Seattle Reign defender Ryanne Brown out for season with torn ACL

Seattle Reign FC confirmed on Friday that defender Ryanne Brown tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and meniscus and has been placed on the Season-Ending Injury (SEI) list. Brown was injured toward the end of the first half of last Friday’s match against the Utah Royals, going down without contact as she chased a ball out of bounds.

Brown will undergo surgery to begin her recovery, which can vary depending on the severity of the injury but typically ranges from nine months to a year.

Brown, in her second full season with the Reign, started four games and played in 10 matches across all competitions this year. All her starts came in June and July as she worked her way into a starting role. Brown was part of a backline that corrected earlier defensive mistakes and gave up just three goals in the last four matches she started.

“We’re heartbroken for Ryanne,” said head coach Laura Harvey in a team release. “She has consistently been a player who works hard every day to help the team as much as possible. Her performances on the field this year have shown how much growth there has been in Ryanne’s game. We will be fully supporting her throughout this journey.”

After the Reign’s Summer Cup win against Utah, Harvey shared her frustration with the fact that the Reign had to play on Friday and couldn’t start training until Monday following a seven-day CBA-mandated break.

“The fact that we’ve been asked to play four days, five days after the mandatory break, I don’t think is the most player health and safety thing that we’ve ever asked the players to do. Tonight was always going to be tough. Playing on a Friday after a mandatory break outside of a FIFA break is close to absurd if you ask me, and unfortunately, we have a player that got injured because of it.”

Reign forward Bethany Balcer shared a similar sentiment on Twitter this week, commenting on the news that Sam Staab will miss the rest of the season with a torn Achilles tendon.