The Seattle Reign are on their final road trip of the regular season tonight, facing the Utah Royals in a high-stakes battle where both teams have a shot to clinch a playoff spot. Utah sits just three points ahead of our Reign with only two games left to play, and they currently hold the crucial tiebreakers in goal differential and goals scored.
The Playoff Picture: Every Minute Counts
This isn’t just another game, Emerald City. Our Reign need a win tonight, plus a Thorns victory over North Carolina, to lock up their playoff berth. The Royals, on the other hand, have an easier path: a win of their own or a Portland victory would send them through. No matter what goes down tonight, though, final seeding won’t be settled until decision day. Even if we lose, the Reign can’t be knocked out of contention just yet. Historically, the Reign have a solid 9-3-3 all-time record against Utah, including a strong 4-1-2 mark when playing on the road. Overall, we’ve scored 21 goals and conceded 16 in this series.
Recent Form and Key Battles
Remember that crushing 3-0 loss at home to Utah back in late April? Paige Cronin opened the scoring a minute in, followed by Narumi Miura in the 7th minute, and Cloé Lacasse sealed it in first-half stoppage time. That’s a memory we gotta erase tonight! The good news is the Reign are coming off a strong 3-1 win last weekend in Chicago, while the Royals just dropped a 2-0 decision at home to Kansas City, their third loss in their last four home games. Maddie Mercado is on a roll too, her brace last weekend pushed her to 11 career goals for the Reign, making her 9th all-time for the club. She’s just two goals shy of catching Jordyn Huitema for 8th. We’ll be without Lynn Biyendolo on maternity leave and Maddie Dahlien due to a knee injury.
Game Plan for Sandy
The coaching staff has laid out the keys to grabbing this crucial road win: be alert from the opening whistle, capitalize on set pieces, and break out of their press quickly. Given what happened in April, that “alert from the opening whistle” is non-negotiable. Our team also flew into Salt Lake City Thursday afternoon, keeping their time at altitude as short as possible, a smart move based on research showing those performance impacts only kick in after 48 hours. This match kicks off tonight, Friday, October 23rd, at 6:30 PM PT from America First Field in Sandy, Utah. You can catch all the action on FOX 13+ in Seattle or stream it free on NWSL+ and the Fox Local app. This is it, Seattle. Our Reign are fighting for their season, and every single play matters. Let’s rally behind them as they chase that playoff spot on the road!
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Sounder at Heart.
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