The Tide Turns and it Reigns on a Sunny Day
This was a matchup with history and regional rivalry at stake…and with the way the first season went..for the Reign and Laura Harvey…this was payback time. This season was about equal footing…a Reign team that was together for a pre-season and then ran away with the league to this point. Away in Portland, the Thorns were struggling with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde affliction. There have now been six games this season where a team has scored at least five goals, and all but one have involved the Thorns (three wins and two 0-5 losses). FCKC is the only other team to be involved in more than one such game (a 5-0 win over SBFC, and the 7-1 drubbing), and last year there were only two such games all season. There seems no real explanation why this has been so. New coach for the season Paul Riley has the team playing attacking soccer and yet there have been cases where offense and defense have gone AWOL!
But there was always doubt and trepidation….the Thorns are not to be taken lightly! With a roster filled with the likes of Alex Morgan, Christine Sinclair, Vero Boquette, Rachel Van Hollebeke, Tobin Heath and Nadine Angerer as well as highly touted youngsters like Brooks and Catley in the mix…it is a case of which team turned up to play! The Reigns last couple of games seemed listless and the offense seemed patchy…while the Thorns on the other hand had some solid performance and momentum. Unfortunately, the Thorns were making a hard trip off a tight schedule while the Reign had their rest.
With a lot of exciting match-ups up and down the two rosters…one that did standout was Steph Catley — the young, exuberant Matilda that has taken this league by storm with her runs down the left flank and pin point crosses — versus Nahomi Kawasumi — a stellar flank player from the World Champions who has shown flashes of brilliance but still managed to stay under the radar with players like Sydney Leroux, Kim Little, Jess Fishlock and Megan Rapinoe taking centre stage.
On this day though experience won and while the Reign team ran the Thorns backline ragged, none of the battles were as poignant as the Catley – Kawasumi show, with the young Aussie defender learning some tough lessons in pro soccer. As one of the commentators talked about Naho ‘she is at her most dangerous when the ball is on the other side of the field’. In fact apart from Kim Little’s goal which came after Naho was subbed off…the Japanese superstar had a hand in all three goals before that.
Within the first three minutes of the game…Naho struck a great diagonal ball that found Beverly Goebel open on the left flank for the Reign. Bev controlled the ball neatly and passed it in towards the top of the box where Syndey Leroux overlapped her and took charge of the ball and in the same movement ran into the box…beat Nikki Marshall with a feint and raw pace…and just when it seemed she ran out of turf..Leroux took a half shot/ half cross that beat Nadine Angerer at the near post! The Reign were ahead…due in part to the mistake by Angerer but without doubt that their attackers got beyond the Thorns back line with ease. It would be the motif of the game.
The Thorns were energised after this goal though and they tried to get their attack going. To the Reign’s credit, not only had they done their homework…but they were disciplined to stick to their strategy. Wave after wave of attacks were stymied high on the pitch. Any attempts down the flanks were closed down quickly and with Vero being isolated…the Thorns could only resort to hopefully balls over a defense that wasn’t high.
One of these high balls did lead to a goal mouth scramble as Hope Solo lost a ball as she rushed out. That kept out Morgan but the rebound fell to Sinclair who calmly rounded Hope and would have slotted in but for the awareness shown by Lou Barnes, who had tracked back by then. This is not the first time that Barnes has made last ditch saves and is somewhat of a stalwart for the Reign defense in that manner. That was probably the only dangerous attempt at goal from the Thorns in the first half.
For any connoisseurs of the game as well as any youngsters looking to learn the technical aspects of the game, this was a great demonstration. From how the Reign midfield blocked and setup counters, to incredible ghosting runs off the back of defenders and pin-point crosses to set up finishes. The Reign were just a class apart. Kawasumi, Leroux, Fishlock and Little were on goal on numerous occasions and the Thorns just looked clueless. For the first time, I saw the otherwise solid Brooks look clueless as Little turned on her and escaped with the ball at her feet on numerous occasions. Vero kept looking distraught for some movement or a run to pass the ball to…and that meant Sinclair lost her channels by tracking back to try and help her only cluttering up their offense.
It was in the 39th minute that Kim again turned Brooks and lost her…her run took her down the left flank with Bev running into the box. That was enough to throw Marshall and Van Hollebeke off and they let Kim have the space to look up, spot Kawasumi running in unmarked and find her with a great cross over the defense. The diminutive Japanese striker rose with a perfectly timed leap and beat Angerer to notch up the second Reign goal.
The Thorns had only one hopeful shot on goal before halftime and the Reign took a 2 goal lead into the break. It was a clinical performance and both fans looked forward to good attacking soccer in the second half. After all the Thorns need every point they can garner for that close race for playoff positions.
The second half brought a change…which seemed a recipe for disaster more than anything else. The Thorns most experienced defender – Van Hollebeke suffered a concussion in the first few minutes of the first half and Paul Riley, in a head-scratcher, elected to replace her with the then joint league leading scorer – Jessica McDonald!?
With Catley not really defensive minded, that left a poor, uncommunicative Nikki Marshall with the rookie Emily Menges and Brooks to fend off the attacking talents of the Reign. Here is what Kawasumi thought of that strategy - “With Portland playing with three back on their defensive line, there was just a lot of openings for us today,” Kawasumi said through an interpreter. “More so than usual. That was easy to find.” And so it was! In the 49th minute, Leroux raced from mid-field with the ball…found Little with space on the far side who could have had the time to research Naho’s pro background before finding her with another brilliant diagonal cross. The Japanese attacker calmly volleyed it past Angerer
The Reign then decided to go easy by making a substitution. Okay that was a joke…the substitution did take place, but it was the efficient and sound Bev Goebel making way for the incredibly scary talents of Megan Rapinoe! Who promptly scored two minutes later. Little streaked into the box, found Naho wide open and passed the ball…and it just needed one look up for Kawasumi to see Rapinoe ghosting in at the far post to find her with an impeccable cross! Rapinoes header beat Angerer for the fourth time on the day and the Thorns just deflated. Amber Brooks had a point blank effort saved after that Menges hit a close range header over the bar and McDonald hit the crossbar with a header off a corner…but it just did not look threatening enough.
If that wasn’t enough, Kim Little twisted the dagger in deep in extra time. With the ball at her feet and her back to goal, the Scot twisted and turned with precision beating not one, not two but three defenders on the turn and firing past Angerer to find herself alone at the top of the goal scoring charts. It was a goal that typified the Thorns defense for the day…and even a Reign fan would have felt for the girls in red standing with their hands on their knees in utter dejection around the box.
With the win, Reign FC remains atop the league standings with 46 points, nine points ahead of second-place FC Kansas City, and 16 points clear of third-place Portland.
Seattle holds the NWSL record for points in a season, eight ahead of the previous high of 38, with five regular season matches left to play.
Reign FC is now 2-0-0 against Portland this season, after beating Thorns FC 1-0 at Providence Park on May 10, with Little dribbling past Angerer on the near post in the 89th minute on a breakaway to score the game’s lone goal. The two sides will meet again on Sunday, August 17 in Portland. That match is scheduled for a 2 p.m. start time.
But for now this season has been sweet payback for the Reign who now lead the Thorns 8-7 on goals over these two seasons.
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