Seattle Reign FC lose 2-1 to Angel City FC on the road
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Los Angeles, CA - In a battle of two unbeaten teams early in the season, Angel City FC defeated our Seattle Reign FC by a final score of 2-1 in Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium on Sunday evening.
In the first half, Angel City appeared to have significantly more control of the ball, shown by an early goal from Alyssa Thompson in the eighth minute. Thompson corralled a through ball from forward Kennedy Fuller, which was slotted perfectly in between the defense, and struck it into the top right corner for the 20-year-old forward’s second goal of the 2025 season. The home side had brought the pressure quickly, generating dangerous possession before the first minute mark had even crossed, and their constant pressure finally had broken through the Reign defense.
The Reign responded quickly, as forward Ana-Maria Crnogorčević drew contact right at the edge of the 18-yard box, which led to a penalty call from center referee Gerald Flores. Seattle midfielder Ji So-yun took the penalty kick and converted the equalizer in the 12th minute to tie the score at 1-1. The contact that Angel City defender Gisele Thompson gave to Crnogorčević just within the box was deemed too much by the head official, and it proved to be a valuable lifeline for the Reign to get this match back to square one.
Although the high press from forward Maddie Dahlien and accurate ball movement from Ji helped create a few more chances on goal, Angel City utilized its high press to counter. Seattle was fortunate to escape the half without multiple goals conceded, because a lack of ball control and failure to connect passes up top led to numerous shots on target and far too many touches in the Reign box from Angel City.
“I think we had breakdowns in every third of the field, on both sides of the ball. I just don’t think it was good enough. It wasn’t up to our standard.”
Entering the second half of the match, Seattle looked to keep more composure with the ball, and were able to find a few early chances with help from defender Jordyn Bugg and Ji. The team was able to maintain possession for longer and work the ball through their systems for the first part of the second half.
Ultimately, it wasn’t enough to stop the Angel City attack as forward Claire Emslie connected with forward Riley Tiernan in the 63rd minute to take a 2-1 lead. Tiernan scored her first professional goal through an open header into the top left corner of the goal, with essentially no defender directly marking her.
Seattle continued to create more scoring opportunities late in the half, but was unable to recover from the deficit and ultimately suffered their first loss on the 2025 NWSL season, giving them one result of each kind (win, loss, and draw) through their first three contests of the campaign.
“I said to the players at the end, I think the biggest thing we’ve got to do from tonight is learn from it because we can’t let this be the thing that defines us. I think we need to understand why we were the way we were tonight and obviously try and solve it the next game.”
“I think there’s so much to improve on from this team and you haven’t seen the best of us yet.”
Seattle Reign FC defender Madison Curry got her third start of the season in this match, returning to a familiar stadium as she battled against her former team in Angel City FC in this match on March 30th, 2025 at BMO Stadium. (Photo by Carlos Funes courtesy of Seattle Reign FC)
Quick Reign notes
15,384 was the announced attendance at BMO Stadium for this NWSL regular season match between our Seattle Reign FC and Angel City FC.
Following tonight’s result, Reign FC is now 8-3-1 against Angel City FC across all NWSL competitions.
Seattle holds an all-time record of 4-2-0 on the road in Los Angeles.
Angel City has won three of the last five head-to-head meetings between the two clubs.
Through three games this season, Seattle Reign FC has four players – Emeri Adames, Jordyn Bugg, Jess Fishlock and Ji So-Yun – with at least one goal, tied for the second-most scorers in the league.
Shortly after Angel City FC opened up the scoring, Reign midfielder Ji So-Yun calmly converted a penalty-kick in the 12th minute to level the match, marking her first-ever PK in the league and fourth NWSL goal in her career.
Ji also scored against Angel City FC in Los Angeles last season during the club’s 3-2 comeback win.
Reign defender Phoebe McClernon, who wore the captain’s armband tonight, made her 38th consecutive regular-season appearance for Reign FC – the longest active streak on the team.
The streak began on July 1, 2023 after she was elevated from the 45-day injury list. Since then, McClernon has started in 33 of those matches.
What’s next?
Following today’s tough defeat on the road to Angel City FC, our Seattle Reign FC will head into a bye week of sorts for this uniquely placed international window before preparing to face the reigning NWSL Champion Orlando Pride next Sunday, April 12th at home in Lumen Field, with hopes of securing a big win against a tough opponent. The match will air on ION with a scheduled kickoff time of 4:30PM PDT. The theme for this home match is that it’s the Reign’s “Youth Match,” as the evening will be dedicated to young supporters and families while including activities and special experiences to engage in while cheering on the Reign. If you want to join other Reign fans to watch this game, you can always head to our home, Rough & Tumble Pub, as one of the very best spots to watch Seattle Reign FC matches!
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Check out our previous Seattle Reign FC articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing at CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Cover photo on behalf of Seattle Reign FC
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