Seattle Reign Begin 2026 NWSL Season With 2-1 Win Over Orlando Pride
By Becca Weinberg
Orlando, FL - The Seattle Reign opened their 2026 NWSL season with three points after a 2-1 road win over the Orlando Pride. With goals from veteran midfielder Jess Fishlock and recently-signed forward Brittany Ratcliffe, the Reign overcame a lengthy weather delay and finished strong to start the year off with a win.
Seattle Reign FC midfielder and club original Jess Fishlock celebrates her goal that got the scoring started in the club's 2-1 win over the Orlando Pride on March 15th, 2026, at Inter&Co Stadium. (Photos by Andrea Vilchez, provided by Seattle Reign FC)
Fishlock’s goal in the 24th minute was set up by forward Nérilia Mondésir’s first-ever NWSL assist. After a defensive stop on the other end of the field, Mondésir received a pass from midfielder Sam Meza and dribbled down the middle while taking two defenders with her. She threaded a pass to Fishlock’s feet, who weaved between Orlando’s center backs and put up a shot past Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse.
“I was here when she first got here, and just to see her growth over the past year or so has been phenomenal. Coco is someone who never complains. She just kind of puts her head down and does the work and does whatever it takes to get better.”
Mondésir was a force to be reckoned with in the season opener. She took on the most duels of any Reign player in the match (15), made the most interceptions (3), and drew the most fouls (3).
Seattle’s 1-0 lead would take them into halftime, where a two-hour-long weather delay greeted them due to lightning in the area.
When the second half finally resumed, Orlando found an equalizer in the 51st minute after forward Barbra Banda worked past the Reign back line and snuck a shot into the far post.
The Reign showed some resiliency and collected themselves to maintain a high press and challenge the Pride defenders. Ratcliffee, who was subbed on in the 78th minute, scored the game-winning goal just five minutes later in her Reign FC debut. Mondésir recorded her second assist of the night when she served a ball up to Ratcliffe in front of the goal.
Seattle Reign FC forward Brittany Ratcliffe celebrates her go-ahead goal in the club's 2-1 win over the Orlando Pride on March 15th, 2026, at Inter&Co Stadium. (Photos by Andrea Vilchez, provided by Seattle Reign FC)
“I think what you saw tonight is what this group is willing to give to each other,” said head coach Laura Harvey postgame.
“We didn’t come out of the weather break the same as what we’d done in the first half, but credit to the players. They dug in, they showed some grit, they showed some personality, and you know, so happy for Britt getting the winner for us, and then to see it out the way we did, I thought we did it brilliantly."
Ratcliffe agreed and reflected on her important role in the win as a late substitute.
“At the end of the day, as subs, we need to call ourselves game changers,” said Ratcliffe. We need to go in and change the game, whatever that means, whether that’s bringing energy, whether that’s keeping the ball, whether that’s just running and defending and getting a hard tackle in. I think that’s just what is asked of us, whatever our role is.”
Quick match notes from Reign PR
Seattle continues to begin its NWSL campaigns with points. Today’s victory extended the club’s unbeaten streak in season openers to three matches, with Reign FC now earning points in 10 of its 13 season openers all-time.
The win also marks the first season-opening road victory in club history.
All four Reign FC players who appeared in all 26 regular-season matches last year – Madison Curry, Maddie Dahlien, Claudia Dickey, and Sam Meza – started today’s match against the Orlando Pride.
Today’s meeting marked the club’s third consecutive match at Inter&Co Stadium against the Pride across all NWSL competitions.
Seattle ended the 2025 regular season with a 1-1 draw in Orlando before falling 2-0 to the Pride in the NWSL quarterfinals.
After tearing her ACL in July 2024, Ryanne Brown entered the match in the 90th minute to record her first minutes in more than 600 days.
Claudia Dickey has not missed a match since June 9th, 2024, extending her streak to 41 consecutive regular-season starts, tying Kim Little for the second-longest streak in Reign FC history.
Tonight’s appearance also marked her 51st regular-season match, making her the club’s all-time leader in appearances among goalkeepers. The fifth-year goalkeeper finished the match with seven saves, tying her single-game career high.
Club original Jess Fishlock picked up where she left off in 2025 as the team’s leading goal scorer, netting the opening goal in the 24th minute.
The strike marked the 49th goal of her NWSL career, tying Christen Press for the ninth-most goals in league history. Fishlock is now two goals shy of tying Megan Rapinoe (51) for the most goals in club history. The Welsh international has now scored Seattle’s season-opening goal three times (2015, 2023, 2026).
Phoebe McClernon’s start marked her 61st regular-season start since joining Reign FC, tying Kendall Fletcher and Elli Burris for the 10th-most starts in club history.
Nérilia Mondésir recorded two assists, her first assists in the NWSL, setting up Jess Fishlock’s opening goal in the first half and Brittany Ratcliffe’s game-winning goal in the second half.
After entering the match in the 78th minute to make her club debut, Brittany Ratcliffe scored the game-winning goal five minutes later, marking the 11th NWSL goal of her career.
With today's result, Reign FC now holds an all-time record of 8-6-8 against the Orlando Pride across all competitions.
With a satisfactory start to their 2026 NWSL season, the Reign will prepare for an early-season Cascadia Rivalry match against the Portland Thorns on March 20th at Providence Park. That match in Portland has a 7 PM PDT kickoff time and will be broadcast live on Amazon Prime Video.
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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 Jane Gershovich, provided by Seattle Reign FC
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