Over the past two seasons the Seattle Reign FC (then still known as OL Reign) have won the 2022 NWSL Shield and advanced to the 2023 NWSL Championship.
Much of the roster remains in Seattle. The defense, goalkeeper corps, midfield, and strikers have numerous players who have played significant roles in the recent successes. The club returns head coach Laura Harvey to the sideline and is looking to take that final step of winning the championship match, which has eluded them on their three attempts.
However much the Reign can look at what they are bringing back, much of the offseason and preseason narrative has been about what is now missing from the 2024 roster. Megan Rapinoe retired. Players were lost to the expansion draft. Angelina is in Orlando. Rose Lavelle and Emily Sonnett signed with their 2023 championship match opponent Gotham FC.
The losses of Lavelle and Sonnett was a surprise during the free agency period, as from the outside it appeared likely the club would be able to retain them. With the departures the club moved quickly. The NWSL draft and trades have brought in new depth. Most notably, the and has now signed three new internationals, introducing them to Seattle on Tuesday in training at Lumen Field in preparation of the home opener this weekend.
photo credit Jane Gershovich/Seattle Reign FC
Wales internationals Angharad James and Lily Woodham are joined by Korea Republic midfielder Ji So-Yun. Local fans caught a glimpse of the three at the recent preseason friendly with University of Washington, but Tuesday’s Lumen Field training and presser was the formal introduction to the city and supporters. The new signings will be hitting the ground running, as the NWSL regular season opener is in just a few days.
Looking at the club and recent success with changes coach Laura Harvey was direct in her appraisal of the potential of the 2024 side. “The hardest thing I think in this league is sustained success,’ she said. “I think that’s the goal is to try and find that consistency with a new group and I think bringing in the players that we’ve brought in is really exciting. I think keeping the players that we’ve kept is really exciting. I think some of the younger players that we’ve got coming through, also really exciting. So, I think it may take a little while to find consistency, but I think one of the things that we’ve set a tone pretty early is our training environment is competitive and high standard.”
Harvey continued, “On the ball, I feel like we are going to be even more demanding of wanting to be better on the ball, which I think in 22 it was quoted quite a lot that that wasn’t the way we were successful. We were successful by defending really well, so that’s always a blueprint of who we are, but I think having the players that we’ve brought in, who are so comfortable in possession, I think trying to find ways where we can keep that hard-to-beat mentality and defensively be really solid but also be really proud of what we can do on the ball and that may look a little bit different than it was over the past couple of seasons because the people we’ve got on the team are a little bit different.”
James has previous stops in the NWSL, but Woodham and Ji are making their league debuts. Chelsea and WSL supporters will be well familiar with Ji from her many trophies with the London club.
Seattle Reign FC open the 2024 season on March 17 at Lumen Field in Seattle against the Washington Spirit.
