Scoreless Rapinoe sendoff keeps Reign playoff hopes in limbo

The OL Reign played the Washington Spirit to a scoreless tie Friday as a record crowd showed up to watch Megan Rapinoe’s last home match. Both teams had several chances to score but neither could land the ball in their opponent’s net. Throughout the game, the Spirit defense was largely able to outmaneuver the Reign’s forwards, taking away chances before they could materialize into something big, while Claudia Dickey and the Bold defense kept Washington off the board.

The Bold had several good scoring opportunities in the initial third, the first coming in the 7^th minute as Fishlock stole the ball on the Spirit half of the pitch, getting it to Balcer, who passed to Rapinoe, who passed to Balcer, who kicked it about a meter wide left off of Spirit goalie Audrey Kingsbury’s outstretched hand. The subsequent corner amounted to nothing, and the Reign got another takeaway in the 9^th that also didn’t produce results. In the 27^th, Ryanne Brown crossed to Rapinoe in the box, but Kingsbury snuffed that attack out.

On the other end of the field, the first half saw Washington’s powerful offense also unable to land one. They had a number of strong chances in the middle of the half. In the 28^th, the Spirit got the ball to Trinity Rodman at the edge of the box, whose kick went high. In the 30^th, Sam Staab booted a free kick into the box, where Rodman again got to it but again missed her shot, this time to the left. Washington had more chances in the 34^th, 36^th, and finally the 38^th, after which their attack fizzled out and the ball drifted back towards the middle of the field.

The Reign closed out the half with some good chances. In the 41^st, a Megan Rapinoe free kick went over the wall and to Latsko, whose header flew too high. In the 43, Barnes had a free kick which found its way to Van der Jagt, who weakly kicked it straight to Kingsbury

The second half was a similar story, though more dangerous for the Reign, as the Spirit had more shots on target. Dickey had four amazing saves in the half, the first in the 52^nd off a running shot beside the box by Rodman which Claudia tipped over the net on a jump, the second in the 89^th as she made a similar move to deny Dorian Bailey a goal. The third and fourth came in stoppage, both diving saves off Rodman shots.

The Reign also got a couple late chances. In the 82^nd, Rapinoe ran down the left side with the ball and crossed it to Fishlock in the box, who passed it a couple meters to Bennett, but her shot deflected off Staab, allowing Kingsbury to get to it. In the last minute of stoppage, Rapinoe got a free kick and went short to Latsko, but she didn’t quite get an opening to shoot, and the attack fizzled, ending the game at a scoreless tie.

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Luckily for the Reign, two games over the weekend went their way: Earlier on Friday, Orlando, the team directly behind them in the table, lost to Racing Louisville. Then, on Sunday, Angel City FC defeated the Houston Dash, preventing a scenario where a Dash win by three or more goals would have allowed the Dash to leapfrog the Bold in the standings.

Every team in the league has one more game on October 15th, and with the season potentially on the line for the Reign, Harvey said that the most important thing going into the final game is for the Reign to take control of their own destiny.

“As long as your destiny is in your own hands, all the other stuff, forget it,” she stated. “We’ve never had a decision day where it’s, you know, everyone playing at the same time. Having been through that maybe once before in England, which was a long time ago, I think you’ve just got to take care of your own business, and when it gets to that last ten minutes of the game, knowing what’s going on elsewhere if you haven’t taken care of your own business would be what I would look at.

Here is how the table currently stands after all the games the past weekend:

1.       Portland Thorns FC, 10-6-5, 35 points, +14 GD

2.       San Diego Wave FC, 10-7-4, 34 points, +7 GD

3.       North Carolina Courage, 8-7-6, 30 points, +6 GD

4.       NJ/NY Gotham FC, 8-7-6, 30 points, +1 GD

5.       Washington Spirit, 7-5-9, 30 points, -2 GD

6.       OL Reign, 8-8-5, 29 points, 2 GD

7.       Orlando Pride, 9-11-1, 28 points, -2 GD

8.       Angel City FC, 7-7-7, 28 points, -3 GD

9.       Racing Louisville FC, 6-6-9, 27 points, 3 GD

10.   Houston Dash, 6-7-8, 26 points, -1 GD

11.   Kansas City Current, 8-12-1, 25 points, -6 GD (Eliminated)

12.   Chicago Red Stars, 7-11-3, 24 points, -19 GD (Eliminated)

If the Reign win on the 15^th against Chicago, they are in the playoffs. If they tie, they will make the playoffs as long as Orlando, Angel City, and Racing Louisville all tie or lose. The same holds true if the Reign lose by less than four goals, but if they lose at all, then any Houston win that brings Houston to a higher goal difference than the Reign would kick the Reign out of the playoffs.