Jess Fishlock came into Saturday’s match on the Moda Pitch at Memorial Stadium with a bit of an edge, having been sent off on what she termed “a highly dubious” foul, leading to a Sky Blue penalty kick which allowed the hosts to equalize late in a match otherwise controlled by the Reign. Given the match disqualification accompanying the red card, it meant that the Welsh international hadn’t played in an NWSL match in three weeks, and Jess was angry.
Jess Fishlock tallied a goal and an assist, and was named Player of the Match
Much like Bruce Banner, if you play on an opposing team, you’d not like Jess when she’s angry. Brittany Cameron, Sky Blue starting goalkeeper, may be seeing Fishlock in her nightmares for weeks to come. Six of Seattle’s nineteen shots came from the Welsh international, who spent much of the evening forcing the visitors’ defense to chase rather than carrying play.
Fishlock’s first good look on goal came early, five minutes and twenty-four seconds into the match, but Cameron was equal to the task. In the seventh minute, Hayley Haagsma stepped in to break up a Fishlock centering pass intended for Beverly Yanez. Haagsma and central defender Lindsi Cutshall would not be as fortunate on the next rush, when Fishlock played a little right-footed tap on to an unmarked Keelin Winters, and the captain wasted no time in slotting the ball into the back of the net to give the Reign the early advantage.
The high pressure and dynamic possession game would continue from Seattle, rarely relinquishing the ball and making it difficult for Sky Blue to string even as many as three passes together, much less provide a significant scoring threat while the Reign offense continued to flow and run at the defenses and generate scoring chances.
The mutable looks Laura Harvey’s offense made it difficult for Sky Blue defenders to mark- 4-3-3 going forward, 4-5-1 coming back, and with all six starters taking at least a turn or two pressing the attack from the front. This led directly to the Winters’ goal- with the captain taking a turn up top in front of Fishlock with Mariah Nogueira transitioning into the holding role. Kim Little’s first venture into centre forward ended up with the Scottish international drawing a foul awarded just outside the top of the 18 only to push the resulting direct kick inches over the crossbar. Five minutes later, from the left, Yanez found Merritt Mathias running down route one, but the latter’s shot was corralled by Cameron at the far post.
The pressure would lead to more breakdowns for the visitors from New Jersey. Two minutes after the Mathias chance, Cameron lost track of Fishlock in distribution and rolled the ball out in the direction of Maya Hays only to have it poached and nearly deposited into the net when Fishlock jumped into its path and stepped around the ‘keeper.
In the 26th minute, Hays would redeem her netminder by clearing the ball into touch after Kim Little found Bev Yanez unmarked and able to run past the keeper. The ensuing corner would see Stephanie Cox play a lovely ball near post onto Fishlock’s head, with #10 wasting no time to flick it on into the far post netting to double the advantage for the Reign.
Sky Blue would get their only shot on frame in the 31st minute, with midfielder Shawna Gordon driving a ball easily taken by Haley Kopmeyer from 23 yards out. Coming back the other way, a Yanez attempt was blocked by Kristin Grubka, but the ball was taken on the volley by Fishlock, who put it just over the bar.
Brittany Cameron bobbles a Danielle Foxhoven shot, but is saved by the ruling that she controlled the ball before Foxhoven put it in.
The pace would continue to be dictated by the Reign through the end of the half and the opening fifteen minutes of the second frame, with the outside backs venturing more into the attack with the wing forwards covering the gaps and effectively shutting down any counterattack. The opportunities kept presenting themselves, with the Reign appearing to take a 3:0 edge when Danielle Foxhoven – who came on in relief of Mathias in the 65th – ripped a shot near-post on Cameron, who juggled it going to ground, with Foxhoven following the rebound and appearing to put the loose ball into the net. The score was disallowed, with the referee ruling that Cameron had control.
Any questions about Sky Blue’s potential to undo the 2:0 deficit would be soundly quashed five minutes later when Cami Levin pulled Nogueira – taking her turn at the striker role – to the turf. A handled ball by the Sky Blue wall (clearly, and neither controversial nor punished with a red card like the one on Fishlock in the previous match in New Jersey) resulted in sending Kim Little to the spot to convert the penalty kick, and Little did not miss, ripping the ball into the top left corner over Cameron’s outstretched hands to provide the ultimate margin of victory.
Kim Little converts the penalty to give the Reign their 3:0 margin of victory.
The win was Haley Kopmeyer’s second of the season and second successive clean sheet, although the former University of Michigan Wolverine only had to make one save on the four shots mustered by Sky Blue to earn the shutout, in the process dropping her goals-against average to 0.500, good for the league lead among goalkeepers with multiple starts. The goal and assist raise Fishlock’s totals to 3G, 2A, tying her with Megan Rapinoe for the team lead in goals and points. Bev Yanez also has three goals on the season. Defending Golden Boot and Player of the Year laureate Kim Little’s successful conversion of the penalty kick in the 77th was her first goal of the 2015 campaign to go with three assists.
The win lifts the Reign to third in the table, three points aft of the Spirit- who have played two more games- and four in arrears of the Red Stars- against whom Seattle have a game in hand. Sky Blue fall to 1-4-4 and the bottom of the table. They also have the worst goal differential in the league at -6, and have yet to register more than one goal in a match. The Reign, in reverse, close the pre-World Cup break on an upswing, unbeaten in four and leading the league in goal differential at +7. The Reign return to action on Sunday, June 21st, as they travel to Boston to take on the Breakers before returning to Seattle to tangle with FC Kansas City on the following Saturday.
