The Beating Welsh Heart
Jess Fishlock is the beating heart of this Seattle Reign team. Many around her have energy, many around her have skill. Few in this league have the degree of energy and the degree of skill that Fishlock has.
For a half of play on Friday night, the Seattle Reign had trouble starting the engine. But after Fishlock entered the game as an attacking midfielder, that all shifted. Her accuracy on the ball served as a lynchpin around which the Reign attack coalesced.
It was the midfield that created the first Reign goal that day. Fishlock stole the ball away from Angel City around the halfway mark in the 65th minute and sent it over towards the near side for Sally Menti, who went up the field and dropped it off to Sofia Huerta. Seattle’s right wing back curled a cross over for Fishlock, who was now in the box.
First touch came in and ACFC keeper Angelina Anderson dove to deflect – right back to Fishlock. Jess whacked a right-footed shot to the back of the net before anyone else could react.
Just a complete clinic from start to finish on that play. And it was a good mix of experience and youth: Huerta and Fishlock are Reign stalwarts while Menti is in her first NWSL season.
Fishlock nearly got a brace just three minutes later. Coco and Menti connected in the attacking zone and Menti made a very aware play to get the ball to Fishlock located a bit up the far side. Fishlock took the shot with a good angle on net – but the curling arc of the ball went just over top of the woodwork.
Angel City center back Alanna Kennedy also notched her first goal of the season … for the Reign, as she accidentally tapped a Reign corner service into the back of her own net in the 86th minute. 2-0 was the final score.
Lo and behold, the Seattle Reign are undefeated in their last four NWSL matches. In that time, they outscored their opponents 10-4 and recorded three wins and one tie.
Jess talked about how the team needed that extra bit of connection by the time halftime rolled around.
“I don’t think we were doing an awful lot wrong in the first half; we just weren’t connecting in the dangerous areas,” Fishlock said. “So, that was a priority for me, that if I could get it in the pockets that I like, that I was connecting and going forward.”
And that she did. But it was also due to a midfield that worked incredibly well together. Sam Meza and Sally Menti spent some of the time in a double-pivot, while at other points, Menti went up as more of a classic eight. They, like the rest of the team, shone more brightly in the second half, but you could see their good play throughout the game.
“We have found something in them that really does take pressure off the Jesses, the older players that have been doing this for a long time,” Coach Harvey said about the two young midfielders. “They can look at those two and know these young ones, who are so eager to learn and get better.”
Fishlock, however, is on another level. Harvey described how she trusts her football IQ as a team leader.
“Whether coming off the bench, starting – which she’s done a lot – she just gets the game at a really high level,” Harvey remarked. “To have the luxury of being able to let her watch the first half and work out how she’s going to have success in the game … and the team believed that about her too, that she’s going to be in the right place where they need her to be.”
Friday’s victory brought the Reign to 7-4-3, fifth place in the NWSL table.
With Fishlock back, with young stars rising, the Seattle Reign have some serious potential. But there are a lot of strong, strong teams in the NWSL. The next big test is on August 10 as they face the archrival Portland Thorns. In Providence Park.
