Since the National Women’s Soccer League returned from its summer break, it has felt like we are watching a different Seattle Reign. After scoring just 11 goals in their first 12 games, including a five-game scoreless streak, the Reign have scored nine in their last four. The stretch started with a 2-0 win over Portland, dipped with a 2-3 loss at Gotham, returned with a 2-0 win at San Diego, then delivered the drama in a 3-2 win at Bay FC.
What has changed?
At least part of the explanation is that the Reign are a young team finding their way. The six players who have started the last five games across the forward and midfield lines — Mia Fishel, Maddie Mercado, Maddie Dahlien, Sally Menti, Ainsley McCammon and Sam Meza — are all 25 years old or younger and in just their second or third NWSL season.
“We were a young team trying to figure it out,” Fishel told The IX Sports. “I feel like this is our first full year building those connections. I feel like now it’s starting to really solidify.”
Fishel said it has helped that they’ve gone over a lot of film and talk to each other honestly about what they need.
“I feel like we’re all on the same page now,” Fishel said. “Now we’re in this flow state of movement, opposite movement, getting on the same page, someone always threatening the line, and I feel like having those basics has really made a difference in us getting numbers in the box and then creating goal-scoring opportunities.”
Dahlien told The IX Sports she thinks execution is the big difference. She felt they were getting in good spots and creating good chances in the first part of the season, but not finishing. Now, a long-term focus on scoring in training has gotten Dahlien and her teammates valuable actual reps.
“If you’re not scoring in training, it’s not going to translate to the actual game. So I think that’s been an important focus for us,” Dahlien said.
The 22-year-old winger also pointed to a recent consistency in lineups and formation. Through 16 matches, head coach Laura Harvey has utilized 14 different starting XIs. While the defensive line continues to deal with injuries, the attacking sextet has started the last five games together.
“I think what people didn’t see was, behind the scenes, we’ve continued to stay consistent in our process, and that is showing up now,” Dahlien said. “Hopefully, we don’t stay complacent, but I think that’s what this group is so good at, sticking in it when it’s tough. But there’s a reason why stuff is happening, and now it feels like it’s coming to fruition.”
Listen now to The IX Sports Podcast and Women’s Sports Daily
We are excited to announce the launch of TWO new podcasts for all the women’s sports fans out there looking for a daily dose of women’s sports news and analysis. Stream on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or anywhere you listen to podcasts, and make sure to subscribe!
Young Seattle stars
Fishel joined Seattle last summer from Chelsea, signing a record-breaking contract through 2029, reportedly worth $2.5 million in total. She was going to be the new talisman of Seattle’s attack, and played well, but did not find the back of the net for nearly a year.
Fishel finally broke through from the penalty spot on July 18 at Gotham and scored her first in open play on Aug. 1 at Bay FC. Though the second goal was more impressive — the kind of cheeky finish through the goalkeeper’s legs fans had been expecting from a striker of Fishel’s quality — she said they felt the same.
“I feel like in both those scenarios I just felt really good because it was an away game and it’s always hard to get goals,” Fishel said. “So the fact that I was able to put my team up one-zero was all that was going in my mind.”
Fishel said the summer break was huge for her personally because of the time she spent with the U-23 U.S. women’s national team in Brazil, alongside the senior team.
“I feel like I really got my confidence back up there with a great team, great staff, and obviously I got a goal there as well,” Fishel said. “I think that just kind of started the momentum of how I’m playing right now and how I’m feeling.”
At the same time Fishel is finding her footing, Mercado has emerged as the team’s leading scorer with five goals this season. It may not win the Golden Boot race, but last year, Emeri Adames and Jess Fishlock led the team with six apiece.
Mercado was selected by Seattle with the 27th overall pick in the 2024 NWSL Draft. Sticking around on one-year contracts and impressing in a short loan stint to the USL Super League, Mercado has earned her stay and appeared in all 16 games this season.
“What’s been big in the second half of the season is my movement in the box, and when to come to feet, and when to go in behind,” Mercado said. “So working on that, I think, has helped me personally a lot just find those spaces. And then, I rely so much on my teammates to serve the ball and put the ball in dangerous spaces; I just try to be there, finish.”
Dahlien is also going through a strong run of form after being “frustrated at herself that she hasn’t taken some of the chances she’s had in recent weeks,” Harvey said after Dahlien registered a goal and assist in the win over Bay. She also assisted Mercado’s goal against Gotham.
The Reign have increasingly found success sending Dahlien’s pace in behind opposition defenses, so she credits some of her playing better to the wider group’s improvement. She has also been working on being clinical in training and feels it is starting to translate on the field.
“I think for me, our individual personalities and the offense shine when we’re playing well as a collective,” Dahlien said. “Is our whole team focusing on attacking? Like yes, and I think we’re becoming so much more patient around the box, and we’re getting so many more numbers forward that allows us to be successful.”
Then, there’s the midfield trio of McCammon, Meza and Menti, who show up on the scoresheet less by comparison, but have been key on both sides of the ball.
McCammon assisted three of her team’s last nine goals and leads the team with four total in 2026. Two of those assists were particularly brilliant displays of her exceptional vision and long-range passing: to Ryanne Brown against Portland and to Mercado at San Diego.
She signed in July 2024 as a 16-year-old. Now 18 years old, in her third season, she has already started five more games than her previous season high of seven. With experience, the skills the Reign were so excited for when they first signed her are maturing to fruition.
Menti scored the team’s first goal after the summer break (not included in the four-game streak because it was a 3-1 loss at North Carolina), has provided solid connections and interchanges, while always being good for a long-range shot.
Meza is the defensive destroyer, covering all over the field, increasingly comfortable on the ball and always putting in crucial tackles. Against Portland, she started a play with consecutive tackles to win the ball high up the field and, after it passed between a couple of her teammates, sent in the cross that assisted Mercado’s goal.
Defenders are a key part of it too, getting forward to assist, setting possession and scoring a couple as well. The Reign have the most goal scorers of any NWSL team this season, with 11 different players scoring.
“We’ve said multiple times that it’s gonna take everyone in our attack. Like, we do not like to attack with one running in behind by ourselves, isolated,” Fishel said. “The way that we’re scoring is we’re getting our back line up, we’re pushing our midfielders up into the box, as well as our front line. So we’re all contributing to every goal because the higher we are as a team, the more bodies we have in the box, and then we’re going to score.”
Rep The IX Sports at your next game!
Shop the logo collection or special “Women’s Sports are Front Page News” collection now on Shopify.
Maintaining momentum
Of course, for all this growth to pay off, the Reign have to keep it up. Entering Sunday’s match, they have 23 points through 16 matches and sit right outside of playoff position.
“The challenge is I’m not going to accept anything less than that now, and they can’t for themselves. And if we do that, that’s when this becomes meaningful,” Harvey said after what felt like a momentum-changing 2-0 win over Portland. “If we don’t do that, that’s where we’re going to shoot ourselves in the foot. It doesn’t mean we’re going to get the result every week … But it just means we can look ourselves in the mirror after every game and go, ‘that was the standard that we set ourselves.’”
Last weekend’s 3-2 win at Bay FC felt like another inflection point. It was the fourth game in a row they’d gone up 2-0 in the first half, but Bay was quick to climb back in it, equalizing 2-2. But, unlike when they faced the same situation at Gotham, veteran Jess Fishlock came on in the 84th minute and scored the game-winner a minute later.
She was assisted by another young Reign attacker, 20-year-old Emeri Adames. The late-game execution by two players on opposite ends of the experience scale resulted in the only second-half goal Seattle has scored since the break.
“I think that [result] just shows sort of the growth of what we’re trying to,” Harvey said postgame. “I don’t think we’re there yet, but I think that’s our growth area: how can we see games out? How can we shift momentum back to us when an opponent has it?”
So, yes, playing with a 2-0 lead has been a big topic of conversation for the Reign in this stretch.
“We want to score the third goal,” Dahlien said. “We’re up two-zero a lot of times — I think that’s the hardest score in soccer, honestly. And so I think for us, it’s like, obviously we’re doing really good in the start of games, but can we get that third goal before half, or even like in the 60th/70th minute, just to allow our subs to continue to stay on the attack?”
