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Will the Seattle Reign Be Able to Repeat as Shield Winners in 2015?

By Chris Blakely

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I know we are still over five months away from the beginning of the 2015 NWSL season but watching the United States Women’s National Team play these last couple of days has me to thinking about next season. The Seattle Reign were the best team in the league last year, winning the NWSL shield with four games to go. However, the Reign was not able to capture the championship as they fell to FC Kansas City 2-1 in the final.

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The biggest question going into next year for me is if the Reign will be able to recreate the success they had on the field last year and be one of the top teams again in 2015. Seattle has a loaded roster with many national team players from across the world. The Reign showed that anything can happen from one season to the next. They also showed how the addition of a few key players here and there can help.

In 2013 the Reign was the second worst team in the league, winning only five matches all year. They didn’t even register a shutout in 2013. Their goalkeeper, Hope Solo, missed most of the year due to an injury and international call-ups. They scored only 22 goals in a 22 game season. They allowed 36 goals in those 22 games. I’m sure they wanted to hit the reset button on the 2013 season. As a fan I know I wanted to the reset button many times.

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    • The 2014 season saw a complete turnaround for the Reign. They went from being one of the worst teams in the league’s short history, to one of the best. The Reign won their first seven matches of the season and 13 of their first 16 before suffering their first defeat in-game 19 of the season against the Chicago Red Stars. The team would go on to win the NWSL Shield after just 20 games and set the league record for points in a season with 54.

    As I mentioned above they fell just short in the championship game to Kansas City. I had actually told one of my friends that the one team I was worried about was Kansas City because I felt they had the talent and skill to defeat that Reign. Unfortunately, I was correct.

    The third year of NWSL existence is right around the corner and I am excited to see the league grow even more this year and I am excited to see if the Reign can show that 2014 was not a fluke.

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