Reign FC forward Nahomi “Naho” Kawasumi was involved in the build up of all six goals in Saturday’s 6–2 win over the Washington Spirit. Assisting on four, scoring one, and setting up the assist on another, Naho was named Reign FC player of the match for her performance.
Naho’s four assists on the day set a new National Women’s Soccer League record for most assists in a single match, topping the old mark of three assists. Her first on the night came in the 20th minute of the match, when she set up midfielder Christine Nairn for her first goal of the 2017 season.
“Naho did exactly what she has done multiple times throughout this year, and in past seasons, and did all the hard work,” said Nairn. “She laid me a perfect ball back right exactly where I could strike first time. All I wanted to do was put it low and hard across the face of goal and hope that someone got a deflection on it so it could go in. I just hit it as hard as I could to be honest and fortunately it went my way.”
Nairn spoke to Naho’s ability after the match, and hopes that she can pick up a few of the skills she brings to the pitch every week.
“Just when you think she’s going to do something like shoot, she passes and vice versa,” said Nairn. “If we can learn from that, and if I can personally learn from that, it will be huge for me. I think she’s shown why she’s one of the best players in the world today.”
Much of Naho’s success on the day came due to the amount of space she was able to find on the flanks during the run of play. Seattle Reign FC head coach and general manager attributed this to the Spirit’s switch to a back-three in the second half.
“I personally think we’re really hard to play against if you play a back-three,” said Harvey. “Even though they were trying to get goals back, when they went to their back-three I felt like Naho and Rapinoe became even more dangerous than they already had been. They are who they are for a reason, and both of them at times today showed their quality throughout the game.”
With her record-setting performance, Naho now leads the league in assists, and has helped the Reign FC offense maintain its impressive pace to begin the season. Rapinoe, whose two goals on Saturday were assisted by Naho, is tied for the league lead in goals with four and believes Naho showed her world-class ability on Saturday.
“She’s one of the best passers of the ball, in my opinion, in the world really,” said Rapinoe. “She’s proven that throughout her whole career. Her vision and her ability to put the ball where she wants is [great]. We always know to make good runs and the service will be there.”
