Match Recap: Seattle Reign FC Starts New Era with 1-0 Win Over Washington
Seattle Reign FC opened its 2024 NWSL season with a 1-0 win on a sunny afternoon in Seattle against the Washington Spirit. The Reign held firm control of the match for 90 minutes, downing their familiar foe to take all three points to begin the season.
The match started out with immediate action, as Reign FC was awarded a penalty for a foul committed inside the box. In just the third minute of the match, forward Bethany Balcer confidently stepped up to the spot and changed the tone of the match when she sent Washington goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury the wrong way, burying the ball in the back of the net.
Despite a short preseason with the team fully together, the Reign looked cohesive, stringing together passes in the offensive half of the field and putting on a defensive clinic, limiting the Spirit to just one shot in the first half. Defender Lily Woodham, as well as midfielders Angharad James-Turner and Ji So-Yun all looked sharp on the field as they made their Reign debuts.
In the 30th minute of the match, Reign FC put the Spirit under serious pressure, bouncing the ball around near the top of the box. The ball popped out to midfielder Quinn, who fired off a powerful shot, narrowly missing the frame of goal.
The Reign continued to press on with the entire team getting into the attack. In the 33rd minute, second-year defender Shae Holmes got into the attack, mounting an attack after she won the ball from the Spirit. The sequence ended with a shot on goal, but it wasn’t enough to get past Kingsbury in the net.
Before the half was over, the Reign took four more shots, one of which was on target. In comparison, the Spirit did not manage a shot. At the half, the Reign went to the locker room up 1-0, with plenty of quality play to start their season.
The second half still saw Seattle Reign FC dominate, with three shots and 27 entries into the attacking third of the field. The Spirit found the back of the net once, but the play was called back as goalkeeper Claudia Dickey was fouled during the play.
As the match was coming to a close, a play from Kingsbury was reviewed and the referee determined that she handled the ball outside the box to deny a goalscoring opportunity, so she was sent off the field, leaving the Spirit with 10 players on the field.
Notably, the end of the match saw the debut of 17-year-old Emeri Adames for the Reign, as the team finished the match strong to earn the with and take all three points from the very first match of the season.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
EARLY START: Forward Bethany Balcer’s goal in the third minute is the quickest opening goal of the season in club history. Prior to that, Megan Rapinoe had the fastest opening goal, which was scored in the seventh minute against the Washington Spirit in 2018.
REIGN FC DEBUTS: Four Reign FC players made their team debut today – forward Emeri Adames, midfielder Ji So-Yun, midfielder Angharad James-Turner and defender Lily Woodham.
STARTING STRONG AT HOME: Seattle Reign FC extended its home opener unbeaten streak to seven games. The club has not lost a home opener since the 2016 season, holding a strong record of 3W-0L-4D to the start the season in front of its fans.
EMERI ADAMES: Forward Emeri Adames entered the match in the 90th minute, making her professional debut and becoming the youngest player to take the field in club history. With Adames’s appearance, her option has been automatically triggered, keeping her contracted with the Reign through 2027.
BETHANY BALCER: Forward Bethany Balcer converted a penalty kick in the third minute, opening the scoring for the Reign in the 2024 season.
Balcer now has 29 regular season goals all-time, the fourth most in club history. Since entering the league in 2019, Balcer ranks fourth in the NWSL in goals (29).
CLAUDIA DICKEY: Goalkeeper Claudia Dickey earned her third consecutive clean sheet in regular season play and fifth in the last six games across all NWSL competitions. Dickey now has four clean sheets in seven regular season games played all-time, tied for the most in the NWSL since she made her first start on August 27, 2023.
SERIES: The win brings the all-time series to 14-9-8 between the Reign and Washington Spirit.
UP NEXT: Seattle Reign FC will travel to Chicago to take on the Red Stars on Saturday, March 23 at 1:00 p.m. PT. Fans can stream the match on NWSL+.
MATCH SUMMARY
2014 NWSL Regular Season
Seattle Reign FC 1 – 0 Washington Spirit
Date/Time: Sunday, March 17, 3:00 p.m. PT
Location: Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington
Weather: 71, Sunny
Scoring Summary
SEA: Balcer – 3’
WAS: None
Discipline
SEA: None
WAS: Wiesner (Caution – 13'), Krueger (Caution – 83’), Kingsbury (Red card – 90+1)
Lineups
SEA: GK Dickey, D Huerta, D Holmes (Brown 90+5’), D McClernon, D Woodham (Barnes 63’), M Fishlock (c), M Ji (Athens 90+4’), M Quinn, M James-Turner (Van der Jagt 63’), F Balcer (Adames 90+6’), F Huitema
Unused substitutes: GK Ivory, M Stanton, F King, M Meza
Total Shots: 15 (Ji, Huitema – 3)
Shots on Goal: 6 (Fishlock – 2)
Fouls: 10 (Woodham – 3)
Offsides: 2
Corner Kicks: 4
Saves: 1 (Dickey – 1)
WAS: GK Kingbury (c), D Krueger, D Wiesner (Butel 45+2’), D McKeown, D Carle, M Bethune (Bosselman 90+3’), M Sullivan, M Hershfelt, F Sarr, F Ratcliffe (Morris 65’), F Hatch (Brown 65’)
Unused substitutes: F Silano, DHeilferty, M Stainbrook, M Metayer, F Ricketts
Total Shots: 2 (Bethune, Hatch – 2)
Shots on Goal: 1 (Hatch – 1)
Fouls: 13 (Hershfelt – 3)
Offsides: 0
Corner Kicks: 3
Saves: 5 (Kingsbury – 5)
Player of the Match: Bethany Balcer
Referee: Natalie Simon
Assistant Referee 1: Seth Martin
Assistant Referee 2: Melissa Beck
4th Official: Jaclyn Metz
VAR: Kevin Broadley
AVAR: Maggie Short