Latsko leads the way for Reign in 2-0 victory over Dash
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The OL Reign were looking to cap a three-match in seven-day stretch once again, and they were thankfully able to do so in victorious fashion with a 2-0 result over the visiting Houston Dash. 6,132 fans at Lumen Field witnessed the Reign go through the first half of the match dominating the offensive stats and getting solid build-ups that they just couldn’t put the finishing touches on. The home side was able to break through in the second half as forwards Veronica Latsko and Jordyn Huitema scored to secure the three points for the Reign, which ended up as a historic result. The win was the 100th regular season victory for the Reign and it pushed them to the top of the NWSL table, at least for the time being.
Early controversy leaves us level... for now
As mentioned earlier, the Reign dominated the first half of this match in terms of the offensive statistics. There were several different instances of quality build-up by the Reign, they just couldn’t get the final ball or final pass in to complete the sequence for a goal. There was one instance in particular that seemed like it was going to bring the Reign ahead, but it was called back in unique fashion. Despite the Dash doing a good job at grounding the Reign’s cross attempts, forward Veronica Latsko whipped a ball into the box where her teammates and fellow forwards Bethany Balcer and Jordyn Huitema awaited. Balcer missed the ball initially on an attempted redirection, and on a bounce, Huitema was able to steady the ball and fire a shot away as she fell to beat Houston’s Jane Campbell in goal and go up 1-0, or so we thought.
Head official Brandon Stevis ruled it as a goal, but after conferring with a linesman, that goal was sent to a review. Upon further review, the officials decided that there was a “handball” in the buildup of the play, disallowing the goal and leaving us scoreless instead of the previous lead that the Reign could have had. It was a frustrating moment for Huitema, who had been doing her best since joining the club to really burst onto the scene and contribute on the scoreboard, and she remained determined to get a goal that counted in this match.
Just keep swimming (or running)
Despite the frustrating number of times that they couldn’t get the final part of the sequence to result in a goal plus the disallowed goal, the Reign continued to press on through the second half of the match. One of the more impressive players of that first 45 minutes was forward Veronica Latsko, who was impactful in several different ways on the offensive end. Despite not being a regular starter and sometimes not even being brought on as a substitute, Latsko came in as a starting player today and contributed well which includes scoring the first goal. In a similar version to the build ups we had seen through the first 45 minutes, the Reign got Megan Rapinoe up the sideline and settled as the rest of the team came up to join them.
Midfielder Jess Fishlock and Rapinoe seemed to toy with Houston, holding the ball in the corner of the Dash half, waiting for their teammates to come up into the fray. Despite having some unsuccessful service into the box throughout the course of the first 45 minutes, Rapinoe whipped in an excellent ball towards the center of the box where three players in Reign “purpose” kits were. It was Latsko who connected on a header that beat Campbell far right corner and got the club on the board in the 53rd minute.
“She’s physically capable to compete and last year, she started the season really well – in the challenge cup, she got a ton of minutes and then she hit a little bit of a confidence block and started to come out the end of it, at the end of last season. The season sort of ended at the wrong time for her. We’ve been adding a few things to her game in regard to positioning and with the ball mainly and as a potential replacement for Sofia and then Ryanne Brown’s pretty much stepped up to the plate for that, which has been great, which means now we can really focus on Veronica playing higher and doing what she wants to do and playing where she wants to play. So, I think she is super reliable because she’s physically capable to be able to do it, which is great. She’s a lunatic trainer. She always wants to do more and she’s obviously robust and that’s good for us because we need that. We’ve obviously got a lot of the injuries right now, so someone like Ronnie can really step up and be huge for us and yeah, she seems to like scoring against Houston.”
OL Reign forward Veronica Latsko during pregame warmups ahead of the May 3rd, 2023 match against Angel City FC (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Huitema uses her height to put the match away
Forward Jordyn Huitema has been trying to get things going and get on a roll since she joined the club late into the 2022 season, and seems to be getting the 2023 season off on the right foot, or rather, right header. Huitema has had success to begin the year, and part of it has been using her big frame at 5’11” to take advantage of crosses and balls into the box. The Reign have plenty of players that can provide good service, especially crosses, and Huitema is the perfect candidate to hammer those balls in from the box, and we’re starting to see that as this season rolls on.
Latsko continued her strong night, sending a ball from the end line back into the box far post where Huitema and Emily Sonnett awaited. Huitema rose easily over the Dash defender who never actually jumped, heading the ball in as Campbell was able to react with her right glove but it was too late as the ball had crossed the goal-line. For the second time on the night, Houston’s keeper Campbell had gone too deep into the box and for the second time in the match, the Reign had scored a header goal.
“This is obviously my first team in the NWSL and it’s the best team I’ve played on ever in my life, probably. The group is incredible and it’s genuine. It’s not fake, what you see is what you get, everything that we do on the field for games, we’re doing it in training times 10. We’re just wild and we love each other and it’s so genuine. We have each other’s backs so much and we have hard conversations, we say tough things and then we’re open arms after games. It’s just all of it. It’s such a healthy relationship with everybody within the team, it’s just so good, front to back, top to bottom, coaching staff involved as well, it’s just such an incredible group that I’m really proud to be part of because it’s incredible. It’s kind of unheard of in a way. I haven’t played on a lot of teams that have this kind of connection, so it’s definitely special.”
OL Reign forward Jordyn Huitema in the March 15th, 2023 match against the San Diego Wave (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
The win brings the all-time series to 17-4-3 between the Reign and Houston Dash.
Tonight’s win marks OL Reign’s 100th regular season win all-time, becoming the second fastest club in NWSL history to reach this milestone.
OL Reign extended its home unbeaten streak to six games with tonight’s win and has a regular season home record of 9-1-4 since naming Lumen Field home at the start of the 2022 season. With only one home loss since 2022, the Reign have a 93% unbeaten record at home.
The team is a perfect 3-0-0 in the new primary kit for 2023, Purpose.
Forward Jordyn Huitema scored the team’s second goal of the night off a header in the 68th minute, recording a goal in back-to-back regular season games.
Huitema has two goals in the 2023 regular season and four all-time.
Forward Veronica Latsko scored the opening goal of the match in the 53rd minute, marking her first of the 2023 season. Latsko’s most recent goal came against the Dash on September 25, 2022, in Houston. In the 68th minute, the forward assisted the second goal of the match with a cross to forward Jordyn Huitema. Latsko is one of 11 players to record a goal and assist in the same game this season, joining teammate Bethany Balcer.
Latsko has nine goals and six assists all-time, two goals and two assists with the Reign and seven goals and four assists during her time with the Dash (2018-21).
Forward Megan Rapinoe assisted forward Veronica Latsko to give the team a 1-0 lead in the second half.
Rapinoe has 22 assists all-time, which ranks second in club history.
Goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce earned her third clean sheet of the season, the most in the league.
Tullis-Joyce has 12 clean sheets all-time, setting a club record for most clean sheets in Reign history.
What’s next?
Following their three matches in seven days, the Reign will get somewhat of a break and be able to get some training sessions in after those were very hard to come by. Their next match will be out on the road, as they’ll head out East for their next matchup on Sunday, May 14th. The club will battle the North Carolina Courage for the first time this season, and they’ll do so on their field at Wakemed Soccer Park with a kickoff time of 12PM PST in regular season play. The match will be available to watch on three different broadcasts: FOX 13+, Paramount +, and TSN+.
