Match Forecast: Seattle Reign FC Travels to Washington to Take on the Spirit

Seattle Reign FC are on the road this week, in Washington, D.C. to take on the Washington Spirit for the second time this season. Back in March, Seattle opened its season with a home match against that Spirit and earned a hard-fought 1-0 win. This Friday night match up kicks off at 4:30 p.m. PT. 

WHEN AND WHERE: Reign FC kickoff is at 4:30 p.m. PT at Audi Field in Washington, D.C. 

WHERE TO WATCH: Fans can tune in on Kong, KING 5+ in the Seattle area or NWSL+. 

2024 NWSL REGULAR SEASON RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): Seattle Reign FC: 2-7-1 (13th place), Washington Spirit: 7-3-0 (3rd place) 

Key Points Ahead of the Match: 

1. LAST MEETING – Seattle Reign FC and the Washington Spirit have already met once this season to open their 2024 play. The match at Lumen Field was back and forth and hard fought. The Reign, playing for the first time with many new players, showed a keen understanding of what was needed to hold Washington scoreless.  

The lone goal of the match came immediately, as the Reign were awarded a penalty kick for a foul committed inside the box. Forward Bethany Balcer confidently stepped up to the spot and scored her second all-time goal against the Spirit, sending Washington goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury the wrong way, burying the ball in the back of the net. The March 17 match is the only time in 2024 that Washington has been held scoreless.  

This evening’s match will be the 32nd meeting between the two teams all-time and the 13th time Seattle will face Washington on the road. 

“I think the approach is obviously knowing what we did well in the first game we played them but knowing that there is going to be some slight differences again. Obviously, they're on a good stretch, they're doing well at the top of the table, Trinity Rodman will be playing again,” said Reign FC defender Shae Holmes. 

“I think that, in general, allows us to be able to see the game in a little bit slightly different manner of how we want to approach it, but at the same time, soccer is soccer and we did beat them the first time in the opening games, so I know, in general, as long as we understand that we have that in us and the way we've been preparing for it - principles and the way we go about playing soccer as a team just doesn't change - the hard work, the quality, all that just doesn't change, it's just the little details to just be prepared for this next time around and hopefully, the same outcome consists.” 

2. SCOUTING WASHINGTON – Washington currently sits in third place in the NWSL standings, just behind the Kansas City Current. Since the Spirit played the Reign in March, the team has earned seven wins in nine matches played.  

Most recently, the Spirit took on Angel City FC and won 4-2. Every goal in the match was scored in the first half, beginning in the ninth minute. Washington took the early lead but went on to concede two goals to Angel City in the 20th and 23rd minutes of the match. However, in a span of less than seven minutes, the Spirit scored three goals and retook the lead. 

The Spirit currently have four players out with injury – Anna Heilferty (SEI - knee), Civana Kuhlmann (SEI - knee), Lyza Bosselmann (wrist), Paige Metayer (lower leg) and one player questionable for the match – Makenna Morris (hip). 

“I think, obviously, there's some positives in that we know we can beat them. I think they are actually very similar in the way that they try and play than they were when we played them in the first game of the season. I think they've just refined it a little bit more. I think, for us, it's about finding the good things from last week's game, which I think there were some really positive things out of it - try and make conceding goals something that we make as hard as possible on the opponent so we can keep our score to as close to 0 as possible. I think that's been a key piece for us this week leading into the game,” said Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey. 

3. FLIP THE SCRIPT – This season, the Reign have often been required to respond to what the opponent is doing on the field, rather than forcing the opponent to respond. Moving forward, the team is focused on starting the match on the front foot and controlling the tone of the match. 

“I think that's been a big conversation for us this week. I feel like when we feel the adversity of either losing or conceding, whatever it might be, we tend to respond really well and our conversation this week has been, how can we be the one that's making the other team feel that way? We haven't had that enough,” said Harvey. 

“I think Bay is the only game that we've been leading that we've lost. So, I don't think we've made teams feel that way enough, so that's been an area of conversation for us on what can we do? Can we do things in the warmup? Can we prepare differently? I think you know this about me - I'll do anything, so whatever that it takes to be able to start games and find that balance of can we get on the front foot earlier and can we not give the opponent anything early in games? I think there's that fine balance that we have to find.” 

4. TEAM MENTALITY – Through this tough stretch, the team has banded together to dig in deeper, both on the field and off the field, and keep a strong mindset heading into each match. 

“I think in general, we've done a lot - you always go over game film after games, whether it's a win or a loss. But I know especially after just the stretch we've had, it's been, everyone's involved in film, everyone's asking questions, everyone's getting it down of what they need to do, what's maybe something that we can do better - it's full team participation in a sense,” said Holmes. 

“I just think that's it's not like that's not any different than what we're used to, but I just think it's diving even deeper into what we really need to get figured out. I just think overall, again, like I said, everyone has been hands on - from non-starters, nonsuitors to starters, to people who come off the bench - I just think everyone's fully committed to that and understanding their role and their responsibility from the top down. So yeah, I just think diving deeper into film has been huge for us and then implementing, we've really utilized a lot of our training times to really get in, dig deep at each other, ask more of each other, expect more of each other and I think just continue to hit the ground running with what we know we can do and the team we are deep down to our core.” 

MultiCare Availability Report: 

OUT  

Bethany Balcer (suspension) 

Claudia Dickey (knee) 

Quinn (knee) 

QUESTIONABLE 

None