Huerta augments NWSL assist record as Reign wallop Current 3-0

Whatever came over the Reign at Providence Park last Friday, Laura Harvey's crew wants to make sure it remains a one-off.

"For us, after last Friday, I think that whoever was going to play tonight (for us) was going to want to come out and show that that's not who we are," Claudia Dickey said about the team's attitude.

They were facing a crest that took the NWSL by storm in a "home" game that took place on the other side of the state, but the Current side they faced in ONE Spokane Stadium was not the league-churning machine from 2025.

Star winger Temwa Chawinga, a lightning-fast breakaway machine with 15 goals last year, is still out with an injury sustained late last year and has an unclear timetable for return, while Vanessa DiBernardo is out on maternity leave. Winger Michelle Cooper, while back from an injury of her own, remains on limited minutes. Croix Bethune and Debinha both started off the bench after logging a hefty sum of minutes in the Current's two previous fixtures.

All this to say that Kansas City's starpower, both returning and recently acquired, had a limited timetable on Wednesday, something Seattle sought to take full advantage of to come away with three points.

The Reign made excellent use of rotation and gained an edge in sharpness and energy.

Playing on four days' rest with another fixture set for the weekend, there was a fair amount of rotation compared to the first two games for the Reign. Maddie Mercado, Emeri Adames and Britanny Ratcliffe got the starting nods in the front line while Angharad James-Turner was the starting central midfielder.

"I think we believe that we have a lot of depth, and we know we have a quick turnaround for Saturday, so it would be remiss to think that we can just keep rolling out the same XI," Harvey said.

Kansas City took advantage of occasional slow play early on between Haz, Adames, Jess Fishlock, and Sam Meza to break up Seattle's attempts to build through the field, but after about 15 minutes, Seattle's energetic and rotated XI shined against a tired Current side.

Seattle took their flow of play primarily up the right side, where Meza and Haz would boot the ball into space for a quick Adames on the left side. Sofia Huerta, meanwhile, would run up and join Adames on the right, and the two of them would seek to connect with Mercado, Fishlock, and Ratcliffe up top. Time and again, a run like this would outpace the Current and send the momentum and game control Seattle's way.

Making matters better was a certain confidence and consistency on first touches. Reign players anticipated each other's moves in a seemingly effortless way and were cool under pressure, things that reinforced each other as they landed three big blows before the halftime whistle.

"This week, even though it was a short week, we talked about having a little bit more patience, creating overloads, not always taking the 1-v-1 but waiting to create a 2-v-1," Huerta observed. "The staff made very, very clear to us that this was something we needed to do tonight."

The Reign were able to create a good chance in the ninth minute when they controlled the midfield enough for Meza to find Adames in a central position, who sent it up into the box for Fishlock. But her first touch on the ball was a little too strong, and by the time she recovered the ball, her momentum was taking her too far towards the endline for her shot to be effectively.

Fishlock drew a foul in the 17th about one foot outside the box, turning a drive through the midfield into a Michelin-star set piece. Sofia Huerta took a shot through a hole in the Current wall and it took a deflection off Kansas City midfielder Katie Scott, but that set up a corner kick in the 19th minute.

Haz had one brief chance on the ball with an open line and made the absolute most of it, sending a midair kick to the upper left corner of the net. Lorena managed to get a glove on it, but she was already inside her own net and the ball rolled well over the line regardless to give Seattle a 1-0 lead.

It might not be obvious from the highlight reel, but the Reign had to play some good defense in the following 10 minutes as Kansas City produced some set pieces and close equalizing chances. It wasn't as threatening as their 40th minute flurry (more on that in a few), but it still required some precision to repel.

The Reign summoned another chance in the 26th minute, once again roaring up the right side. Mercado sent it into space for Adames, who brought it back to Huerta as the Current blocked the near edge of the box. Huerta fired a cross to the left edge, right for Ratcliffe, who sunk her second goal of the season and the Reign's second goal of the game.

Huerta praised Adames' patience and game awareness on the ball, something that showed in how seamlessly her play weaved into Seattle's general game flow.

"Sometimes I feel like she always wants to just go, go, go. And her and I have talked about this a lot, where if she just has a little bit more patience and she waits for me to get up, then we can create a 2-v-1," Huerta said. "I think last week, Emeri maybe would have just served balls in when it wasn't on. But she had patience (Wednesday), she put her foot on the ball, and she waited to see what was presented next."

It's always a balancing act between being too unmoored from your teammates on one end and being too uncreative on the other, but during the first half of Wednesday's festivities, the Reign threaded that needle well.

Scarcely seven minutes later, yet another spell of play in the final third became a goal for Seattle. The Reign had gained an almost complete upper hand in the flow of the game by this point and took it from side to side before Huerta sent another pinpoint cross up top, this one for Mercado, and Seattle was up by three.

Mercado very nearly got herself a brace less than two minutes later, as a backwards Current pass to center back Elizabeth Ball went into Mercado's boots, but the Current got enough pressure on her to prevent a fourth Seattle goal. The Reign probably should have had another goal, as a curler from Fishlock went off the woodwork and seemingly bounced slightly behind the line, but they still had the 3-0 lead.

Dickey notched another clean sheet as the Reign kept control through the rest of the match, setting a club record as Huerta added to her NWSL record.

Seattle's three-goal first half lead may have primarily been due to the energy and precision of the players up front, but Claudia Dickey was going to play her part, too. The Current got an attacking run going in the 40th, trying to wrench open a window from some Reign mistakes and claw back to the good old most dangerous lead in soccer. Right back Laney Rouse sent it to an open Ally Sentnor, and her shot was all but wide open. Yet Dickey dove and batted it away, and although it remained in play for a little while longer, Huerta knocked it beyond the endline and the corner petered out for the visitors.

The second half wound up being quieter, but that's exactly how the Reign wanted it, sitting pretty in the catbird seat thanks to their first-half flurry.

Bethune took the pitch in the 59th minute as the Current took a close free kick, coming in alongside Debinha who took it, but the ball went right to Dickey. Cooper, on limited minutes, entered the game in the 64th.

With a three-goal advantage going into the final third of the game, Seattle's goal was simply to keep a good lid on the action and slow the game down. Maddie Dahlien and Sally Menti went on for Ratcliffe and Meza in the 67th minute, Kansas City began to get quite a bit more of the possession, and the pace of play largely slowed down.

Kansas City had one clear opportunity in the 78th minute as they got some momentum going for Debinha, who took a good boot towards the net, but it ricocheted off McClernon and once again the corner went nowhere for the Current. Seattle kept the flow of the game in their collective palm as Ainsley McCammon and Nérilia Mondésir subbed on in the 82nd minute, but neither side really produced an excess of energy like the Reign had back in the first half.

There were quick moments for the Current, though, who nearly broke the clean sheet well into stoppage time as Cooper rushed up the Kansas City right and fired a shot towards the goal, but once again Dickey saved the shutout with a dive.

Wednesday's zero was the 17th clean sheet (all competitions) in a Reign uniform for Claudia Dickey, one above Phallon Tullis-Joyce's previous team record of 16.

Records abounded for the Reign on Wednesday night, with Sofia Huerta's two assists getting her to an NWSL career total of either 33 (according to Sports-Reference) or 34 (according to the NWSL website). Either way, that's an NWSL record.

Was this a home game or a not-home game?

Seattle's 3-0 thumping was the first of three games in ONE Spokane Stadium, the Reign's temporary home venue as Lumen Field undergoes FIFA World Cup renovations.

Despite it technically being a home fixture, the travel schedule and general environment was more like that of an away game according to Harvey.

"We've tried to do everything to make it feel like a home game, but really, all of our schedule feels like it's an away game, just because we're in a hotel and all together and stuff," Harvey said. "But I think we can get a really good recovery day tomorrow - that will feel different, because the players can't be in their own houses - but they get to see the city and use the facilities to recover as best we possibly can."

They'll need all the rest and recovery they can get ahead of the fourth match of the season on Saturday, another Spokane home game against Racing Louisville.