On This Day in Reign History: Reign Clinch Second NWSL Shield
On August 26, 2016, the Reign clinched its second ever NWSL Shield in an exciting 3-1 win over the Boston Breakers at Memorial Stadium in Seattle. In this iconic season, the Reign clinched the NWSL Shield title with two games left in the regular season and became the first team to repeat as NWSL Shield winners.
The win marked the Reign’s sixth in a row, bringing the team, lead by Head Coach Laura Harvey, to an impressive 12-3-3 record and 39 points.
The Reign applied high pressure to Boston throughout the match and that intensity paid off in the 21st minute. Kim Little collected a pass in the middle of the pitch and played a give-and-go with Megan Rapinoe. Little sent the ball out wide for Steph Cox who played a low cross in to Rapinoe, who nailed her shot into the back of the net to put Reign up 1-0.
In the 34th minute, the Reign FC’s high pressure paid off once again. Katrine Veje collected the ball at the back post before cutting it back for Rapinoe whose shot was saved. The next clearance was intercepted by Kendall Fletcher at the top of the box who finished her shot into the net to double the Reign’s lead.
After halftime, Cox played a long ball that found Rapinoe at the top of the box. Rapinoe backheeled the ball to Little who gathered it and found the back of the net to extend the Reign’s lead to 3-0 in the 56th minute. Boston would find one goal back before the end of the match, but the Reign took home all three points to clinch the NWSL Shield for the second consecutive season.
The Reign outshot the breakers 13 to six and put six shots on goal compared to Boston’s three. Rapinoe tallied her fourth goal of the season and fifth assist while Little and Fletcher notched their 10th and second goals of the season, respectively.
During the 2015 season, the team earned several league awards. Laura Harvey was named Coach of the Year for the second year in a row. Lauren Barnes and Kendall Fletcher were finalist for Defender of the Year and Jess Fishlock, Beverly Yanez and Kim Little were named finalist for the NWSL MVP award. Barnes, Fishlock, Little and Yanez were named to the NWSL Best XI and Steph Cox, Kendall Fletcher, Megan Rapinoe and Keelin Winters were named to the NWSL Second XI.
During this historic season, the Reign had two eight-game unbeaten runs — one of which included a season-best six-game winning streak from July 22 to August 26. The team finished the regular season with the No. 1-ranked offense in the league, which scored 41 goals in just 20 games. Defensively, the Reign was ranked No.2, conceding 21 goals, just one more than Kansas City that year.