Seattle, WA

Seattle Reign select two midfielders and a defender in the 2024 NWSL Draft

Published

2 years ago

January 13, 2024

Seattle Reign select two midfielders and a defender in the 2024 NWSL Draft

The first major event of the 2024 NWSL season – the NWSL Draft – concluded on Friday night, and Seattle Reign FC walked away with three players who have the potential to provide crucial depth for the club.

The Reign went into the evening with the 27th and 43rd overall picks in the draft. Seattle made a trade with Chicago in the second round, sending $125,000 in allocation money to the Red Stars in exchange for the 17th overall pick.

With that newly-acquired pick, Seattle selected midfielder Sam Meza from the University of North Carolina.
With the 27th pick, Seattle selected forward/midfielder Maddie Mercado from the University of Notre Dame.
With the 43rd pick, Seattle selected forward/midfielder/defender Makena Carr from Saint Mary’s.

Speaking with reporters after the draft, head coach Laura Harvey and general manager Lesle Gallimore confirmed they got all three players they really wanted – and all three filled important depth needs for the squad.

Sam Meza, Midfielder, University of North Carolina

Harvey and Gallimore both talked about the impetus to make the trade with Chicago to move up to the 17th overall because of the fact that Meza was still available, as both said they had thought she would have been off the board.

Meza made 72 total appearances for UNC, with 71 of them being starts, and scored seven goals and claimed 10 assists. She was named a third-team All American in 2022 and made the second-team ACC in 2023. Playing a little deeper in the midfield, Meza is comfortable receiving passes with her back to opponents – and turning and creating for her teammates or dribbling out of pressure.

“Sam is the reason we all pay money to watch soccer. Her creativity and skill set separate herself from other elite players,” said University of North Carolina head coach Anson Dorrance.

As with any NWSL Draft tradition, here’s a mixtape of what Sam Meza does on the field.

While Meza has played for the United States U-17 and U-20 teams – getting coached by Harvey with the U-20s – in a Carolina People profile, she said she wants her platform as an athlete to inspire other Latinas, like soon-to-be teammate Sofia Huerta. “I hope I can inspire young Mexican girls to go for what they want, and it doesn’t have to be in sports. The biggest thing for me is being an advocate for little Mexican girls. I hope that they look at me and see themselves in me and see that they could strive for whatever they want to achieve,” said Meza.

And here’s a bonus video where you get to know a little bit about Sam Meza.

Maddie Mercado, Forward/Midfielder, University of Notre Dame

Mercado made 92 appearances with 62 starts for Notre Dame, scoring 26 goals and claiming 12 assists. Here are two of those goals, both from distance.

Here’s what Top Drawer Soccer had to say about Mercado: “With better finishing [by her teammates] on chances she created, Mercado would have had an even better statistical season than her nine goals and two assists. As a left-footed long-range shooting specialist with the stats to back it up, the San Diego Surf graduate has caught the eye of scouts over the last few seasons as someone who can create something from nothing.”

Makena Carr, Forward/Midfielder/Defender, Saint Mary’s

Carr played her 2023 season at Saint Mary’s, playing/starting in 15 matches as a left back after transferring from the University of Washington. At Washington, Carr played in more attacking roles in 39 matches, with 10 starts as various injuries limited her time on the field.

Hailing from Newcastle, Washington, Carr is set to be the latest member of Seattle’s gang of locals – joining Sam Hiatt, Nikki Stanton, and Olivia Van der Jagt. Carr will also reunite with now-general manager Gallimore, who coached her at the University of Washington.

“Makena is a handful to defend against, has a great soccer brain, and now that durability piece of competing day in and day out at this level is what needs [to] click in for Makena; it’s all a part of the soccer maturing process that players go through at this level,” said Gallimore in a 2018 profile on Carr.

Also in the post-draft conference call, Harvey and Gallimore mentioned that there were still other potential roster moves for the club to make without showing their cards. Gallimore did say, “Coming soon,” when asked by Seattle Times’ Jayda Evans about the status of midfielder Nikki Stanton and forward Tziarra King. Gallimore hinted at additional plays beyond re-signing their remaining free agents.

While Reign fans await the news of the sale and ownership change being finalized, and any other players coming to Seattle, we can at least welcome these three players to the club and to the city this preseason – and look forward to hopefully seeing all three of them put on the Seattle Reign jersey.

Welcome to Seattle, Sam, Maddie, and Makena!

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Seattle, WA

Seahawks Will Host Rams Or 49ers In Divisional Round

Published

7 hours ago

January 11, 2026

Press Room

Seahawks Will Host Rams Or 49ers In Divisional Round

The Seahawks will host an NFC West opponent in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Whether that opponent is the Rams or the 49ers will be determined on Sunday when the 49ers play the Eagles in Philadelphia. Also still to be determined is the date and time of the game.

The Rams, who are the No. 5 seed, beat the Panthers on Saturday to advance, and since Seattle, as the No. 1 seed, hosts the lowest-seeded team that advances out of the wild card round, the sixth-seeded 49ers would come to Lumen Field if they win on Sunday. If the Eagles win, however, the Rams would come to Seattle, while the Eagles would head to Chicago to face the Bears, who beat the Packers on Saturday night.

The Seahawks split the season series with both teams, losing to the 49ers in Week 1 and the Rams in Week 11 before beating the Rams in Week 16 and the 49ers in Week 18 as part of a seven-game winning streak that helped them win the NFC West and earn the No. 1 seed.

Next weekend’s game at Lumen Field will be the Seahawks’ first home playoff game with fans in the stadium—they hosted a wild card game in an empty stadium following the 2020 regular season—since they beat the Lions in the wild card round during the 2016 season. Prior to that empty-stadium loss to the Rams five years ago, the Seahawks won 10 consecutive home playoff games dating back to the start of their Super Bowl run in 2005. The Seahawks have reached the Super Bowl in each of the three previous seasons that they earned the No. 1 seed.

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Seattle, WA

Paul Arriola, Pedro de la Vega and the Seattle Sounders return in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Published

19 hours ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Paul Arriola, Pedro de la Vega and the Seattle Sounders return in ‘Avengers: Doomsday’

Forgotten. Absent. Inconsistently healthy. Weights of expectation.

These heroes offered glimpses and scenes of their greatness in 2025.

Paul Arriola, X Man

Paul Arriola gave us a glimpse of his former greatness before his injury. Once a DP, once the highest value transfer within MLS, once recruited to skip MLS entirely for what was at the time a much better league, Arriola’s all comps contributions per 90 would compare to wingback style players Jordi Alba and the now-gone Ali Ahmed.

Arriola slides right in that space, with his 0.57. Now, a discerning reader such as yourself will imagine small sample sizes and opponent quality. You would be correct. But Paul also put up similar numbers in MLS in 2018, 2021 and 2022. His time in MLS as a whole is .40/90 (in the realm of last season’s Christian Espinoza).

Defining Arriola’s role is always going to be hard. He’s played as many wide roles as exist in the modern game. With Seattle, he could be a left or right winger in a four-front if they choose to run a 3-2-4-1, or a wingback in a 3-4-2-1 or a conventional winger in a 4-2-3-1. No matter his role, he’s been strong. His calls to the US National Team ran every year from age 20-27, when he put up better numbers there than he did in league play. He’s now 30.

Pedro de la Vega, the injury saga

Sounders fans know how bright Pedro can burn. So do, Lanus fans, Argentina fans, Cruz Azul fans, Santos Laguna fans, Tijuana fans, Puebla, Galaxy, Inter Messi and a smattering of other MLS teams. The Leagues Cup player of the year and wonder goal nominee is absolutely thrilling, when available.

Lanus, Argentina and Seattle also know his history of injuries. Injuries are why he’s in Seattle.

PdlV only played 41% of available minutes in all competitions. A healthy winger of his quality should be around 66% or so. His absolutely stellar all comps performance of 0.72 is on par with Hany Mukhtar, at 20th in MLS play. Pedro is ahead of Diego Rossi, Djordje Mihailovic, and Dejan Joveljić.

When you think about how the Seattle Sounders will make up ground for the inevitable decline of Danny Musovski the names Arriola and de la Vega should be bandied about.

They weren’t merely better than the people who replaced them on the Sounders – they’re better than the majority of high-profile players in the league.

In 2025 Craig Waibel raised the floor and the peak. Injuries gave us only a few glimpses of that peak.

2026 is when the multi-competition heroic Sounders can once again show their prowess and why their presence as a top tier club is eternal.

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Catching up on Sounder at Heart

Here’s what you missed on the site this week.

Sounders

Next match: Sunday, February 22, 2026 v. the Colorado Rapids | 6 p.m. PT | Apple TV/FS1

Reign

Schedule to come next week.

Defiance

Schedule to come.

Looking back at the news

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Minnesota United coach Eric Ramsay to take West Brom job (Twin Cities)
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Suwon FC Women Re-Sign South Korea’s Top Female Footballer Ji So-yun (Chosun Daily)
Man admits racist abuse of footballer Jess Carter (BBC)
X Didn’t Fix Grok’s ‘Undressing’ Problem. It Just Makes People Pay for It (Wired)

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Seattle, WA

Here’s why the Blue Angels in Seattle on Monday

Published

1 day ago

January 10, 2026

Press Room

Here’s why the Blue Angels in Seattle on Monday

SEATTLE – Known for their high-flying skills above the skies during air shows, the Blue Angels will be in Seattle once again on Monday.

But with Seafair not until the summer, many are wondering why the Navy pilots are in the Emerald City ahead of schedule.

Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornets are flying The Diamond Roll (four planes in formation), doing a 360-degree roll as one unit, flying at 400 mph over Lake Washington for the Seafair weekend in Seattle. (Photo by Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Keep reading to find out why the U.S. Navy Blue Angels are in Seattle on Jan. 12.

Why are the Blue Angels in Seattle now?

The Blue Angels returned to Seattle on Monday to begin preseason planning for the 2026 Boeing Seafair Air Show.

Pilots will assess airshow locations, scouting the skies and getting familiar with the landscape ahead of the Seafair Weekend Festival, when they perform in three separate air shows. Their visit brings the iconic Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornets to the city, the aircraft pilots use during the air show.

Blue Angels pilots plan to stay in Seattle until Tuesday, coordinating with Seafair event organizers. Last year, only two Blue Angels pilots were in Seattle for preseason planning, instead of the entire squadron.

When are the Blue Angels coming back to Seattle?

The Blue Angels will fly back to western Washington for the 2026 Boeing Seafair Air Show, on Friday, July 31 – Sunday, August 2, 2026.

They’ll also be in town for two practice runs on Thursday, July 30.

When is the 2026 Seafair Air Show?

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels will perform in three air shows throughout Seafair weekend. They’re happening each afternoon on July 31 through Aug. 2 on Lake Washington and at Genesee Park.

The multi-day Seafair Weekend Festival also includes the Apollo Mechanical Cup Hydroplane Races, along with live entertainment, food and drinks, and family-friendly activities. Tickets for the festival go on sale in February.

Who are the Blue Angels?

The Blue Angels is a team of elite Navy flight demonstrators, showcasing their aviation skills in high-speed, precision aerobatic performances.

They perform in air shows across the U.S. each year, with the goal of inspiring a culture of excellence and service to country, displaying the teamwork and professionalism of the United States Navy and Marine Corps.

Formed in 1946, this year marks the 80th year of the Blue Angels. They take pride in performing for audiences both at home and abroad, showcasing the excitement, precision, and power of Naval aviation.

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The Source: Information in this story came from U.S. Navy Blue Angels, Seafair, and FOX 13 Seattle reporting.

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