Seattle Reign Fall to Orlando Pride in 1-0 Loss
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - In a strong battle by a young Seattle team against the defending NWSL champions, a late first half goal decided the outcome of the match as our Seattle Reign FC were unable to recover and the Orlando Pride came away with three points on the road to remain undefeated.
Sights from pregame at Lumen Field before the Orlando Pride and our Seattle Reign FC battled it out on Saturday, April 12th, 2025. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
The Reign experimented with a 5-4-1 formation to add an additional center back, with hopes of reducing the transition offense from the Pride and adding some defensive stability. Defender, team captain, and Reign original Lu Barnes got the start at center back, with a new look midfield of Maddie Mercado, Ainsley McCammon, and Sam Meza. Starting midfielders Ji So-Yun and Jess Fishlock were both out for the match with leg injuries, coming off their respective stints with national teams over the FIFA window this past week.
The average age of 24.3 in the Reign starting lineup marks the youngest since the 2013 season, with six players aged 23 or younger. Although many inexperienced players were getting their first starts of the season, Seattle held Orlando to a single goal and was able to control much of the game outside of the one score.
Following the Barbra Banda goal in the 41st minute, Summer Yates (Who got the assist on the goal) was injured and had to exit the match with an injury in their win over the Seattle Reign FC on Saturday, April 12th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
In the 41st minute, Pride forward Barbra Banda scored the lone goal of the match with one touch off a cross by University of Washington alumni and midfielder Summer Yates. Banda snuck in past Reign defenders, who were caught off balance by Yates’ cross, and poked the ball past Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey to take the lead. Seattle center back Phoebe McClernon seemed to be in position to cut off the cross, but she was unable to control her body enough coming back towards goal in order to ensure that Orlando wouldn’t find the back of the net.
“It’s the first time that group’s played together, in a system we haven’t played before, against the best team in the league. And, we were able to dominate a lot of the periods of the game.”
Some sights of the Seattle Reign FC attacking players during the clubs tight loss to the NWSL leading Orlando Pride on Saturday, April 12th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
Seattle had consistent chances on goal in the first half but weren’t able to convert enough shots on target. Dickey continued to make impressive saves to limit Orlando to just one goal off of very few opportunities. The Reign utilized the width of the field with forwards Maddie Dahlien, Jordyn Huitema, and Nérilia Mondésir stretching the Pride’s back line with their speed. Seattle as a club had solid possession in the attacking third and did an impressive job structurally running their systems, but trailed at half.
“Whatever I can do to help the team win, if that’s what we needed at that time, I was willing to do my best. And things weren’t perfect, but I think we did overall a really good job of communicating and working through it on the field.”
Seattle forward Lynn Biyendolo made her first start of the season and Reign FC debut as a second half substitute for Jordyn Huitema. Biyendolo finished the match with three chances created in the 45 minutes she played, tied for the most on the team. The second half of this contest brought even more pressure to Orlando’s defenders, with Biyendolo, Dahlien, and Mondésir continuing their high press, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to get a goal back.
Seattle Reign FC forward Lynn Biyendolo made her 2025 season and club debut in this match, coming on as a substitute to begin the second half of the match as the Orlando Pride went on to win on Saturday, April 12th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Liz Wolter for Circling Seattle Sports)
What’s next?
Following today’s tight loss to the reigning NWSL Champion Orlando Pride, our Seattle Reign FC now shift their focus ahead to prepare to host the Portland Thorns in a big rivalry matchup this Friday, April 18th under the lights of Lumen Field. This, the longest-standing rivalry in the NWSL as this match marks the 42nd clash between two of the league’s founding clubs, will air on Amazon Prime Video with a scheduled kickoff time of 7PM PDT. After today’s defeat, our Reign will be looking for their first victory since their week two triumph in North Carolina while the Thorns picked up their first win of the season just last week in an uninspiring effort against the Utah Royals. While Portland has often been a force to be reckoned with previously, considered one of the top flight clubs in the NWSL, the Thorns don’t quite have the talent that’s made them formidable in the past and have looked weaker to begin this season as a result.
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social
〰️
Instagram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports BlueSky: @circlingseasports.bsky.social 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Reign FC articles here.
Check out our previous articles with writing for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Check out previous articles with photos by Liz Wolter here, and her portfolio here
Support the work of Circling Seattle Sports by checking out our merchandise!