Seattle Reign FC Earn Three Road Points with 2-1 Win over San Diego Wave FC
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
San Diego, CA - With a Seattle Reign FC starting lineup exhibiting an average age of 24 years old, the team snapped San Diego Wave FC’s six-game unbeaten streak in a 2-1 win on the road. Young players stepped up in big moments to deliver goals in head coach Laura Harvey’s 250th regular season match, the first coach ever to reach the milestone. With the road victory over a Wave side that’s sitting at the second spot in the NWSL table, the Reign are back on the winning track and showed plenty of resiliency given the situation they were put in with this match.
With Friday’s match being the first out of the international break, many players had just returned from international duty and needed a rest from the action. The young starting lineups, with six teenagers across both teams, highlighted the responsibility of players to lift up their team when many of their typical starters were unavailable.
Although the first half was largely dominated by San Diego possession, the Reign high press held them to only a few opportunities on goal. Seattle had a few scoring chances of their own, but both teams were held scoreless in the first 45 minutes.
The Seattle Reign celebrate their first goal of the night in their road win over the San Diego Wave at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, June 6th. (Photo by Jenny Chuang via Seattle Reign FC)
The tight action continued in the second half, with the first Seattle goal coming in the 67th minute. In her first ever NWSL start and second career game, midfielder Sally Menti left Wave goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan stunned as she hit a rocket into the bottom left corner of the goal. The Seattle native and Roosevelt High School graduate collected a pass at the top of the box from defender Lauren Barnes and took one touch to her right before shooting it in. The play was set up nicely by defender Jordyn Bugg and forward Nérilia Mondésir who worked together to retain possession in the corner of the box amid building pressure from the San Diego back line.
“I like that smaller touch to draw players in, and a lot of the times I slip that ball. But I heard everyone screaming around me to pull the trigger, so I just kind of let one go and it went in.”
San Diego netted an equalizer eight minutes later through a header from forward Delphine Cascarino off a corner kick by forward María Sánchez. Cascarino rose up over her defenders and placed the ball behind goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and into the back of the net.
Dickey made an incredible save in the 77th minute to keep the score tied at 1-1, and just got her fingertips on another shot from Cascarino. Following the match, Dickey moved up to third on the Reign all-time saves list.
In the 87th minute, midfielder Jess Fishlock connected with forward Emeri Adames for the winning goal. Fishlock’s first assist of the season set up Adames to take on multiple defenders in stride, where she spun them around before unleashing a shot into the top right corner of the net with her left foot. The latest goal by Seattle all season was the deciding factor in a win on the road.
“I think tonight is an example of the team we can be right now. We can defend. We can let the other team have it. And we can hurt you in transition, and I’m alright with that.”
The Seattle Reign celebrate their second goal of the night in their road win over the San Diego Wave at Snapdragon Stadium on Friday, June 6th. (Photo by Jenny Chuang via Seattle Reign FC)
Quick Reign notes
With tonight’s match, Seattle Reign FC head coach Laura Harvey became the first head coach in NWSL history to reach 250 regular-season games. No other NWSL head coach has ever surpassed 200 games.
Seattle Reign FC forward Emeri Adames scored the Reign’s game-winning goal in the 87th minute, her third career goal, all of which have come after the 70th minute.
Seattle Reign FC defender and club original Captain Lauren Barnes tallied her first assist since 2023, setting up Menti’s opening goal – the seventh assist of her NWSL career.
Seattle Reign FC goalkeeper Claudia Dickey, who was named to the NWSL Best XI of the Month, finished the night with three saves. The 25-year-old goalkeeper moved up to third in club history in saves with 111, passing Phallon Tullis-Joyce (110).
Seattle Reign FC midfielder and club original Jess Fishlock connected with Emeri Adames for the match-winner, notching her first assist of the season and 29th of her NWSL career – the most in club history and fifth-most all-time in league history.
In her first-ever start and second career game, Seattle Reign FC midfielder Sally Menti, a native of Seattle, scored the opening goal in the 67th minute.
With tonight’s result, Reign FC holds a 9-1-2 all-time record against San Diego Wave FC across all NWSL competitions.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s road win against San Diego, our Seattle Reign FC now move up into 5th place in the NWSL standings, and will prepare to face the Chicago Stars on June 14th at 2PM PT. The Stars currently sit in last place in the standings with only one win on the season so far. Seattle will look to continue its momentum into this next match and secure another win on the road, and they will hopefully be a bit more healthy considering that they’ll now have some real days to train and recover as opposed to this match where several of their internationals had to fly in and have one day before this contest.
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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 and photos in this article by Jenny Chuang courtesy of Seattle Reign FC
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