St. Patrick's Day weekend provided beautiful weather conditions for soccer in Seattle. Saturday saw the Sounders play the second home game of the season, and on Saturday, the Reign kicked off their 2024 NWSL campaign at home under a revived name and crest.
3/16/24 - Seattle Sounders FC vs Colorado Rapids
The Sounders put on a promising first-half display but ultimately fell short of three points due to an 88th-minute equalizing Colorado goal. The Sounders, going into Saturday seeking the first win of the season, used a 4-4-2 to accommodate the lack of CAM power within the squad due to injuries. Seattle started the game on the offensive, playing the ball well in Colorado's final third. A handball in the penalty box by Colorado's Keegan Rosenberry awarded an 11th-minute penalty to the Sounders, ultimately converted by Raúl RuidÃaz to open the scoring. In addition to scoring his first goal of the season, RuidÃaz is now tied for all-time club goals, tying Fredy Montero's goalscoring record of 79.
Earving Marquez / Area Sports Network
Despite the Sounders keeping consistent control and momentum for the majority of the first half, the last 45 minutes yielded a different story. Momentum was on Seattle's side up until the 57th minute, when Josh Atencio received his second yellow card, limiting the team to ten men. Colorado took advantage of the numbers immediately, increasing the number of tests for Sounders backup goalkeeper Andrew Thomas. Colorado were awarded a penalty about ten minutes after going a man up due to a Jackson Ragen foul on Rafael Navarro. Djordje Mihailovic stepped up to take the penalty, but was saved by Andrew Thomas. The 25-year-old goalkeeper commented on his penalty save after the game: "I just want to make sure I got to the corner. He didn't quite get it in the corner, made it a little bit easier ... So, happy that I came off."
A freekick, approximately 20 yards from goal, was awarded to Colorado in the 87th minute. Mihailovic, taking the freekick, places it directly towards Andrew Thomas' top-left corner. Despite Thomas getting a fingertip to the ball, the shot hit the top of the left-side post and was rebounded into the goal by Kévin Cabral, who was unmarked in the follow-up.
Schmetzer was especially dissatisfied with conceding that equalizer, specifically recalling that the team worked on similar scenarios in training but could not replicate the defensive marking when it mattered: "I mean that's a good freekick and Andrew makes a better save. And where are his teammates to help him in that moment? Why is it that the Colorado player gets there first, after we trained that for two days ago? Two days ago we worked on all of our defending set pieces. That that, you know, is an issue"
Thomas spoke about his disappointment in conceding that goal, describing his initial save as "one of the best saves of my life." and went on to talk about the thought process after conceding the goal: "I was pretty bummed, honestly. It's an unlucky bounce, you know, if that drops anywhere other than where it fell, we clear it."
Earving Marquez / Area Sports Network
Raúl RuidÃaz, on the bench, was seen protesting to the assistant referee after the equalizer, visibly upset at officiating decisions. Referee Trevor Wiseman went over to caution RuidÃaz, but initially pulled out the wrong color card—red, which shocked the Lumen Field crowd. Immediately, Wiseman demoted the accidental red card to yellow.Â
The game went into nine minutes of stoppage time, leaving the possibility for more twists in the tale. However, given the push from Colorado, the game ended 1-1. It was a clear missed opportunity for the Sounders to pick up the first win of the season, feeling like a loss for the Rave Green. Currently, both goals from the Sounders this season were from penalties, meaning there is yet to be a Sounders goal in the run of play.
Sounders substitutions saw the return of Albert Rusnák and Yeimar, who both missed the first couple games due to injury, and former Colorado loanee player Danny Leyva. After the match, Area Sports Network had the opportunity to ask Leyva about his emotions about playing against Colorado. Leyva spoke about crossing paths with former teammates and colleagues, saying "it was good to see some familiar faces … lots of good relationships we made, especially with the coaching staff as well." Leyva also expressed the emotional challenge going into the game: "It felt like it was a special game as well, and wanted to just come on and help the team."
Earving Marquez / Area Sports Network
A noticeable change Coach Schmetzer made during the second half was the substitution of Raúl RuidÃaz, who came off at the 72nd minute for Cody Baker. Schmetzer, after the game, emphasized he did not want to substitute RuidÃaz: "The reason why I made the sub was, again, we took a red card and we were going to play 4-4-1, and Raúl doesn't have the speed to be a threat to get in behind, where Jordan Morris might be a little more suited for that ... So it was nothing about Raúl. Again, he played a good game. I was happy with his performance"
The Sounders will next travel to PayPal Park in San Jose on Saturday, March 23rd. The Earthquakes are currently 0-0-4 in their start of the season—one position below Seattle in the Western Conference.
3/17/24 - Seattle Reign FC vs Washington Spirit
The Queen is officially back, and the Reign opened the 2024 NWSL season in Seattle with a victory against the Washington Spirit. The season opener was more than a one-goal victory, however. Sunday marked the beginning of the new era of women's soccer in Seattle, with a new crest, new kits, and a changed squad. The Royal Guard, the Reign FC's supporters group, welcomed the Reign with a tifo featuring the revived crest with the words 'Forevermore'.
Head Coach Laura Harvey spoke about the overall message of the day, saying "We're back ... The Reign's back. And that means something to us in our locker room, you know, the Queen being back, and what that means. Being called Seattle again means a lot. And to me, that means legacy. And the legacy of this club is we win." Bethany Balcer also commented about the return of the Seattle Reign, telling us "Most people on the team just called it Seattle Reign the entire time because we knew that's who we were. And so it's really nice to just have an emblem, have a club, that represents that."
In addition to a new beginning for the Reign, the squad has seen several major changes in the offseason, including the retirement of Megan Rapinoe and the departures of Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, and Sam Hiatt. The outgoing transfers left room for a number of incoming players, such as Lilly Woodham, Anghrad James-Turner, Ji So-Yun, and 17-year-old Emeri Adames, who all made their competitive club debuts on Sunday. We are still yet to see new signings Julia Lester, Sam Meza, and Mackenzie Weinert make their own competitive debuts for the Reign.
It only took 13 seconds after kickoff for the first major event—an awarded penalty to the Reign. Jordyn Huitema made a run into the box following a flicked header by Bethany Balcer off a long driven ball and was fouled by Spirit fullback Gabrielle Carle. Balcer stepped up to take the penalty, for the chance of scoring the first goal of the Reign's new era, and sent Aubrey Kingsbury the wrong way to open the scoring.Â
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
The other 40 minutes of the first half also saw promising opportunities for the Reign to score more goals, but could not convert due to some individual errors and overall solid defending by the Spirit. A player that stood out with vision and quality of passing was Ji So-Yun, who went on to play 89 minutes and logged an 83% passing accuracy stat.
Looking into the second half, the Spirit showed a stronger display than compared to the first half, keeping the momentum, creating more chances, and forcing saves from Claudia Dickey. Around the 69th minute, VAR overturned an equalizing Washington Spirit goal. Off a corner kick, Casey Krueger scores a free header but is disallowed due to midfielder Croix Bethune impeding Claudia Dickey from making the save.Â
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
With the game still open and competitive, a major turn of events significantly stunted the Washington Spirit's efforts to salvage anything from the first match. In the 85th minute, Jess Fishlock sent a long ball towards Huitema, but Kingsbury rushed out to collect the ball right on the very edge of her penalty box. After a six-minute VAR review, the replay showed there was a moment that Kingsbury held the ball outside of the penalty area, thus committing a Denying an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity (DOGSO) offense. Referee Natalie Simon sent off Kingsbury and called a close-range freekick. Ji, stepping up for the freekick, aimed for the top-right corner but could not wrap her foot around the ball enough, sending it too high and wide.Â
Given the two VAR reviews of the second half, 13 minutes of stoppage time were added on to close out the game. The Reign, with a player more than the Spirit, grinded through the long period of stoppage time and secured the three points through the 1-0 victory.Â
Aimee Worthington / Area Sports Network
Bethany Balcer talked about the team's approach from the first whistle, leading to the penalty: "We're always trying to score off kickoff, but it's never worked. And I think it set the tone for the game, which is exactly what we wanted to do."
Coach Harvey, when asked about her thoughts on the possibility of 2024 being a 'rebuilding' year and the general worry among the fanbase of a rebuild year, said, "As long as I'm coach, we'll never rebuild. I can't do that. I want to win, and if that means we win by bringing the likes of Ji, if that means we win by bringing in a 17-year-old kid, great … I think we have quality everywhere." Harvey also clarified that it was not the first time she's been asked about the topic of a rebuild year, where she had been asked in individual internal and external conversations. Elaborating on her previous statement, Harvey broke down her perspective on the term 'rebuild year": "I think 'rebuild' just send to me that this year doesn't matter, and that's not what it is like."
The Reign play their second game of the season on Saturday, March 23rd, in Chicago, looking to roll over the dominance the club had over the Red Stars as of 2023. Chicago also won their first game of the season, beating the expansion side Utah Royals 0-2. Saturday's game will be the home opener for the Red Stars, and kickoff will be 1 p.m. PT.Â
Cover Photo taken and edited by Area Sports Network
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