An end-to-end derby game at Lumen Field was played to a scoreless draw on Sunday afternoon. The Seattle Reign, who are starting to get desperate for points in the season, started Sunday’s game evenly matched against the Thorns. While possession looked evenly distributed in the first quarter of the game, the Reign were more productive in creating opportunities.
Head Coach Laura Harvey sees the home point and shutout as a step in the right direction, given the struggle to find victories so far throughout the 2024 campaign: “We maybe have come off that track at times in games and that's where we've been punished and I felt today that we did not fall off that track—we stuck together, both defensively, and then later on in the game when we were really pushing, you saw it on the offensive side because yeah, some of the patterns of play were amazing.”
Throughout the game, the Reign were able to register more shots than the Thorns, but particularly near the end of the game, Seattle looked more likely to score. Both sides ended the game with the same shot-on-target ratio, however, both at a relative 50% shot-on-target accuracy.
Ryan Hampton / Area Sports Network
A full-strength Reign squad faced a Sophia Smith-less Portland Thorns, and Smith received a second yellow card in the Thorns' previous game against North Carolina Courage for time-wasting in the final minutes. Though Smith was already substituted off, Smith’s marching orders consequently meant she would miss the Seattle-Portland derby.
Claudia Dickey featured in the derby match, making her first appearance and start since her injury earlier in the season, as well as Jordyn Huitema, who made her second consecutive start since her respective injury. Huitema scored a brace in the 5-2 away loss against KC Current and was absent for the previous four-goal away defeat in the previous Reign vs. Thorns meeting.
Dickey’s return on Sunday was a last-minute clearance from the training staff, as she cleared all of the requirements on Friday. ”It was a really last-minute thing as to whether she was going to be ready or not, and having her back was great,” said Head Coach Laura Harvey.
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
Thorns had a goal opportunity in the 38th minute but was promptly blocked by the Reign defenders—an instance that could have easily resulted in a goal. Momentum had noticeably shifted in Portland’s favor, where the final ten minutes of the first half mostly had the Thorns looking to find an opening. The Reign, however, managed to find a shot on goal near the 43rd minute.
The early second half looked similar to the majority of the first half, with both sides having roughly equal possession and equal shots on target. However, the Reign started to push back on the Thorns into the bulk of the half, registering five more shots than the Thorns by the 75th minute. The Thorns managed to hit the target with every shot they attempted.
Ten minutes of stoppage time was given at the 90 due to the amount of injury treatment that was needed throughout the second half.
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
While the game remained scoreless, it seemed like either side could take all three points. A push on Jordyn Huitema near the end of the game raised some questions about a potential Denial of a Goalscoring Opportunity offense, and Coach Harvey also felt the team should have been given a freekick chance to have another crack at the goal. Despite the Reign's pressure in Portland's final third, the game ended scoreless.
Phoebe McClernon, the Reign’s player of the match, was proud of the team’s resilience to keep pushing forward: “I think we want to be able to convert our chances, and I think we had a number of chances today. So, I think all we can think about right now is just being a better team than we were in our last game, and we definitely did that today, so I'm proud of us.”
The Reign’s next match will be back at home against Racing Louisville, who are seven points ahead in the standings but have only one more win. However, Louisville has a game in hand and will play a weekday road match against Angel City FC. The previous league game between the Reign and Louisville saw a 2-2 draw at Lumen Field and, more recently, a one-goal home defeat in the NWSL Challenge Cup last September.
Cover Photo: Ryan Hampton / Area Sports Network
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