The Reign’s rise, and Laura Harvey’s thoughts about it

After the Reign’s latest win, a 4-1 rout the Utah Royals, coach Laura Harvey marveled that the group already had 21 points — just two away from their total from last year. It was arguably the team’s biggest win so far this season, with the most goals scored in any match.

This happened for Emeri Adames:

The victory capped a three-game road trip, with the Reign earning seven points out of a possible nine over the stretch.

So far, it’s been quite a reversal from last season, when Seattle finished 6-16-5 and second-to-last, ahead of only the Houston Dash.

It’s way too early to crown a “turnaround team” for this season. And certainly the San Diego Wave would be in that conversation, sitting below the Current and the Pride atop the standings after finishing 10th last season. And that’s not nearly as dramatic as the Orlando Pride’s turnaround from 2023 to 2024.

But the Reign are an intriguing group. They made a splash in the offseason by trading Jaelin Howell and Cassie Miller to Gotham for Lynn Biyendolo. It goes without saying what she adds to any team.

Biyendolo joins Lu Barnes and Jess Fishlock as another veteran voice that can help guide a squad of rising rookies, including forwards Maddie Dahlien and Emeri Adames and center-back Jordyn Bugg.

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A good indicator of the level of young and upcoming talent on the Reign is the recent call-ups to both the senior and the U-23 USWNTs. There are nine Seattle players scattered throughout both rosters.

The senior national team includes goalkeeper Claudia Dickey, defender Bugg, midfielder Sam Meza and forward Biyendolo. The U-23 camp includes goalkeeper Madison Prohasky, defender Emily Mason, midfielder Sally Menti, and forwards Adames and Dahlien.

At postgame presser after the roster was announced, Adames and Dahlien called it a “Reign takeover.”

Laura Harvey spoke after the game to reporters about what’s going right for the Reign following the win, which was the Reign’s first four-goal game since 2023:

Harvey: I think hunger for sure. I also think belief, I just think belief has been there with the group, and we show it in different ways all the time and often we don’t end up showing it by scoring multiple goals, unfortunately. But today I thought we started really well, obviously getting an early goal, and as you guys know, goals change games, which put us really on the front foot. I felt then we had a lot of momentum, and getting that second goal was important. Unfortunately then we took our foot off the gas a little bit, let them back in the game. But I think this is the growth of our team.

We’ve said for a while now we’re on a journey together, and I said to the players before the game, actually, that I’ve never worked with a group that, when adversity comes or things don’t quite go our way, they don’t want to solve it immediately. They don’t want to leave things to chance, they don’t want to talk about it in their little silos. They want to come in the room collectively and go, ‘okay, this happened to us, we need to solve it.’ And I think that as long as we can keep that mentality and keep adding quality as we go to our play, we will be okay.

I said to the players before the game, I think the one thing we have shown this year, which has been consistent, is when we face adversity, we stand up. But how do we create adversity when there’s no adversity apart from the opponent? And I thought today the players really took on the challenge, showed quality when they needed to, showed resiliency when they needed to. So obviously we can take a lot from that. And then also I thought the subs came on and killed the game off for us, which is what you need in those moments.

Question: You’ve got four players going to the senior USWNT and five going to the U-23s. What does that say about the Reign?

Harvey: I think it says a lot about, one, our sort of planning and what we thought might evolve. And secondly, it doesn’t happen if the players don’t step up and perform. And I think that’s what they’re doing. You can say we think so-and-so player has loads of potential and has all the quality to be able to play at this level. We can say that, but we’re seeing it, and I think that that is what is really cool.

I think along the way, throughout this first half of the season, we’ve had to marry that with the experience that we have. And I’m going to give a little shout out to Lynn. I think today she doesn’t get on the assist stat, she doesn’t get a goal, but she’s involved in all the good things that we do, and she’s that sort of pinnacle up there that has that experience that understands what it takes to win in this league. So without someone like her in the forefront of it, I think the young ones would be looking for someone to work off, and thankfully having Lynn means that they have that sort of stalwart up there who sets the tone for them all the time.

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Question: Emeri has been getting more minutes, what has improved in her game?

Harvey: Me and Emeri had a conversation, I don’t know, six weeks ago maybe now, to say if she wants more playing time, being committed to the defensive side of the game is what she needs to do because we know how good she’s going forward, we know it. But we are a team and we play in a league where you can’t carry someone who doesn’t execute defensively. She’s executing defensively and she’s getting the reward for that.

I’ve always believed in that, as a forward, if you have some defensive attributes, you will get rewarded in this league and in this team by getting in transitional moments and having opportunities to score. And she took those today, I just watched the highlights and maybe she could have had a third, she could have also slipped Lynn in for Lynn to get an opportunity. But those are the little growth things for her to continue on. Now she set her own standard that we know she can do on both sides of the ball. So it is the challenge for her now to stay in that standard and keep pushing forward from there.

Question: Can you talk about Sam Meza’s journey and her rise this season?

Harvey: If you were to say, do I think Sam would’ve exploded onto the scene the way she has, I think I knew she had it in her, but I’m not sure I knew she would be able to accelerate it as quickly as she has, and fair play to her. I say this all the time, kids who come in, whether they come from college, whether they come from youth, whether they’re traded here, it doesn’t matter. I think the thing that every young player has to look at is Sam Meza’s journey, because for some people that can be literally the thing that stops them getting where they want to be because they can’t get over that adversity.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with Sam when I was the U-20 coach. I knew she had quality when she came to us last year. She just wasn’t ready for what we needed her to be. And that’s hard to take. And I think I’m so happy for her that she’s been able to come out the other side of that and then go, `I’m going to show everybody how good I am.’ Not that we are shocked by that, but the fact that it’s not just us saying that — everyone around the league, the national team, staff, et cetera, are also seeing it.

I don’t think we’re scratching the surface with her, either. I think what you see is where she’s today consistently. But she came in at halftime, she was absolutely livid with herself that she didn’t clear the ball better for their goal. And that says where she’s at, right? She wants to be better, she wants to keep improving, and I can work with players like that all day, every day.

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