Seattle Reign FC Clinch 2025 NWSL Playoff Berth With 2-1 With Over Utah Royals
By Becca Weinberg, edited by Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - In a match showcasing both the hopeful future of the youth and crucial leadership of the veterans, the Seattle Reign secured their spot in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs with a 2-1 home win against the Utah Royals.
Prematch scenes at Lumen Field following the Seattle Reign FC 2-1 win over the Utah Royals FC, as captain and club original Lu Barnes was honored with a special ceremony on Friday, October 17th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
Pre-match sights ahead of the Seattle Reign FC 2-1 win over the Utah Royals FC
While the outcome eventually proved that the team was ready to take on playoff challenges, the first half initially showed otherwise. Featuring nine shots compared to the Reign’s two, the Royals came out the gate with a different energy and beat Seattle to the ball consistently to begin the match. Even though the Reign back line was able to force harder shots, goalkeeper Claudia Dickey stepped up to make multiple early saves and hold Utah to a scoreless first half.
During the second minute of stoppage time, the Reign finally got their chance. Maddie Dahlien turned on Utah midfielder Janni Thomsen in the box, picked her head up, and crossed a floater to the far post. Midfielder Ainsley McCammon connected with the cross and headed the ball past goalkeeper Mandy McGlynn and into the back of the net to put Seattle up 1-0 at half. McCammon ran across the field in excitement to celebrate with the Reign bench and coaching staff after scoring her first career goal, making her the second-youngest goalscorer in club history at 18 years old.
“I was so happy for her tonight, to one, get the goal, and two, get the accolade of player of the match cause she absolutely deserved it,” said head coach Laura Harvey postgame on McCammon.
The second half painted a much different picture, as Seattle came back with a renewed drive and put together multiple goal-scoring chances on both sides of the field. However, their momentum was shortly stopped in the 61st minute, when Utah forward Paige Monaghan stole the ball from Dahlien at midfield and dribbled all the way to the goal box before launching a shot from distance past a diving Dickey.
With the score evened at 1-1, the Reign continued to fight. Six minutes later, midfielder Maddie Mercado earned a penalty and defender Sofia Huerta converted it in her 200th NWSL regular-season appearance. When the final whistle blew, the Reign had secured their eighth postseason appearance since the club’s founding in 2013.
Scenes at Lumen Field following the Seattle Reign FC 2-1 win over the Utah Royals FC as a penalty kick was awarded to the Reign and converted by Sofia Huerta on October 17th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
“Just really, really proud of the group,” head coach Laura Harvey said postgame. “You know, I think to get into the playoffs, to be third as we are sitting here right now after the year we had last year, is a phenomenal achievement by the group.”
But, the club had one more thing to celebrate, and that was the incredible career of defender Lauren Barnes, who announced her retirement at the end of this season. She played the full 90 minutes and was honored with a postgame ceremony to highlight her impacts on the game.
Seattle Reign FC defender, captain, and club original Lu Barnes during the clubs 2-1 win over the Utah Royals FC on Friday, October 17th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
“Seeing this young group starting to take form is exactly what senior players want to see, and this is why it’s so easy to kind of walk away from a club that’s done so well to invest in the youth,” said Barnes postgame, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with a shining example of the team’s talented youth in McCammon. “Today is a great example of that, this whole season is a great example of that. We’ve had never the same starting eleven. We’ve been in and out, with injuries or just performance, whatever it is. But these young ones have stayed in it and that’s hard to do.”
“Honestly that’s been like the highlight for me all year is how much the young players have embraced the leadership, and how much the leadership have embraced the young players,” Harvey agreed.
Post match scenes at Lumen Field following the Seattle Reign FC 2-1 win over the Utah Royals FC, as captain and club original Lu Barnes was honored with a special ceremony on Friday, October 17th, 2025 at Lumen Field. (Photos by Jules Junior Anoumou for Circling Seattle Sports)
During her postgame ceremony, Barnes emphasized how comfortable she feels passing the torch of the team because she knows it’s in the right hands. In a letter penned to Reign fans by Barnes following her last home match, she credited the supporters for shaping her experience in Seattle and propelling the team to new heights. With an exciting last regular-season home match to look back on, Barnes and the team now set their sights on securing home-field advantage and beginning a deep playoff run with the whole city behind them.
Quick Reign notes, from Reign PR
7,930 was the announced attendance at Lumen Field for this NWSL regular season matchup between the visiting Utah Royals FC and our Seattle Reign FC.
With tonight’s result, Reign FC improves its all-time record against Utah Royals FC to 9-2-3 across all competitions, including the 2023 NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup.
After missing the postseason last year for the first time since 2017, Reign FC has clinched a berth in the 2025 NWSL Playoffs, presented by Google Pixel. This marks the club’s eighth playoff appearance since 2013, tied for the second-most in league history.
Seattle extended its unbeaten run at Lumen Field to seven matches (4W, 3D). The last time the Reign went unbeaten in seven consecutive regular-season home matches within a single season was in 2022.
Reign Rookie Maddie Dahlien recorded the assist on Ainsley McCammon’s opening goal in first-half stoppage time. Dahlien now leads the team with four assists this season, ranking second among all NWSL rookies.
Reign original Jess Fishlock entered the match in the 68th minute to help Seattle secure the win. With the result, Fishlock joins Lauren Barnes as one of only two players in NWSL history to record 100 career regular season victories.
Reign defender Sofia Huerta made her 200th regular-season appearance, becoming just the eighth player in league history to reach the milestone. Her penalty kick in the 67th minute secured the win and marked her first goal of the season. Since returning from loan in July, Huerta has played every minute of all 12 matches, recording one goal and one assist in that span.
Reign midfielder Ainsley McCammon scored her first professional goal in first-half stoppage time. At 18 years old, she becomes the second-youngest scorer in club history, behind Emeri Adames, who was just 11 days younger when she netted her first career goal.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s playoff clinching victory in the last home match of the regular season, the league will go into a bit of an international break before wrapping up the regular season on Sunday, November 2nd. With a playoff berth already in hand, and their opponent already having a postseason spot locked up, our Seattle Reign FC will have a road matchup against the Orlando Pride at Inter&Co Stadium in Orlando, Florida with a kickoff time still TBD. The NWSL, Reign, and Pride websites have the match kickoff time still listed as TBD while Fotmob has a time of 4PM PDT listed. The final match of the 2024 campaign also came in Orlando against the Pride, and the Reign will be looking for a different result this time around as a victory propels them into the third seed of the NWSL. Both clubs will be pushing for the points in this final contest as there are several clubs with the opportunity to leapfrog both Seattle and Orlando with a win (San Diego, Portland, NJ/NY) so it will be an important contest for the Reign and Pride. Additionally, Seattle will want to win this game as they’ve fallen in their previous three matches to Orlando.
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