Seattle Reign FC Defeat Cascadia Rivals Portland Thorns, 1-0
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - In the 42nd Cascadia Rivalry matchup, a roaring home crowd under the lights of Lumen Field witnessed a triumphant 1-0 Seattle Reign FC win over the Portland Thorns on Saturday. With Seattle’s first home win against Portland since 2022, rookie forward Maddie Dahlien’s first professional goal in the fourth minute was the difference in a hard fought matchup. It’s a return to the win column for the Reign following consecutive tough losses in their last two matches played and surely a nice boost of confidence considering that Seattle hasn’t beaten Portland in any form of head-to-head competition since the 2023 NWSL Challenge Cup. With this win to help them get three big home points and the return to health of names such as Lynn Biyendolo and Jordyn Huitema, the Reign surely feel as though they’re headed in the right direction and hope this is the start of a nice run of form.
Some sights from the Seattle Reign FC home victory over the visiting Portland Thorns FC, as the two clubs played the 42nd installment of the “Cascadia Clash” rivalry on Saturday, April 19th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Aaron Benson for Circling Seattle Sports)
Dahlien’s goal came through a slotted cross from forward Lynn Biyendolo, who’s assist tied her for the NWSL regular season all-time assists record with 31. Dahlien gathered the ball towards the top corner of the 18-yard box, shifted it to her right foot, and shot it in the far post for her first career NWSL goal in just the fourth minute of this contest.
“I’ve been taking a lot of reps, and to see one finally hit the back of the net was just kind of a monkey off my shoulder. Lynn is so fun to play with, and I’m always ready when she’s on the ball.”
“I think that Maddie’s ceiling is so high. You remind me of a younger me, and I’m hopeful that I can help in any way to teach you things that I learned later in my career.”
The Reign came out hot to begin the match with tensions high due to the rivalry. Forwards Dahlien, Biyendolo, Jordyn Huitema, and Nérilia Mondésir created ample space in the attacking third towards the beginning of the match and connected well with Sam Meza and Angharad James-Turner in the midfield. Seattle had multiple early chances and solid pressure against the Thorns, but eventually slowed down which allowed Portland to get more involved in the game.
Once the Reign slightly let their foot off the gas, the Thorns were able to create opportunities on goal and begin stringing passes together, largely in the second half of this match. The Reign also made some costly mistakes that allowed the Thorns the opportunity to win the ball back. Seattle Goalkeeper Claudia Dickey made numerous saves to secure her first clean sheet of the season, and stepped up when it mattered most as Portland made a very strong push late into the second half of the match in search of an equalizer. Thanks to Dickey’s strong play in goal and a few key blocks defensively, our Reign were able to get the victory and take away early season bragging rights against their Pacific Northwest rivalry.
“Anytime I get the schedule, it’s the first game I look for: when we’re playing Portland at home and when we’re playing Portland away, because that’s what it means.”
Quick Reign notes
7,609 was the announced paid attendance at Lumen Field for this NWSL regular season matchup between the visiting Portland Thorns FC and our Seattle Reign FC.
23,797 is the total match attendance at Lumen Field this season for our Seattle Reign FC
Match one vs NJ/NY Gotham FC on March 15th: 8,467
Match two vs Orlando Pride on April 12th: 7,721
Match three vs Portland Thorns: 7,609
Following tonight’s win, Reign FC holds an all-time record of 16-16-10 against Portland Thorns FC across all NWSL competitions.
Through five matches this season, our Seattle Reign FC and the Orlando Pride are the only two teams to have five players record at least one goal.
Reign defender and club original Lu Barnes played in her 36th Cascadia Rivalry match tonight, the most among any player between the two clubs. The club original has only missed six of the 42 meetings.
Additionally, Barnes reached another milestone in her impressive career as she participated in her 100th regular season win as a starter, all with Seattle Reign FC. She becomes the first player in league history to do so.
Reign forward Lynn Biyendolo provided the assist on Maddie Dahlien’s opening goal, notching her 31st career regular-season assist. With that, Biyendolo now shares the NWSL regular-season assist record with Sofia Huerta and Jess McDonald.
Reign forward Maddie Dahlien found the back of the net in the 4th minute to give the Reign an early advantage. The strike marked the rookie’s first career NWSL goal and stands as the earliest goal scored by the Reign this season.
What’s next?
With tonight’s home victory against the Portland Thorns in the 42nd installment of the “Cascadia Clash” rivalry, our Seattle Reign FC move into the sixth overall seed in the NWSL table at this point in the season which sees them overtake their rivals from Oregon. This match at Lumen Field represented the second of four home contests in a five game stretch, and the next time that the Reign hit the field it will be their only trip out on the road in that span. That road match is against Bay FC, the first contest between these two West coast clubs since September 29th, 2024 when an Asisat Oshoala penalty was all Bay needed to take the victory, takes place on Saturday, April 26th with a kickoff time of 7PM PDT at PayPal Park in San Jose, California. Currently sitting right next to each other in the league standings, this will be an important test of the team’s abilities heading into next weekend. That match will be broadcast live on ION TV for those who won’t be in attendance at PayPal Park, as our Reign will look to continue their positive momentum from this victory when they battle a Bay FC side that sits just below them in the league table. If you’d like to be surrounded by fans of the Reign when you’re watching this match, you can always head to the official home of Circling Seattle Sports: Rough & Tumble Pub! With more than enough televisions for ALL of the sports, local brews, great food, there isn't a better place to catch a game and R&T is an especially great place to watch any Reign match considering that it’s Seattle's home to women's sports!
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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.
Cover photo of this article by Aaron Benson. Check out his work in previous articles on our site by clicking here, and Check out his portfolio by clicking here.
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