Bethany Balcer Reaches 50th Regular Season Match

With her start in OL Reign’s match against the Portland Thorns on Friday night, forward Bethany Balcer earned her 50th NWSL regular season appearance. Every single appearance was played with OL Reign. Balcer is the sixth player on OL Reign’s current roster to reach that milestone, joining Lu Barnes, Jess Fishlock, Sofia Huerta, Megan Rapinoe and Nikki Stanton.

Balcer’s professional career, beginning in 2019 when she joined the Reign in preseason camp as an undrafted trialist, has been filled with impressive milestones and a plethora of hard work. Upon signing with the Reign, she became the first NAIA player to sign with an NWSL club.

From there, Balcer, affectionately know as Boats and BB8 by fans, continued to excel. She made her NWSL debut on April 14, 2019, when she came on as a sub in the 86th minute in OL Reign’s match against Houston. A week later, the Reign played their first ever match at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma and Balcer was called on to make her first start. In the 21st minute of the match against Orlando, Balcer fired a shot from the edge of the penalty area to the far post to score her first ever professional goal. This goal was also the first ever goal the Reign recorded at Cheney Stadium and held up as OL Reign’s lone goal in a 1-1 draw.

In total, she played in 25 games throughout her rookie season, notching six goals and two assists. She led all rookies in the league in scoring and finished fifth in the league with 69 shots across 1,700 minutes of play. She was one of 14 players in the league to have played in every match for their club in the 2019 season.  At the end of the season, Balcer was awarded the NWSL Rookie of the Year award.

In 2020, Balcer played with OL Reign in the Challenge Cup and Fall Series, where she scored three goals across the two competitions. She played in nine total games in 2020 and earned seven starts.

Balcer had another outstanding season in 2021, finishing as OL Reign’s leading goal scorer and second in the NWSL Golden Boot race. She scored a total of nine goals throughout the season – five goals with her head and four goals with her right foot.

The young forward played in 24 games for a total of 1,210 minutes. In that time, she earned two braces and made 14 key passes. Balcer was named the NWSL Player of the Week twice in 2021, in addition to being named Player of the Month once and to the NWSL Team of the Month once. Following the conclusion of the 2021 NWSL season, she was named the NWSL Second XI for her impressive season performance.

In 2022, Balcer is still a regular in the Reign’s lineup, playing in seven Challenge Cup matches and three regular season matches. She added two goals for the Reign during the Challenge Cup and was the only Reign player to score multiple goals in the tournament.

“Getting to 50 appearances for this club is a milestone that she should be really proud of,” said OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey.

Congratulations to Bethany on 50 regular season appearances with the Reign! Here’s to 50 more.