
Tonight’s attendance for this match at Lumen Field was 7,513
OL Reign earned its sixth consecutive clean sheet in Challenge Cup play, dating back to the semifinals of the 2022 tournament. OL Reign has two goalkeepers in this year’s tournament with multiple clean sheets (Claudia Dickey – 3, Laurel Ivory – 2) and is the only team to not concede a goal in 2023.
Additionally, OL Reign extended its league record for shutouts in Challenge Cup play to 12.
OL Reign extended its unbeaten streak in the Challenge Cup to 14 games, a streak that dates to April 21, 2021.
With today’s win, OL Reign clinched the West division in the Challenge Cup for the second consecutive year, guaranteeing the team a spot in the semifinals.
Forward Bethany Balcer scored the game-winning goal of the match off a penalty kick in the 71st minute to help the Reign secure the win. Balcer finished the match as the team leader in total shots (4).
Goalkeeper Claudia Dickey made her third NWSL start (across all competitions), earning her third consecutive clean sheet. Dickey is now tied for the most shutouts in the 2023 Challenge Cup and is tied for second in the league in saves (12).
The win brings the all-time series to 6-0-2 between the Reign and San Diego Wave FC and extends the club’s all-time unbeaten streak against San Diego to eight games.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s UKG Challenge Cup victory that secured the West Division for the Reign, they will have one more group play match before we get to the playoff part of the tournament. A brief reminder that this is a separate tournament from the regular season, that is being played during the time frame of the regular season. That next match is on Sunday, August 6th at Lumen Field as the Reign host their bitter rival, Portland Thorns FC. Kickoff for this chapter of the Seattle-Portland rivalry is at 3PM PST, being broadcast on Paramount+, as the Reign will be hosting their “Kids Day” promotional match. This is the first of the last four home matches for the club that will see capacity at Lumen Field expanded, as demand for tickets has seen a boom, undeniably in anticipation for Megan Rapinoe’s final matches of her career once she returns from the current World Cup.