Seattle Reign Practice Notebook: September 2nd, 2026
By Charles Hamaker
Tukwila, WA - On the morning and early afternoon of Wednesday, September 2nd, Seattle Reign FC training at the Starfire Sports Complex saw overcast skies threaten rain for an hour before a sudden rush of heavy rain ultimately cut the session a bit short. The session was much like the usual, with typical small-sided games and finishing drills taking place for most of the practice, before assistant coach Kate Norton spoke in the post-session availability. Here’s a basic notebook for Seattle Reign FC training on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026.
Seattle Reign FC training session scenes from Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026, at Starfire Sports Complex. (Photos by Charles Hamaker)
Attendance check
Unlike previous sessions, we couldn't see forward Lynn Biyendolo doing the conditioning that’s become a regular sight since she returned to the United States. This doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen, though, as we showed up around 11:25 AM, and the club was already out on the field and decently into their drills by that time despite having a loosely listed start time of 11:30 AM. So, there’s still a possibility it could’ve taken place, but at least we saw that Biyendolo wasn’t out there. It could’ve been a scheduled day off in her return to action, so I wouldn’t necessarily raise any alarms.
Also in the “unseen” department is the trio of players for the club who are off to the U.S. Under-20 Women’s Youth National Team roster for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland. Forward Emeri Adames, midfielder Ainsley McCammon, and goalkeeper Evan O’Steen were all missing from training, with the prior two joining O’Steen, who had left first. These are expected departures, and it means that the club is missing a midfielder who’s been a steady presence for them this season, and they’re down to just two goalkeepers on the active roster. After the win over Houston back on Sunday, head coach Laura Harvey had great words to say about McCammon.
“Very, very good. And I’ve been joking with her all week that it’s such a weird emotion right now to know that she’s going away. I’m really happy for her. I’m really proud of her, but I’m devastated. All in the same emotion, you know, because she has been exceptional. Especially the second half today, I thought she broke play up. That’s been a big part of her development: her movement off the ball to read things and be able to solve problems, which maybe earlier in her career with us she wouldn’t be able to get there, and now she gets there. So you know, I’m so proud of her and Emeri going away to represent this club on a world stage, but yeah, they’re also devastated at the same time. ”
One thing to note is a new non-roster training invitee seen during this session. A player with shorter hair and a somewhat taller build was seen out on the field during this session, in addition to regularly seen invitee Vienna Whipple. At the time of this article's publication, Reign PR couldn’t provide the player's name, but some in the fanbase (and defender Phoebe McClernon before our interview) may say they bear a striking resemblance to former Seattle midfielder Quinn. Without a name, it’s hard to do any research into who the player is, so we can’t do much comparison between the two, but it is a somewhat fun sight to see out on the fields of Starfire. The only information we were given about the player was that this session was believed to be their first with the club, so it will be fun to see if they’re a regular sight with the Reign or if this is just a temporary stop in their career.
In regard to Quinn, the 31-year-old midfielder has performed well this year in Canada’s Northern Super League with the Vancouver Rise FC, tallying three goals and two assists so far this year after a six-goal, six-assist season in 2025. A Canadian national team legend with over 100 caps, Quinn scored the first-ever NSL goal in Rise FC’s inaugural 1-0 win over Calgary Wild FC. They are now a co-captain alongside Shannon Woeller.
Seattle Reign FC training session scenes from Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026, at Starfire Sports Complex. (Photos by Charles Hamaker)
In somewhat of a non-update, recently signed forward Ami Diallo continues to wait through the P-1 VISA process, same update from last weeks training. The announcement of the signing was made by the club back on August 18th, as the 25-year-old Ivorian international forward signed a deal through the 2028 NWSL season for an agreed upon transfer fee to ASEC Mimosas. It will be interesting to see how the Reign insert Diallo into their attack and it could be a little bit before she figures into the clubs plans, as they’ll likely want to give her a soft landing into the NWSL as they have with previous international signings before.
Called early due to Rain
The sessions with the Reign at Starfire Sports Complex tend to last from somewhere around 11:30 AM to 1 PM and can run a little bit longer, but today’s session ended closer to 12:30 PM thanks to a sudden cloudburst. Some players stuck around to do individual extra work afterwards through the rain, and shortly after the sun came out to reveal a clear sky as players were walking off the field.
Weekly interview: Phoebe McClernon
This week’s interview for our weekly Seattle Reign show, “Right as Reign,” was with veteran defender Phoebe McClernon! Last season, in an effort to provide more coverage in different forms of the Reign, we started doing weekly interviews with different players on the club’s roster. Last year’s list of interviews included Claudia Dickey, Sally Menti, Emeri Adames, Shae Holmes, Maddie Prohaska, and Phoebe McClernon. It was fun to do another interview with McClernon, with improved technology, after speaking with University of Washington alum Kelsey Branson last week. We chatted with McClernon about the growth of this year’s Reign team compared to last season, the group on Seattle’s defensive backline, the season that she’s having, how she’s always close to first on the scene for her teammates’ goals, and how she’s enjoyed the city of Seattle in her fifth season in the Pacific Northwest.
The interview was brought on by head coach Laura Harvey’s comments on the defender following the club’s win over Houston this past weekend.
“There’s no doubt that this has been Phoebe’s best year at this club. I’ve had a meeting with her this week, actually, and said that to her I think in all aspects of her game, she’s got better defensively, which has always been her strength. She’s got better on the ball. She’s a better leader than she was before, just growing into that. She takes that responsibility on really well. Yeah, I thought tonight she was very, very good, and she’s someone you know. You guys have lived this with me for a long time. It was always really hard for me to see this club without the Lu’s, Pinoes, and the Jess’ in it, and you know this group, especially, and someone like Phoebe, makes me go. You know how we’ve been able to help Phoebe. She’s done so much work for herself and nurtured into this now experienced high-level center back who has hopes and dreams of bigger things, right? She wants more out of her career, and I just said to her this week, I think she’s really close to the mountain top, and you know I’m really happy for her for that. But I think there’s more to come. I don’t think she’s the finished article, and what’s great is she’s really bought into pushing herself to be even better. And you know I thought tonight her performance was was very very good.”
Post-training media: Kate Norton
Continuing the standard coaching staff rotation for the clubs post-training media availability, assistant coach Kate Norton was made available to us, with no other media members present this afternoon. Norton is currently in her fourth season with the Reign, previously serving as the Director of Coaching for the U13-U19 Girls’ Program at PacNW Soccer Club, as well as the Director of the Surf Development Academy program in San Diego. Other previous stops during her career include the University of Arizona women’s soccer team and U-18 and U-20 U.S. Youth National Team as an assistant coach.
After this training session, we asked Norton about her time with the Reign, having Lu Barnes on the staff, her thoughts on defender Phoebe McClernon, and what she’s seen from the club over the last few matches.
Note: Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.
CSS: How would you reflect on your time with the Reign, so far?
Norton: Oh man, it's been an experience, ups and downs, but always grateful. I mean, I get to work in the best league in the world. I get to work with the best head coach. I get to work with Scott [Parkinson], Lloyd [Yaxley], Lu [Barnes], fantastic addition. I can't say enough positive things in terms of rapport on and off the field. We're great taking responsibility. We're continuing to grow in terms of being on tiny field five to now field 11, being in the banquet room to now having like a proper locker room, still always areas where we want to grow on and off the field. But I love working for the Reign and want to continue to work for the Reign.
CSS: How have you seen Lu Barnes transition into the current coaching staff?
Norton: I think the first word that comes to mind is seamless, and the second one is perspective. I mean, Lu was a proper professional as a player, as you well know, and then as a coach, there's no difference. She's also an elite human, off the field and on the field. She reads the game well. She was a five and a three, but also knows what midfielders should do, and also knows what forward should do. We do unit clips together, and we're talking about a fullback and how that connects with wingers, and and like you said, with perspective in terms of what's it like to go on a trip for 12 days, what's it like to play three games in seven days, what's it like to play on turf and train on grass, and when you're younger, when you're older. I'm kind of rambling now a little bit, but like I said, we talked about it a little bit yesterday with the commissioner, and Laura used the word seamless, and I was just like, it's a great word when talking about Lu. And then your your word I thought was great in terms of perspective, like she's just got a different perspective than all of us have in this moment. I mean, at this time last year, she was wearing blue, and now she's wearing yellow, but she has already earned the respect from coaches, players, staff. So it's actually quite nice. It's great, it's great working with her in a different capacity.
CSS: What have you seen from Phoebe McClernon over your time with the Reign?
Norton: I am grateful and fortunate to have four seasons with Phoebe. This is our fourth season together, and her growth, and I keep saying it on and off the field in that context, is fantastic. She is someone who Is very intentional, but is also very intense, and so that combination is hard to manage. But she's done it so well. I also have the privilege to be her PDP coach or player development coach at this time. We kind of rotate throughout the year, but I mean, we do film one-on-one every week, and I've told her a couple times ‘it's been an absolute pleasure to pull your clips,’ and I want I always like preface it with that context, and yeah, there's some good things, yeah, there's things we need to work on, but like she sits down and watches films and she asks questions, whether it's individual, whether it's in the team, she asks questions, she takes responsibility, she points out what other people are doing, and then on the field day in and day out, she's competing and she's making us better. And then I think her maturity in terms of how she feels. She communicates that. If she's feeling tired, she says, ‘Hey, Kate, I'm a little bit tired.’ Like on a reentry day, kind of that communication has been great, and that's another big growth area. But you only figure that out over time. And she's 100% a leader, 100% kind of like that consistent person that we lean on quite a bit on and off the field. But she's been she's been great. I can't say enough positive things about Phoebe.
CSS: What have you seen from the group the last couple matches?
Norton: I think the the team is buying into what the coaching staff is asking them, but more importantly, they're buying into each other. They'll get into the box, and if they can upgrade it and play into someone, I mean, it's post CBA break, but the goals we scored, like Mia's goal near post, where we scored early was at Bay, right? Like just unselfish from Maddie Dahlien, and then we play Houston, and our xG versus their xG was quite a quite different, right? And in terms of what Houston has done in the last handful of games to what they did in Lumen. We'll score bangers like Sally Menti will score a banger, Jess will score a banger, I can list 60 other. You know, Maddie Dahlien, Maddie Mercado scored bangers, Haz [Angharad James-Turner] in Spokane scores a banger. You know, but at the same time, like we talk about it in finishing, we talk about it in units, we talk about individual. If you toe poke it in or you smash it from the top of the box, it's a goal, and no one's worried about ‘oh, I want to get this goal or I want to get that goal.’ It's a, it's kind of like we're developing individuals for the betterment of the team, and I think, like I said, they're buying into us, day in and day out. Whether it's win, lose or draw, we've had good results. We've scored a goal in every game since the CBA break. I think two games before it, we scored goals. But like I said, they're buying into each other and they're playing well and being patient, and if we miss an opportunity, fine. We go again. We miss an opportunity, fine. We go again. And with shutouts, whether it's the Chicago game or the Houston game, the defenders, and whether it's that unit or in a defensive phase, it's a team effort for lack of a better way to put it.
Assistant coach Kate Norton seen during the Seattle Reign FC training session on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026, at Starfire Sports Complex. (Photos by Charles Hamaker)
What’s next?
Following today’s rain-drenched training session at Starfire Sports Complex, the Seattle Reign FC will hold two more training sessions and have a scheduled day off between them prior to their matchup against the San Diego Wave FC on Sunday, September 6th with a 6 PM PDT kickoff time at Lumen Field. These two West Coast sides met back in late July in San Diego, a 2-0 victory for the Reign after their tough 3-2 defeat against the superteam that is NJ/NY Gotham FC.
Since two losses in three matches from late July to early August, the Wave have recorded points in their last three matches inlcuding back-to-back wins against a Utah Royals team that sits third in the NWSL table and a Racing Louisville team that had a solid run of late. From mid-July to mid-August, San Diego had struggled to score multiple goals consistently until their last two games, scoring four goals against the Utah and three goals against Racing Louisville.
Sunday’s game against the Wave is the Reign’s “Hello Kitty” match, as there is a gate giveaway for the first 4,000 fans in attendance will receive an exclusive Hello Kitty® bag charm, which features the global icon wearing a Reign FC Surge Kit. Additionally, fans who purchase through the special offer will receive a Reign FC Hello Kitty® light-up bobblehead. To add to it all, Hello Kitty® herself will be at the match in her Surge kit and will be available throughout the stadium before and during the match for meet and greets with fans. Fans can also commemorate the matchday experience by visiting the Hello Kitty® photobooth near section 118.
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Cover photo by Charles Hamaker
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