Match Forecast: OL Reign Travel to Kansas City for Last Regular Season Match

OL Reign are set to play their final match of the regular season, on the road against Kansas City on Saturday night. The Reign will be looking to come home with three points and secure their second-place spot and host an NWSL semifinal match at Cheney Stadium.

WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 5:00 p.m. PT on Saturday, October 30 at Legends Field in Kansas City, Kansas

WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on Paramount+ in the U.S. and Twitch internationally

2021 RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 12-8-3 (39 points, second place), Kansas City NWSL: 3-13-7 (16 points, tenth place)

Key Points Ahead of the Match:

1. LAST MEETING – The last time that OL Reign and Kansas City met was in August of this year. The game was played at Legends Field in Kansas City and was Laura Harvey’s first game returning as OL Reign’s head coach. The first half of the game went scoreless, but things took a turn for OL Reign in the second half.

Kansas City dictated the tempo of the second half, though OL Reign still had the majority of the possession. OL Reign just could not connect with one another in the final third of the field, nullifying their usual offensive threats. In the 73rd minute of the match, Kansas City midfielder Victoria Pickett capitalized on a free kick that made it through the Reign defense. Pickett shot the ball low and hard to the near post and it was enough to put Kansas City ahead. Despite their best efforts, OL Reign was unable to make a comeback and dropped the three points. That was Kansas City’s first ever win as a club and have since beaten Racing Louisville and the Houston Dash.

2. SCOUTING KANSAS CITY– Kansas City are currently in tenth place and most recently took on fifth place NJ/NY Gotham FC at Legends Field in Kansas City. The two teams battled to a 1-1 draw. Kansas City is not in the running for securing a spot in the NWSL playoffs, but NJ/NY Gotham FC is still fighting to clinch their playoff berth.

Gotham scored first thanks to Margaret Purce’s 25th minute goal, but Kansas City defender Kristen Edmonds equalized on a penalty kick just before halftime. The 1-1 score line held until the end of the match and each team picked up one point. That draw marks Kansas City’s seventh-straight positive result at home, not having lost at their home field since June 26 in their 2-1 loss against the Washington Spirit.

OL Reign is 1-1-0 against Kansas City NWSL, having played them once prior to the match at Legends Field in August. In the match prior to that, OL Reign came away with a 2-0 victory, despite going down a player in the 70th minute of the match when Sarah Bouhaddi received a red card, that was later rescinded. Bethany Balcer, who is currently battling to regain her lead in the NWSL Golden Boot race, scored both goals in the match.

3. PLAYOFF PUSH – Though OL Reign has already clinched a spot in the 2021 NWSL playoffs, the team is still fighting to determine their final ranking. With a win or draw against Kansas City on Saturday, OL Reign would secure their spot in the NWSL semifinals with a second-place finish in the standings, earning a first round bye in the playoffs. The team directly under OL Reign in the standings is the Washington Spirit, who have the head-to-head tie breaker in their favor. Washington is sitting on 36 points compared to OL reign’s 39 and plays the Houston Dash on Sunday morning.

“We set the tone pretty early after the break. It’s playoff time now. It starts now. Kansas at home is one of the hardest games that we will play. They are a very difficult side to play at home, which recent results have shown,” said OL Reign Head Coach Laura Harvey.

4. HARD TO BEAT – For OL Reign, one of the priorities heading into the Kansas City game, as well as the playoffs, is being a team that is hard to beat. This includes putting on emphasis on being offensively dominant but also maintaining good form defensively and being hard to beat in and around your own 18-yard box. In recent games, one of the areas that needs improvement for the Reign is the transitional moments. The team will be looking to control the game even when they have lost the ball.

“In the past 10 days, with certain players not here, it lent towards that to we could work on trying to be hard to beat in our own half and make sure that we just work on things that we know we are going to get exposed to in tomorrow’s game and moving forward into the playoffs,” said Harvey.

MultiCare Injury Report:

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