For sixty minutes, the Seattle Reign absolutely owned the pitch, carving out chance after chance and looking like the better side by a mile. They were in control, pushing the Courage back, making plays. Then Madison Curry gave up a penalty on North Carolina's first real look of the second half, and just like that, everything changed. VAR rightly interceded after the initial wave-on, Riley Jackson buried it from the spot, and the Courage had a lead against the run of play. From there, our Reign just crumbled.
The What-Ifs That Haunt Us Now
It's always a game of what-ifs, isn't it? And man, for the Reign, those what-ifs are gonna sting for a while. What if Ainsley McCammon got just a little more elevation on that set piece, tucking it out of the keeper's reach? What if Maddie Dahlien got her whole foot to it clean, instead of scuffing the first touch and settling for a non-chance? What if Mia Fishel sunk that sublimely clever chip shot, instead of making it another highlight reel save for Kailen Sheridan? We were pushing, we had that protracted period of control, but we just couldn't put that second goal on the board. We needed it. We needed that cushion. And not getting it made the penalty call a total gut punch.The Collapse Was Brutal, The Vibes Were Broken
The penalty was tough to swallow, but these things happen in soccer. What was truly concerning, what really hit hard, was seeing our Reign so completely unable to respond. That 2-1 score quickly became 3-1 just seven minutes later, and honestly, if not for some absolutely heroic intercessions by backup goalkeeper Cassie Miller, it could've easily been 4-1 or even 5-1. The team was rattled. Sixty minutes of taking the game right to North Carolina no longer mattered. The vibes were just bad, and the morale seemed totally broken. It felt like we fell apart in a way we've seldom seen, even during the direst days of 2024. When things always seem to go wrong, it really does become habit-forming, a self-fulfilling expectation that something *will* go wrong. It's a tough pill to swallow for fans in the Emerald City. This team can be dynamic. The talent is there, and with the right moves, it could really shine. But right now, they're fragile, and they desperately need the confidence that can come from the right reinforcements at the right time. That window for making those moves before 2026 becomes another lost season? Yeah, that window is getting narrower by the minute. Our goalkeeper Cassie Miller, despite giving up three goals, did what she needed to do; the first goal was a series of errors not her fault, the second a penalty, and the third was basically unsavable. We've got to find a way to turn this around. What's next for this squad is everything.This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.