Seattle, WA - In their final regular season matchup of the 2022 NWSL campaign, the OL Reign and Portland Thorns played to a 2-2 draw. A back and forth effort was capped by a Bethany Balcer header goal in the 81st minute, splitting the points between the two rivals. With the Reign missing a huge chunk of their roster largely in part to international play, the Reign relied on the players remaining as well as some rookies in order to battle a Thorns team looking to climb up the NWSL table. With the result, the Reign remain at the fourth spot in the league, while the Thorns are just one point ahead of their rival in third.
Bethany Balcer brings the ball up (Photo Marriah Menchaca)
Rookie debuts make an impact
The Reign rookies Olivia Athens and Marley Canales made their NWSL regular season debuts in this match, and they had an immediate impact. Athens and Canales have spent time with the club on the field throughout the Challenge Cup, but had not set foot onto the pitch for a regular season bout. Athens played on the outside wing, and helped the Reign respond to the Thorns forced the home side into an own goal in the 12th minute. Immediately after in the 13th minute, Athens charged down the field with the ball and beat Bixby to find the back of the net. First regular season match, first professional goal.
While Canales scored poorly in terms of her Fotmob rating, both players certainly played big roles in the draw between the teams. The Reign being down as many players as they are, needed all the help that they could get. Canales and Athens were put in big shoes to fill, against a club loaded with talent, and they filled those roles just well enough. Surely, at some point, the Reign will need their depth to show through once again. Situations such as this one will prove big for the club, as the players will have the experience to feel ready.
Bethany Balcer is a baller
Forward Bethany Balcer has made her mark on the club ever since her first year, when she won the league's honor for best rookie. Balcer seems to step up in every kind of situation for the Reign, whether it is opening up the scoring, padding the lead, or in this instance turning the clutch genes on and equalizing. Balcer is clinical when it comes to her headers, and her overall play continues to improve game in and game out, let alone year by year. Her work hasn't gone unnoticed, something that head coach Laura Harvey made sure of in the postgame press conference of this match.
"Yeah, (forward Bethany Balcer) Boats has been phenomenal. I think she could have made a choice this year of, be happy at where she was and not push on or she could have grabbed her career by the scruff of the neck and go I'm going to prove that I'm going to be one of the best players and the best goal scorers in this league. I think her overall game really has improved this year. I think early in the season, her back to goal plays improved, her defensive responsibilities has improved, her role on set pieces, especially defensively, has been huge for this team and the knock on effect of that is that she wasn't getting the reward of scoring goals even though we felt that her game had really improved. Well, now, you're starting to see all those things are still happening, she's still very good back to goal, her hold up play is excellent, her defensive role is phenomenal, she still does a phenomenal job on set pieces, but now she's getting the reward of goals. So, I'm really excited for her for the next back end of the season," Harvey said.
Club remains resilient despite missing 12 players
In case you have not been able to tell from earlier in this write up, the Reign did a phenomenal job at mitigating the situation that they were dealing with. Already without eight players due to the international window, the Reign had to deal with COVID cases throughout the club. This meant that as a unit, they could not train together. The club had to hold practices in separate groups, and that is difficult to come into a game doing, especially against a talented and disciplined side such as the Thorns.
In the Cascadia clash, the Reign held their own and showed their depth. Despite missing half of their world class backline, key midfielders and attackers, they found a way to stay in a slugfest with Portland. Great saves by Phallon Tullis-Joyce (who was recently extended through the 2024 season) and a tough midfield battle made this match yet another gritty contest. The Reign will go again on July 17th, on the road in Kansas City. The Reign will battle a Current side that has been on a roll as of late, having gone undefeated in their last six matches.
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