Seattle Reign FC Secure Thrilling 2-1 Road Win Against North Carolina Courage to Remain Unbeaten in 2025
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Cary, NC - For the first time since the 2022 season, our Seattle Reign FC secured three points in Cary, North Carolina with a 2-1 win. Aided by goals from both veteran midfielder Jess Fishlock in the 35th minute and 18-year-old defender Jordyn Bugg in the 56th minute, an aggressive Reign attack led to an impressive away result early in the season.
The Reign controlled the ball for a significant portion of the first half, with rookie forward Maddie Dahlien continuing to be a huge impact player in the team’s high press, and creating multiple early chances on goal with her speed up top. A clean first half defensive effort, led by midfielder Angharad James-Turner with gritty tackles and solid anticipation of the Courage attack, additionally helped Seattle to a win.
“I think to play in the way we did speaks volumes for this group. We had a Plan A, Plan B, and towards the end it was all them coming onto us, but I think we dealt with it well. We changed formations slightly, and that’s the strength of the group that we’ve got here. You know that we can adapt to what’s needed at the time and I thought it was a really good team performance from everyone today.”
After working the ball back around the midfield in the 35th minute, a beautiful touch from forward Ana-Maria Crnogorčević set up midfielder Maddie Mercado for a centering cross, and a vintage left-footed hit from Fishlock secured the opening goal of the match. Making her 200th regular-season appearance, Fishlock found an open hole in the box to secure her first NWSL goal since October, 2023, and 43rd goal all-time.
Seattle Reign FC OG and midfielder Jess Fishlock celebrates her goal in the 35th minute to give the Reign an early lead against the North Carolina Courage on the road during their match on Saturday, March 22nd, 2025. (Photo by Kaydee Gawlik on behalf of Seattle Reign FC)
“I was in the right space at the right time, but it was really good team play from us, which is something that again we’ve been working on so it’s nice to see it come out in the game.”
Coming out of the half, the Reign resumed a strong high press that continued creating scoring chances. An unbelievable, two-touch strike from almost 35 yards out by Bugg gave the Reign a 2-0 lead in the match’s 56th minute. Bugg secured her first career NWSL goal in what is surely the goal of the year so far, and left even her surprised with its result.
A couple minutes later, a series of sloppy defending mistakes and miscommunications led to a big hole in the Reign FC box that Courage forward Aline Gomes was able to slowly poke past goalkeeper Claudia Dickey. Now 2-1, Gomes’ goal in the 58th minute led to a clear momentum shift in the Courage attack, with the Reign forced to scramble to recover. Through a series of late substitutions and a formation shift to bring more support into the middle of the pitch, Seattle was luckily able to hold a tough opponent to one goal en route to three points on the road, in a very tough stadium to do so.
“Coming here is never, ever easy. They’ve got an unbelievable record here for a reason, and to come here and get a result, I’m really, really proud of the group.”
Quick Reign notes
Following tonight’s result, Reign FC is now 5-11-3 against the Courage across all NWSL competitions. This marks the club’s first road win in North Carolina since 2022.
With tonight’s appearance, Seattle Reign FC midfielder Jess Fishlock became just the fourth player in NWSL history to appear in 200 regular-season games. The 38-year-old is one of three players to play all 200 games with the same club, joining teammate Lauren Barnes.
Across her 13-year NWSL career, Fishlock has started in 195 of her 200 games played, starting in 98% of her Reign FC appearances.
The Welsh international now has 43 goals all-time, which ranks second in club history and ties Carli Lloyd for 12th in league history.
With four points from its opening two games, Reign FC is off to its strongest start since the 2021 season.
In just her eighth NWSL appearance, Jordyn Bugg scored from nearly 35 yards out to give Reign FC a 2-0 lead in the 56th minute. The 18-year-old defender’s goal marks the first of her NWSL career.
Emily Mason, who signed with the team in January out of Rutgers University, made her professional debut tonight. The 22-year-old defender was named to the starting XI and finished with four duels won, four clearances and three interceptions.
Maddie Mercado earned her first start in regular-season play tonight and connected with Fishlock to assist the opening goal. The 23-year-old now has two assists in her NWSL career across all competitions.
What’s next?
With this satisfying victory in hand on the road, our Seattle Reign FC will now prepare to face Angel City FC next Sunday, March 30th at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, with hopes of continuing their recent success. The match will air on CBS Sports Network with a scheduled kickoff time of 5PM PDT.
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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.
Photos in this article taken by Kaydee Gawlik on behalf of Seattle Reign FC
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