Ji So-Yun Wins NWSL Goal of the Week

Seattle Reign FC midfielder Ji So-Yun has won NWSL Goal of the Week for Week 2 of the NWSL regular season. In just her second appearance with the Reign, Ji scored the Reign’s lone goal in the team’s road match against the Chicago Red Stars over the weekend. 

NWSL Goal of the Week, an award originally established in 2016, returns for the 2024 season. The honor is awarded by popular social media vote to the player deemed to have scored the best goal over the last week of play. 

The goal, scored in the 63rd minute of the match, marked not only Ji’s first NWSL goal, but the first goal in NWSL history to be scored by a Korean player. The play started with a cross into the box from defender Sofia Huerta, that was soon headed out of the box by Chicago. 

However, Ji was lurking at the top of the 18-yard box and displayed her technical abilities as she took a small touch off her body to keep the ball in front of her before firing off a picture-perfect shot to the upper corner of the goal. The strike glanced off the post and into the back of the net to level the match. 

Ji becomes the fourth player in Reign FC history to win NWSL Goal of the Week. Between 2016 and 2019, when the league first had this award, midfielder Jess Fishlock was selected twice and forwards Bethany Balcer and Megan Rapinoe each won the award once. 

Carving her name into Reign FC history, Ji became the 50th Reign FC player to score for the club. The South Korean international has had a standout start to the season in the Reign’s midfield, registering a league-leading seven shots in her first two starts. Ji joins Portland Thorns FC forward Sophia Smith as the only two players in the league to record at least seven shots and one goal through Week 2. 

Watch Ji’s Goal of the Week below: