Seattle Reign Fall 2-1 to Washington Spirit
By Becca Weinberg
Washington D.C - After a tough back-and-forth battle, the Seattle Reign lost to the Washington Spirit 2-1 as another late-game goal put the Spirit ahead. The loss looked eerily familiar to the previous matchup of the two teams when the Reign conceded an 84th-minute goal in a 1-0 loss on May 10th.
Images from the Seattle Reign FC loss against Washington Spirit at Audi Field on May 30th, 2026 (Photos by Cody Cervenka, provided by Seattle Reign FC).
“Disappointed not to come away with something,” said head coach Laura Harvey post-game. “I think what we've shown in the two games we've played against these guys who, you know, they've got a lot of experience, they’ve got a lot of quality in their team. They've got a lot of winners who've been there and done it, is we can hold our own. We've held our own twice now, and come out of it disappointed with the result, maybe, but not necessarily a full disappointment with our performance.”
The Spirit struck first in the 18th minute as midfielder Leicy Santos netted a free kick from just outside the 18-yard box. Her shot curled masterfully through the Reign back line and past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper Claudia Dickey for a 1-0 lead.
Just before halftime, the Seattle Reign evened the score at 1-1 after an own goal by Washington in the 44th minute. Pressure from forward Maddie Mercado inside the box forced an errant touch by Spirit defender Lucia Di Guglielmo that sailed over goalkeeper Sandy MacIver and into the goal.
“We kind of thought we’d be able to expose them, switch the field quick and put it in behind,” said Mercado post-game. “And so for me, obviously being in that forward role, I just wanted to be able to make those runs and put pressure on that back line. I was a little upset it wasn’t me who touched that ball, but at the end of the day it was in the back of the net.”
The second half continued with multiple chances from Seattle that they couldn’t find the back of the net, and the Spirit capitalized on Reign mistakes. Their game-winner came in the 81st minute, when midfielder Hal Hershfelt dribbled through the Reign back line and slotted a ball into the goal for the 2-1 lead.
Match notes from Reign PR:
After using a different starting XI in each of its first 10 matches of the 2026 season, Reign FC repeated its lineup for the first time tonight. Laura Harvey deployed the same starting group that earned a 2-1 victory over Boston Legacy FC on May 22.
With tonight’s result, Seattle holds a record of 14-14-8 against Washington across all competitions.
Reign FC (4-5-2, 14 points) closes out its East Coast road stretch after the international break with a match against the North Carolina Courage (4-3-3, 15 points) on Saturday, July 4 at First Horizon Stadium (3:30 p.m. PT / ION).
The Reign will head into the international break before returning to action on Saturday, July 4th, against the North Carolina Courage at First Horizon Stadium. The match will be played at 3:30 PM and can be streamed on ION.
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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 written for CSS by Becca Weinberg here, and her work with Lookout Landing here.
Photos in this article by Cody Cervenka, provided by Seattle Reign FC.
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