After a preseason filled with international absences, some unfortunate notoriety, and a controversial trade, the Seattle Reign FC went out and played their opener against the Western New York Flash Sunday evening at Seattle Memorial Stadium. Would there be continuity? Would there be distractions? How rusty would the connections between players in camp a month and those a matter of days be? The answer was 5-1. But, if only it were that simple. This was not a cakewalk 5-1.
WNY pressed, pushed, cut the lead in half with about 20 minutes left, had a goalkeeper make a number of excellent saves, and yet the game still ended 5-1.
Seattle missed a first half PK wide left and went in to the half up 1-0. WNY came out aggressive early in the second half, but instead Seattle grabbed a 2nd goal. Coaches sometimes discuss the danger of a 2 goal lead and sure enough a wonderful sequence from WNY including a cheeky backheel from former Reign star Sydney Leroux netted them the goal that altered the course of the final 20 minutes of the game.
A few minutes after the lead was cut in half Seattle was up 4-1 off of two Megan Rapinoe goals, and her hat trick came not too many minutes later. Rapinoe just shook her head in amazement at first when asked about scoring a hat trick in about 13 minutes, a result that was a far cry from being injured in the 2014 opener, “I thought it was great for us to come back with that response with some goals.”
The Seattle midfield triangle of Little, Winters, and Fishlock had only had a few days together since the end of last season but when the game really got going showed continuity. Jess Fishlock commented, ”It’s never going to take that long to gel with the quality we have here.”
Fishlock’s goal to open the scoring was a combination of a quick run through a defense without the ball, a quick decision and superb touch by Rapinoe to put the ball into the box, and a soft one touch to redirect and not overplay by Fishlock to finish. The timing was coming back quickly.
WNY’s goal was such a quick one touch sequence and tight fit in off the near post it is tough to point too much of a finger any one place as it was more WNY offense having a moment than the SRFC defense letting down. Hope Solo made a couple of nice grabs and a good aggressive decision on a Leroux run to get to the ball. Being on the field has to be a wonderful place for Solo given off field issues and while in goal she looked loose, energetic, and focused.
There has been much recent discussion about the loss of Naho Kawasumi and the trading away of Sydney Leroux, but Merritt Mathias on the right flank and Beverly Yanez up front both provided work rate and quality that was showcased in the second and third goals of the evening. Yanez’ off the ball runs and Matthias’ ability to get deep to the line created the opportunities and were rewarded. Mathias made her regular season Seattle debut in the victory, “We made the statement we wanted to make. There were moments where we were so close to being a great team.”
Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey had expressed at least a little concern over finishing off the game a week earlier in preseason, but with the lead strengthened, Seattle’s three subs Foxhoven, Dallstrea m, and Brooks all brought an energy to the field to keep any last minute lulls from occurring. Seattle only loses Rapinoe from field rotation during the World Cup stretch so that kind of depth is almost more luxury than necessity.
Starting a season with a big win could seem misleading. But, given the number of returnees and the early influence of the few changes made, it more likely appears that the Reign have picked up where they left off in 2014.
photos by Vanya Tucherov
Seattle Reign
