Match Forecast: Seattle Reign FC Takes on the Kansas City Current
Returning from the international break, Seattle Reign FC are on the road this afternoon, in Kansas City, Missouri to take on the Kansas City Current for the second time this season at 3:00 p.m. PT. Previously, the Reign hosted the Current at Lumen Field and battled to a scoreless draw. To date, the Reign are the only team to hold the Current scoreless in the 2024 season.
WHEN AND WHERE: Reign FC kickoff is at 3:00 p.m. PT at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri
WHERE TO WATCH: Fans can tune in on Kong, KING 5+ in the Seattle area or NWSL+, Paramount+ or CBS Sports Golazo Network to catch the action.
2024 NWSL REGULAR SEASON RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): Seattle Reign FC: 2-8-1 (13th place), Kansas City Current: 7-0-4 (3rd place)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – Seattle Reign FC and the Kansas City Current last met earlier this season, on May 8 at Lumen Field. The hard-fought match resulted in a scoreless draw, marking the first time an NWSL team had held the Current scoreless in 2024. The Reign defended a total of 19 shots in the match but spent the majority of the match pushing Kansas City to the least dangerous areas of the field. Notably, goalkeeper Laurel Ivory earned her first clean sheet of the regular season and made a single-game high six saves to preserve the shutout for Seattle.
“I thought we were defensively very good in that game. I think when we reflected on it, we felt that we needed to be better on the ball and cause them a few more problems whilst still being defensively solid, so just trying to find that balance is our aim,” said Seattle Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey.
Forward Tziarra King added, “As I was watching that match from the stands, I can tell you the team did perform well, obviously holding their attack worked well for us. I feel like our defensive abilities in that game were strong and we were strong in our game plan. So hopefully, we bring that same energy.”
2. SCOUTING KANSAS CITY – Kansas City currently sits in third place in the NWSL standings, behind the Washington Spirit and Orlando Pride. The team has recorded seven wins in the opening 11 matches of the season, adding four draws to maintain an unbeaten record to start the season. Most recently, the Current played on the road and earned a 1-0 victory over the Utah Royals. The lone goal of the match was scored in the 58th minute by KC defender Elizabeth Ball.
All-time against the Current, the Reign have five wins, four losses and one draw, and have outscored the Current 10 goals to seven.
Kansas City currently has four players out with injury – Kristen Hamilton (leg), Nichelle Prince (knee), Gabrielle Robinson (SEI - knee) and Mallory Weber (SEI - knee).
3. RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL BREAK – This is the first NWSL match back from the international break for both the Reign and Current. Seattle’s returning international players met the team in Kansas City and began training yesterday.
The Reign had six players on international duty – Emeri Adames (United States U-20), Jess Fishlock(Wales), Jordyn Huitema (Canada), Angharad James-Turner (Wales), Ji So-Yun (Korea Republic) and Lily Woodham (Wales). Similarly, Kansas City has seven players out on international duty – Stine Ballisager (Denmark), Sophie Braun (Argentina), Debinha (Brazil), Hanna Glas (Sweden), Claire Hutton (United States U-20), Nichelle Prince (Canada) and Desiree Scott (Canada).
“The international break kind of gives us a good opportunity to really focus on some things, whether that be individually, as a collective, and I think having some time off and then really hitting the ground knowing we need to work on things helped us bring the intensity and the fire this week of training, so it's been good. I feel like, as a collective, we feel really good about the performances we put in training so hopefully we can allow that to translate to the game,” said King.
4. MOVING FORWARD – With two wins in the first 11 matches of the season, the team is focused on moving forward in the season and continuing to keep the focus on identifying key areas of improvement.
“We've sort of said that we want to have this goldfish mentality of, we know that mistakes may be made in games, but we don't want to dwell on them, we want to continue to work hard on the things that we feel we need to get better at and I think we've done a really good job of that over the last 10 days of training so that we can put ourselves in a position to keep moving forward,” said Harvey.
“I think that's a really key aspect of the NWSL season is, you have to keep moving forward. Honestly, I feel like a year ago, we were in a bit of a funk, and we turned that around for ourselves. So, we know that we can do that, we know our schedule sort of has been very balanced towards playing the teams that just happen to be in the top half of the table and that continues [with Kansas City]. So, I think we know that if we can get all these things right that we're having a bit of a funk in right now, then we can turn it around in the second half of the season and obviously this next five-game stretch is an important aspect to try and do that.”
MultiCare Availability Report:
OUT
Claudia Dickey (knee)
Quinn (knee)
Nikki Stanton (face)
QUESTIONABLE
None