It started ugly.
An uncharacteristic mistake by Madison Curry, and then an uncharacteristic mistake by Phoebe McClernon, and then an uncharacteristic mistake by Claudia Dickey – all within the opening 50 seconds of play, all culminating in a Paige Cronin goal off a patient cutback assist by Mina Tanaka.
1-0, not even 1 minute in.
The Reign continued to struggle with the combination of Lumen’s new-look grass and Utah’s relentless press, and conceded again all too quickly. Recycling after a corner, the ball popped out of the area to Narumi Miura, who struck it well with her laces. Dickey stretched for it, but the ball took a vicious deflection and she had no chance.
2-0 in the 7th minute, practically over before it even really began.
The Reign started finding their feet after the 15th minute. Brittany Ratcliffe found a chance on the break in the 19th minute, but ultimately couldn’t challenge Royals goalkeeper Mia Justus enough to pull one back. Jess Fishlock started one of the best attacking moves of the game in the 30th minute, looping a ball over the top to Nérilia Mondésir and continuing her run, crashing in late for a shot from the top of the six yard box – only to rattle the crossbar, missing cutting the Reign’s deficit in half again by an inch. The Reign kept possession, and Fishlock had another chance for an emphatic goal, but was unable to connect with the bicycle on Mondésir’s cross. Maddie Mercado got in behind on a ball over the top in the 36th, and Justus took her down in the area for what would’ve been a stone-cold, no doubt about it penalty, but the whole play was ruled dead on a somewhat questionable passive offside on Ratcliffe.
And all that promising play was undone in a split second on the other end again, as Ana Tejada found the seam to put Cloé Lacasse into the penalty area. Despite Dickey reading the play well, Lacasse finished neatly, delivering one last sucker punch to the Reign in first-half stoppage time.
3-0 at the halftime whistle, and too much wondering what might have been.
Though the scoring was done by halftime, there were more ill tidings for the Reign on a night where everything went wrong, both self-inflicted and otherwise.
The worst of it came in the 64th minute: Maddie Dahlien found Maddie Mercado at the top of the area, and Mercado delivered a stinging shot that looked destined for the back of the net, perhaps only a consolation, but what would’ve been a deserved finish and a lifeline in the final half hour of the match.
Except it didn’t go that way.
The timing was just wrong. The ball struck a leaping Jess Fishlock’s ankle, she came down hard, and her ankle rolled beneath her. She left the pitch on a stretcher with her ankle in an air cast. We can only hope the injury is less serious than it looked.
After that, the Reign kept pushing, finding moments here and there, but the energy was gone from the match, the captain was gone from the match, and a bad day at the office seemed determined only to get worse.
The Reign hit the woodwork again, rattling the frame of the goal but failing to ripple the net.
Emeri Adames got taken out – and may have picked up an injury of her own, though she tried to run it off for the last few minutes – at the top of the area, to a disinterested “play on” from the ref.
Nine minutes of stoppage time melted away in an inconclusive series of fouls, counter-fouls, shoves, and pulls in the middle third of the pitch, and Matthew Thompson blew his whistle for full time.
3-0, and in so many ways, a much worse outcome than the scoreline.
WHAT WORKED: Not all that much
Nervy and wrong-footed out the gate, the Reign struggled to adapt to the playing surface early on, making a number of poor passes on the World Cup grass that Utah was only too happy to pounce on. Finding their footing as the half went on, the Reign couldn’t make anything count, instead conceding again late despite multiple chances to change the scoreline.
Searching for anything to build off of in the second half, the Reign instead lost their captain, talisman, and legend, potentially for the long term – a strike that seemed destined for goal instead the catalyst for a potentially devastating injury.
All throughout the match, the Reign’s mistakes were punished ruthlessly, their spells of good play fizzled to nothing, and they couldn’t find either the moment of skill or the moment of fair fortune to change the narrative.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Absorbing the press
Though the Reign were certainly co-architects of their own downfall, veteran players making mistakes in defense and possession that one seldom sees them make, Utah’s aggressive, high-energy press forced the issue, giving the Reign fits and demanding they play cleanly to break the danger.
They proved, for the first 10 minutes, largely incapable, and coughed up two goals in the first seven minutes, and had many more hiccups and near-disasters as the match progressed. While Utah ultimately didn’t create very much, the Reign gave them far too many opportunities to steal dangerous chances, and the Royals were happy to oblige. And unfortunately for the Reign, panicked and self-inflicted goals against count just the same as beautiful and creative ones.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Finishing your chances
For all the disasters of the match, the Reign had opportunities to change the narrative. After going down 2-0, they took four shots from high-leverage spots, hitting the crossbar, missing inches wide, and forcing a save out of Mia Justus along the way. Maddie Mercado got in behind, and, notwithstanding the perplexing offside decision, could very easily have had a penalty kick awarded for her trouble.
They created enough danger to get something out of the first half. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make that count, and rather than pulling back into the match, they conceded again to end the half after controlling play for almost 30 minutes.
WHAT DIDN’T WORK: Getting healthy
With a two-week break for the international window, the Reign looked to get the team healthy and get more of their ideal lineup back together again. The match saw the welcome return of Maddie Dahlien and Mia Fishel, and another appearance for Ryanne Brown as she continues working her way back from her own long-term injury.
Sometimes, the soccer gods just take and take and take, though. Jess Fishlock left with an ankle injury, one that looked potentially severe. Emeri Adames looked shaken up and limped badly through the end of the match after absorbing an ugly challenge in the late stages. Jordyn Bugg still hasn’t made it back to the pitch after suffering another injury in camp with the U20 national team. While they’ve navigated it reasonably well to this point, the Reign have been short multiple important starters every single match of the season, and in the midst of a demoralizing home loss, it may have just gotten worse, rather than better.
“We were not ready when the whistle blew”
Sofia Huerta made no excuses and minced no words about the disastrous opening for the Reign as she offered her breakdown of the match.
“I think how it felt being out there was – we were not ready when the whistle blew. Like the moment the game started, I think Utah was on their front foot and we were a little slow to start. Hence the goal that happened so quickly, and the second one that followed. […] They had three shots on goal and scored three really good goals. We had a few opportunities that we didn’t capitalize on. And when you don’t do that, and then they capitalize on their opportunities, that’s when things go downhill.”
Brittany Ratcliffe agreed, adding that the Reign responded well after a disastrous opening 15 minutes, but wound up with nothing to show for their better stretches of play.
“I think for for me and for our team – I think we take accountability for everything that happened today and going forward. We were the ones out there. We have control in what we do. I think to Sofia’s point, I don’t think we were ready and then it’s always – and credit to Utah, they finished their chances – it’s always hard to be down 2-0, and feel like oh, now you have to make up for it. […] I think to Sofia’s point, I’m thinking after the game, like, ‘dang, that’s really terrible, 3-0’, like, you don’t ever want to see that. But I think it’s an opportunity to grow. Like you said, we were off by just a hair. In the next game, those go in, you know?”
“So, I think for us, we have to be hard on ourselves and take today and be like, ‘okay, that’s not acceptable, we are better than that.’ And then tomorrow, okay, how can we improve?”
“Unfortunately, we didn’t do that well enough today”
Laura Harvey’s diagnosis was simple: Utah’s pressure and out-of-possession play is excellent, and you have to do your best to keep the ball where they can’t hurt you with it. The Reign were unable to do so, and were also unable to take back the momentum with a goal when they had the upper hand.
“We’d spoke for the last two weeks about how Utah are very aggressive in their pressure. They’re going to come on the front foot and we need to make sure that we put the ball in areas where they can’t hurt you. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that well enough at times today, and got really punished for it. […] I said that to the group at the end. I think in those moments when you have a momentum and you’re getting you’re really pushing to get back into the game, you ideally want to score in those moments, but you definitely don’t want to give up a goal. And that third goal was like a sucker punch.”
She added that the Reign tried to adjust at the half to play a more direct game, after Utah victimized the Reign in their buildout too many times early.
“I think we did them in the second half. We pressed them better. We forced them to give us the ball back more. We passed forward more. When you play against a team like Utah, if you want to play backwards and square, they want that – they desperately want that – and we fell into that trap. We’d spoken all week about not doing that. I thought in the second half we did a better job of it, which meant we got a bit more momentum.”
The Reign won’t have much time to dwell on this loss, as they return to action Friday, May 1st at 5:00 PM PT when they visit the Houston Dash. The match will stream on Victory+.
