The Seattle Reign FC drew a penalty just 12 seconds as Jordyn Huitema was fouled and Bethany Balcer buried it for the matches lone goal, as Seattle played strong defensively throughout to blank the Washington Spirit and begin the year with three points.

For a third time in their history, the OL Reign have fallen just short of reaching the mountain top. The Reign fall in heartbreaking fashion to NJ/NY Gotham FC in the NWSL Championship, as Megan Rapinoe had to leave the match just five minutes in and the Reign missed numerous opportunities in the second half to equalize.

The OL Reign marched into San Diego, defeating this years Shield winning Wave squad, to squash their semifinal curse dating back to 2015 and advance to their first NWSL Championship since the same year. Forward Veronica Latsko was the hero again, scoring the lone goal in the match for a second straight postseason match.

The OL Reign struck first on a headed goal from Bethany Balcer, off the service from Megan Rapinoe, but a chaotic end of the first half saw the Reign concede and a red card assessed to Alana Cook, and the Reign had to hunker down in the second half to split the points with the visiting North Carolina Courage.

The OL Reign, up a player due to a very early red card against the Orlando Pride, got a singular goal in the match from forward Jordyn Huitema, securing three crucial points regardless.

The OL Reign clinched the West division of the 2023 UKG Challenge Cup behind another clean sheet and Bethany Balcer’s penalty goal in the 71st minute. Without their 8 international players currently at the World Cup, the Reign grinded out a tight victory to earn themselves an automatic bid to the semifinals of this years Challenge Cup.