Seattle Reign Home Opener

March 17,2024

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Table of contents

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The Old Guard

Welcome to Seattle

Royal Lineage

Return of the Queen

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The Old Guard

The OGs: Lu Barnes & Jess Fishlock

Lauren “Lu” Barns and Jess Fishlock have both played for the club since its inception in 2013! (Also Megan Rapinoe but she retired lol)

Lu Barnes #3

• she/her
• Lauren “Lu” Barnes is the team captain
• Plays center back
• Holds the league record in games played (189), games started (185) and minutes played (16,369) all-time

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Jess Fishlock #10

• she/her
• midfielder
• Ranks fifth all-time in appearances (163) and fourth all-time in games started (160) and minutes played (14,001)
• Was named 2021 NWSL Most Valuable Player, becoming the second player in Reign history to win the award
• Is MARRIED to forward Tziarra King (#23)

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this will become relevant later!

Quinn #5

• they/them
• midfielder
• Just earned 100th cap on CAN nat’l team
• Drafted by the Washington Spirit in the 2018 NWSL Draft as the third overall pick, becoming the highest drafted Canadian in NWSL history… but this could be slight tea
• In 2021, at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Quinn became the first out, transgender, non-binary athlete to compete at the Olympics,[3] the first to medal, and the first to earn a gold medal

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Veronica Latsko #24

• she/her
• forward
• Came up big for us in the 2023 playoffs
• 2023 playoff run featured our first playoff win since 2015
• Latsko became the third player in NWSL history to score in back-to-back playoff games… could this be her season?

#8 headband pony

#24 mid pony

#9 high pony

#10 mini pony /

no pony.

Additional Resources

I couldn’t cover everybody for brevity’s sake, but here’s the whole roster with player bios.

https://www.reignfc.com/roster

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Welcome to Seattle

Wales Calling! 📞

Angharad James #6

• she/her
• forward

Lily Woodham #17

• she/her
• defender

Ji So-Yun #91

• she/her
• midfielder
• The creative midfielder went on to make history as the first non-British player to reach 100 and then 200 league appearances in the WSL. Ji totaled 210 appearances and scored 68 goals across all competitions with Chelsea to help the club win 13 major titles – six league titles, four FA Cups, two league cups and one Community Shield
• I feel like this could be a moment?!!?!??!

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Royal Lineage

What is a Royal Brougham?

Royal Brougham

• 1894 – 1978; active 1910-1978
• Was a sports editor for Seattle Post-Intelligencer for 69 years, starting at age 16
• Created the Sports Star of the Year Awards with Seattle PI in 1935 - it’s still running to this day!!!
• In many ways, responsible for Seattle Sports fan culture

Heartbreak City - Shaun Scott

Original Reign ‘96-’98

• Member of the American Basketball League before it folded due to competition from WNBA
• Played in Mercer Arena and Key Arena (now Climate pledge arena)

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Return of the Queen

On January 30, 2019, the team announced that it would relocate to Cheney Stadium in Tacoma for the 2019 season and re-brand itself as Reign FC.

2013: Seattle Reign founded, Laura Harvey hired as head coach

Laura Harvey guided the team to NWSL shields in 2014 & 2015, despite having little playoff success.

2019: After two consecutive seasons of fifth-place finishes and thus outside of the playoffs, head coach and general manager Laura Harvey stepped down and was replaced by former rival Vlatko Andonovski as new head coach of the team.

2014: games moved to Memorial stadium (Seattle center)

2020: Regular season cancelled due to COVID. Renamed to OL Reign. Farid Benstiti hired as part of rebrand

2021: Head coach Farid Benstiti resigned in July for undisclosed reasons; a joint investigation by the league and the players' association in December 2022 found that he abused players by "weight-shaming" them.

Laura Harvey returns.

2022: Club returns to Seattle and announces Lumen field as new home stadium.

2023: OL Reign makes it to NWSL championship match, before losing to New York.

In April 2023, Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang announced plans to purchase a majority stake in OL Féminin. As both OL Reign and OL Féminin are owned by OL Groupe, Kang's plans would create a conflict of interest between the Reign and the Spirit. As a result, OL Groupe announced its intent to sell OL Reign

Team returns to its original name Seattle Reign FC and iconic logo.

June 2024: NEW! Sounders, Carlyle Group complete sale of Seattle Reign FC!

Seattle Reign FC Head Coach Laura Harvey wins Sports Leader of the Year Award at the 89th annual Sports Star of the Year Awards.

(Award established by Royal Brougham (callback))

“"After a long night of hooking, trade didn't like the session... so he had gutted me and set me on fire... but you know I didn't die, I had crystallized and now I'm a glamazon bitch ready for the runway!"