Starting a new era stressfully: Seattle Reign FC hold on for season opening victory over Washington Spirit
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – There’s been so much chaos taking place over the last few years for the Reign, as they’ve overgone a few ownership changes, the NWSL has dealt with its own growing pains as it works on improving overall as a league, and as the club works towards winning its first championship in franchise history. They’ve gotten close, winning the league shield two years ago and falling just short in the title match this past season, but throughout it all the club has remained defiant and headstrong in terms of what they’ve shown the world and that includes today’s campaign opening victory over the Washington Spirit. Without Megan Rapinoe, Rose Lavelle, and Emily Sonnett amongst others, the Seattle Reign FC came to play as an early goal and strong play throughout earned them a 1-0 victory over a Spirit club that’s been such a pain in their side for years. With some new players making debuts and returning ones continuing to show their value, the Reign look ready to bring the energy yet again as they enter a new era.
Pregame fireworks and the Seattle Reign FC starting eleven, ahead of the clubs 1-0 season opening victory over the Washington Spirit at Lumen Field on Sunday, March 18th, 2024. (Photos by Kevin Ng)
Pre-match sights and scenes ahead of the Seattle Reign FC 1-0 season opening victory over the Washington Spirit on Sunday, March 18th, 2024 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Sam Hotaling)
Early action entertains at Lumen Field
Soccer teams around the world might talk often about wanting to start early with their offensive attack, as early as right from kickoff, but not many are able to actually get that sort of start and make it reality. The Reign were able to get that sort of start to begin their season, as just 12 seconds into the match forward Jordyn Huitema drew a penalty on a run to give Seattle an immediate golden scoring opportunity. After some deliberation as the officials went to ensure that the foul was correctly called, Bethany Balcer stepped up to take the penalty and buried it to her left and away from the diving effort of Washington goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury. Seattle was on the board early, and that was just the start of their attacking efforts in this first half. Lily Woodham and Jordyn Huitema nearly connected for a wonderful header goal off nice service in the sixth minute, a cross into the box by Sofia Huerta in the tenth minute nearly went off a Spirit defender and in for an own goal, Quinn had a rocket of a shot just miss far top corner in the 29th minute, and defender Shae Holmes navigated her way through traffic from her centerback position to get a shot on Kingsbury. The Reign were bringing the early pressure and offensive presence against Washington, they were just lacking the right bounces in some cases and more clinical finishing in others.
Seattle Reign FC forward Bethany Balcer scores the lone goal of the match, a penalty drawn by teammate Jordyn Huitema just 12 seconds into the match, in the clubs 1-0 season opening victory over the Washington Spirit on Sunday, March 17th, 2024 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Kevin Ng)
Seattle was doing nearly all the right things to generate this sort of offensive attack and to push forward as they looked to add on to their first goal and potentially push themselves further away from the chance that Washington was going to be able to mount a comeback effort but couldn’t beat Kingsbury twice before the halfway mark of this contest. The Reign were able to put 12 shots on the board, mounting three big chances in that time, while the Spirit only put one total shot up and never challenged Seattle goalkeeper Claudia Dickey much through those first 45 minutes. With Washington making an effort to help Kingsbury out, as they blocked four Reign shots in that first half, the dominating stats and eye test were great for Seattle but couldn’t equal a second goal. That sort of formula has been an issue for the Reign over the past few years, as they’ll do all those right things that were mentioned except for actually scoring more goals to pull themselves away.
Seattle Reign FC defender Shae Holmes had a goal scoring opportunity in the first half off a strong pass by teammate Jordyn Huitema and some nice ball possession. (Photos by Sam Hotaling)
Late dramatics, but three points regardless
The second half of this match was a bit different than how the first 45 minutes played out, as it wasn’t Seattle dominating the offensive side of things and keeping the Spirit on their heels, rather the other way around. There wasn’t quite a “big” chance sort of moment for Washington until the 68th minute off a corner kick, as it appeared that a header goal was going to equalize this match and create problems for Seattle that meant another goal was needed. In real time it may have appeared that Casey Krueger’s header went on seamlessly, but to others there was a clear foul initially missed: Washington’s Croix Bethune had essentially boxed out Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and prevented any sort of save attempt. Open VAR review, that foul was seen, and the goal was taken off the board. While it was the Spirit who largely controlled the attack here in the second half of this match, Seattle had one of the most dangerous opportunities on goal deep into regulation.
A ball from Jess Fishlock towards Washington goal was meant to lead Jordyn Huitema and Ji So-Yun, and while it somewhat did that, it was well on its way towards Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury came towards the top of her box to collect the ball, but in doing so stepped just barely outside to create a “denial of a goal scoring opportunity” foul against her after long reviews by the officiating crew. Kingsbury was shown the red card and sent off, alongside Croix Bethune since the Spirit had to play with ten, and Ji So-Yun's free kick against new goalkeeper Lyza Bosselmann went wide. The Reign were able to hold on towards the end as we eventually had 13 minutes of stoppage time, and Seattle collected the first three points of their 2024 campaign.
A Jess Fishlock ball eventually ended in a “denial of a goal scoring opportunity” foul against Washington Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury. (Photos by Kevin Ng)
The early signs are positive
There’s quite a bit to be excited about with the Reign here if we’re basing thoughts and opinions off this first match against a Washington Spirit team that is still formidable, even without Trinity Rodman due to red card suspension. Seattle showed a strong attack in that first half and easily should have had two or three more goals to their name in that first half had they gotten a few lucky bounces or been a bit cleaner in their final third play, but that sort of rust can be expected with a season opening match and especially with some players not having been fully integrated back into the club and what it’s trying to do yet. While there was some outside thought and belief that this year's group could be in some sort of a “rebuild” with Megan Rapinoe retiring plus the duo of Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett departing via free agency to the club that beat the Reign in the title last years, it doesn’t appear that this Seattle group cares much for any of that noise.
Seattle Reign FC midfielder Ji So-Yun delighted fans in this match with her offensive display of skill and attack that nearly netted her a goal. (Photos by Sam Hotaling)
Ji So-Yun, Lily Woodham, and Angharad James all played their roles strongly in this contest and gave us a taste of what to expect from them throughout the course of the 2024 season. The Reign seemed up to the task of taking things to the next sort of level against a Spirit team that will likely be another tough battle throughout the course of this year, and with Seattle having some players unavailable due to injury this week (Alana Cook and Veronica Latsko were both out as they appear to be working back from ailments) there’s more excitement thinking about what the full possibilities are for this club. While the outside freaked out about the club's offseason and had their own thoughts about what the right and wrong moves were, it appears that Seattle was confident in what they were able to do, and this opener is a good vote of belief in that confidence. While there needs to be some caution with the full belief in today’s effort, the early signs are good and there should be some happiness with how this team looked and all the context that played into this match.
Seattle Reign FC defender Lily Woodham showed strong service from the left outside back position in her club debut at Lumen Field. (Photos by Kevin Ng)
Quick notes
Forward Bethany Balcer’s goal in the third minute is the quickest opening goal of the season in club history. Prior to that, Megan Rapinoe had the fastest opening goal, which was scored in the seventh minute against the Washington Spirit in 2018.
Four Reign FC players made their team debut today – forward Emeri Adames, midfielder Ji So-Yun, midfielder Angharad James-Turner and defender Lily Woodham.
Seattle Reign FC extended its home opener unbeaten streak to seven games. The club has not lost a home opener since the 2016 season, holding a strong record of 3W-0L-4D to the start the season in front of its fans.
Forward Emeri Adames entered the match in the 90th minute, making her professional debut and becoming the youngest player to take the field in club history. With Adames’s appearance, her option has been automatically triggered, keeping her contracted with the Reign through 2027.
Forward Bethany Balcer converted a penalty kick in the third minute, opening the scoring for the Reign in the 2024 season.
Balcer now has 29 regular season goals all-time, the fourth most in club history. Since entering the league in 2019, Balcer ranks fourth in the NWSL in goals (29).
Goalkeeper Claudia Dickey earned her third consecutive clean sheet in regular season play and fifth in the last six games across all NWSL competitions. Dickey now has four clean sheets in seven regular season games played all-time, tied for the most in the NWSL since she made her first start on August 27, 2023.
The win brings the all-time series to 14-9-8 between the Reign and Washington Spirit.
What’s next?
Following today’s season opening win over the Washington Spirit, the Seattle Reign FC will head out onto the road for the first time in the 2024 campaign next week. The Reign begin a three-game road trip on Saturday, March 23rd when they take on the Chicago Red Stars at SeatGeek Stadium with a 1PM PT kickoff that will be broadcast live on NWSL+. The Red Stars currently sit in second place amongst the NWSL league table following their 2-0 victory over expansion side Utah Royals with Allison Schlegel and Ava Cook scoring the goals. Seattle will seek to build off those first three points after today’s win and potentially get healthier as Alana Cook and Veronica Latsko were held out of this contest and Lu Barnes was on a minutes restriction as she picked up a knock in Costa Rica during the teams preseason trip, per head coach Laura Harvey in the post-match press conference. With the sort of offensive attack and strong defensive effort shown in this win over Washington, Seattle fans should have some level of confidence coming into the match against Chicago.