Reign come from behind to steal three points in Louisville

The Seattle Reign traveled to Louisville on Saturday evening, hoping to continue their ascent up the NWSL table. Both teams were without their head coaches due to illness. Reign assistant coach Scott Parkinson stepped in for Laura Harvey, while Louisville assistant coach and retired Canadian international Carmelina Moscato filled in for Bev Yanez. Moscato and Yanez are both former Reign players and were teammates on the 2014 Shield-winning team. After a 90-minute delay due to inclement weather, both teams were off to the races in their first meeting since the Jaelin Howell/Bethany Balcer trade.

Ary Borges opened the scoring for Louisville in the sixth minute, heading in a corner from Savannah DeMelo that Claudia Dickey got a piece of but ultimately couldn’t save.

Seattle equalized soon after when Sofia Huerta scored a penalty earned by Jess Fishlock in the 15th minute.

Racing put themselves back on top with another corner kick header just before the half, this time flicked on by Taylor Flint over former teammate Jaelin Howell.

The Reign’s struggles continued into the second half until Parkinson made some substitutions that injected much-needed energy. Ji So-yun came off the bench and had an instant impact for Seattle, scoring a golazo on a free kick in the 75th minute.

The Reign were firing on all cylinders from that point on, scoring the go-ahead goal in the 81st minute. Sofia Huerta whipped a corner kick toward the near post that grazed Ji and bounced in off Louisville defender Arin Wright. Had the goal been credited to Ji, it would have made Huerta the sole holder of the NWSL all-time assist record.

WHAT WORKED: FISHLOCK’S PHYSICALITY

Though her name doesn’t appear on the scoresheet, this win doesn’t happen without Jess Fishlock. She attacked hard and smart, earning the set-piece opportunities that scored Seattle’s first two goals.

WHAT WORKED: SET PIECE SPECIALISTS

This game was a masterclass in set pieces, and Huerta and Ji were the instructors. As Head Coach Laura Harvey says, “Goals win games.” In the spirit of the match, I’ll tack on an addendum: “Set pieces win goals.” Though best known for her power and accuracy on assists and corners, Sofia Huerta’s skill set translates to penalties as well. She’s only taken five in her pro career, but she’s made four of them and makes a good case for more opportunities in Balcer’s absence.

WHAT WORKED: THE ALCHEMY

What we’ve seen so far from Seattle’s trio of midseason acquisitions has been encouraging, especially when they’re played together. There’s something special about the combination of Nérilia Mondésir, Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, Howell, Fishlock, and Ji. They make the Reign offense creative, fun, and dangerous. It’s impressive and exciting to see the natural chemistry and potential for a group that has had little practice time together and even less game time.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: SET PIECE DEFENSE

Racing Louisville has scored three goals off corners all season. Two of them happened in the first half of this game. Not ideal. Aside from set pieces, Seattle’s defense was pretty solid, tallying 28 clearances and four saves. “I’m really proud of the team collectively defensively today,” Parkinson noted after the match. “Just a lot of set pieces, a lot of corners, but not a lot of threat on the goal.” He added that it was frustrating to give up two set-piece goals, but satisfying to respond by scoring three.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK: THE RUN OF PLAY

This could be a good thing. Walk with me here. All season, the Reign have been racking up chance after chance but not scoring. Tonight they were outshot, outcrossed, out-possessed, out-cornered…and they still won. They found a way to win, with efficiency.

“I think there's moments where we're absolutely unstoppable, and we just have to keep moving in that direction.”

Spirits were high as the team extended its unbeaten streak with a tough road win, and Jordyn Huitema was optimistic about the team’s current form and potential. Sofia Huerta agreed: “We’ve just gotta focus on the game that’s in front of us, getting three points where we can. You don’t want to get too far ahead, but obviously, the goal is playoffs.”

“Let’s get out there and do what we do…there's belief here, and we're playing some good football. That's what we pride ourselves on, especially being a Laura Harvey team.”

Scott Parkinson shared similar sentiments to the players, citing a strong belief in the team and what they’re capable of under Harvey’s leadership.

The win boosts Seattle to 11th in the NWSL with 17 points and eight games left in the regular season. The road trip continues at Angel City on Friday, September 6 at 7 p.m. Pacific. The match will stream on Amazon Prime.