In front of 5,312 fans at BBVA Compass Stadium, Seattle Reign FC beat the Houston Dash 2–0. The result extends Reign FC’s unbeaten streak against the Dash to 9–0–0 all-time.
The win marks the first shutout for Reign FC (3–1–3, 12 pts) against the Dash since 2015. With today’s two goals, Seattle’s all-time goal differential against the Dash moves to 23, scoring 28 goals, and only allowing five.
“It’s been the story of our season where we are a threat when we go forward,” said Seattle Reign FC head coach and general manager Laura Harvey. “We’re just really happy to get a clean sheet. Haley [Kopmeyer] had to make some great saves to make that happen, and we had a bit of luck at the end, but we’ve been working hard to try to get that clean sheet, and we’re happy we finally got it.”
Reign FC opened scoring in the 30th minute when forward Megan Rapinoe’s shot deflected off Houston defender Cari Roccaro for an own goal. Rapinoe started the counterattack from Reign FC’s defensive third and sent the ball along to forward Katie Johnson. Rapinoe got it back at the top of the box where she took a touch to strike it, and the ball deflected to the near post and into the back of the net.
Houston had a chance eight minutes later when some confusion in the box put the ball at forward Kealia Ohai’s feet. Ohai was able to find enough space to get a shot off, but Haley Kopmeyer was there to block it and the Seattle defense cleared the rebound.
The Dash had another chance in the 50th minute when forward Nichelle Prince found space at the top of the box. She took a one-time strike off the pass from midfielder Denise O’Sullivan that hit the left post and went out of play.
In the 64th minute, Reign FC would double their lead from a Katie Johnson goal. Nahomi “Naho” Kawasumi sent in a cross from the right side where Johnson took a touch to settle it, and turned to create space to shoot. Johnson was able to send the ball over the hands of Lydia Williams and into the top of the goal for her second career goal against the Dash.
Johnson was named player of the match for her performance. The forward played 66 minutes in the match and tallied one goal and two shots. Johnson has now scored in each of the two meetings with the Dash.
Today’s result sees Reign FC points total for the season improve to 12, remaining in fourth place on the NWSL table. Other results today saw the Chicago Red Stars defeat first place North Carolina Courage and Sky Blue FC defeat the Orlando Pride.
Up next, Reign FC travel to Chicago to face the Red Stars on Sunday, June 4th. This is the first meeting between the two teams this season, with kickoff set for 12:00pm PT. The last meeting between these two teams was September 4, 2016, where they ended in a 2–2 draw at Toyota Park.
