Seattle Reign Make Early-Season Statement with Massive Road Win at North Carolina
If last week’s home draw against Gotham FC was a hint of how improved this Seattle Reign team is from last year, then Saturday’s massive 2-1 win at the North Carolina Courage was a firm stake in the ground.
The Reign struck twice on either side of halftime to take a 2-0 lead before holding off a Courage onslaught to bring all three points back to Seattle. It was only the Reign’s second-ever win in North Carolina, which historically owns one of the most impressive home marks in the NWSL.
“I’m really, really proud of the group because there’s no way under that pressure that we would have seen that out last year,” said Head Coach Laura Harvey. “Real good steps in the right direction. Coming here is never, ever easy. They’ve got an unbelievable record here for a reason. So, to come here and get a result, I’m really, really proud of the group.”
Seattle was led on the night with a goal from Jess Fishlock, who scored in her 200th Reign appearance, as well as a thunderbolt from Jordyn Bugg, who has an early contender for NWSL Goal of the Year. It was the first career goal for the 18-year-old, just one of the many young talents Harvey has at her disposal.
“Not only are we different [from last year], we’re really young,” said Harvey. “To come here with that youth and energy really helped us, matched with the experience of some of the older ones. As the game went on, we put a lot of youngsters on, and then to see it out, we put on the O.G. [Lauren Barnes] to make sure that we had a little bit of leadership presence there.”
Harvey and the Reign set a clear focus on the first three matches of the season before the FIFA women’s international break from March 31 – April 8. She wanted to use that opening stretch as a barometer of where her team is at and where it could go, and so far, she’s incredibly pleased with the outcome.
The Reign head to Southern California next Sunday for another big showdown at Angel City FC (5 p.m. PT; CBS Sports Network) where Seattle hopes to mirror its performance in North Carolina.
“We set out some goals in preseason of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to achieve it, and getting points on the road was another big factor in what we believe can be our success,” Harvey said. “This is probably one where when you’re circling games, if you got a point in North Carolina, most people would be really happy with that with their record here.
“To come and take three [points] is a real stamp of where we’re at right now,” she continued. “There are still loads of things we can be better at and loads of things we can continue to learn from, but not a bad place after two games to come away with four points.”