By OkayGoal 
Photo Credit: Seattle Reign | Olivia Vanni
SEATTLE — In front of the largest home crowd of the season, the Reign finally notched their first goals of the year at Lumen Field and a 2-0 revenge win against the Portland Thorns, their Cascadia rivals.
Defender Ryanne Brown scored the first goal of the game just eight minutes in. Played in behind by a brilliant ball from 16-year-old midfielder Ainsley McCammon, sprinting forward from her left-back position, Brown still had a lot to do. She shot from the top corner of the 18-yard box and rocketed the ball inside the far post. The tally was Brown’s first-ever regular season NWSL goal. She is the sixth player in club history to score her first NWSL regular-season goal against Portland — she joins Jess Fishlock, Celia Jimenez, Shirley Cruz, Olivia Athens and Maddie Dahlien.
Before Sunday’s game, Brown had only played 20 minutes across four games in 2026 as she returned this season from an ACL tear that sidelined her since July 2024. She got her first start of the season in place of an injured Madison Curry.
“Not only has she been through the rehab and come back, but then to not be getting a ton of minutes, that takes a lot mentally to stay in it. She’s a brilliant teammate. She always wants to develop for herself and she’s willing to do anything for the team. And those types of players are priceless,” head coach Laura Harvey said. “If it’s not Goal of the Week, then I don’t know football.”
Forward Maddie Mercado headed home an insurance goal off a cross by midfielder Sam Meza late in the first half. It was her team-leading third goal of the season.
It was a full team effort from the Reign to earn just their fourth clean sheet of the season as the Thorns still created quality offense. According to Opta, the visitors recorded 1.37 expected goals on 26 shots, 10 of those on target.
“We’d spoken all summer, but really after last week’s game, of — there are moments in games where you’re going to get tired, you’re going to get fatigued, the other team has momentum, don’t get beat,” Harvey said. “The amount of times the front four were broken and got back behind the ball — that’s not tactical, that’s in your heart. That’s your willingness to be able to do that and they did it.”
Goalkeeper Cassie Miller came up with a career performance in her second consecutive start in place of the injured Claudia Dickey. Miller recorded a career-high nine saves in just her second appearance for Seattle.
“I always think backup goalkeepers are so important to your roster,” Harvey said. “They’ve got to be willing to accept what their role is when it’s their role and accept the fact that they can be called upon at any time, and I think she has the abilities to be a No. 1 for sure.”
Miller recovered from a long-term injury of her own this season, finally elevated off of the season-ending injury list on April 25. The goalkeeper had sustained a leg injury during training in May 2025 that kept her out. She was mobbed by excited teammates after the final whistle.
“I’ve never had a big injury. So having that injury definitely was — it was different for me, but I got through it,” Miller said postgame of how she is mentally handling her current starting responsibilities. “Kudos to my performance team, the trainers. I feel totally fine. I feel great out there. I feel confident, and I think I’m just used to kind of stepping in when I need to be and playing the role that is called upon me. And I hope that I can come in whenever the team needs me and be strong.”
This result is huge for Seattle for a couple of reasons. First, earlier in the season, they suffered a frustrating 2-0 loss at Providence Park to a Portland team that managed to win despite being down to nine players due to two red cards. Needless to say, the Reign were eager to avenge that defeat. Second, they simply need the points. Seattle still sit on the wrong side of the playoff line with 17 points (three points behind eighth-place Orlando, in playoff position), but they have a game in hand and the momentum to build off beating one of the league’s top teams.
“It’s huge for our momentum,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter where Portland is in the calendar, you gotta win. And honestly, it’s coming at a good time, so hopefully this momentum carries through.”
Harvey was positive about the victory, calling it the closest to her team’s best 90-minute performance this season. But the coach said she is not getting too carried away because it is only meaningful if this kind of performance becomes the new standard.
“I’m not willing to let our standard drop, because it’s hard to keep saying we can do it and we’re not doing it. We’ve shown today we can do it,” Harvey explained. “So the challenge is — I’m not going to accept anything less than that now and [the players] can’t for themselves…If we do that, we’ll get better. If we don’t, we’re going to hit this inconsistency again, and we’re not in a position to be able to do that.”
With the second lowest tally of goals scored in the league so far this season, Seatte know that their defense is key. But if the offense can continue creating at the level shown on Sunday, the Reign can find themselves moving up the NWSL table.
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