2020: Year in Review

Despite its upheavals, 2020 was a critical year for the growth of OL Reign. Under a new name, new ownership, and a new head coach, the club forged ahead through adversity to begin a new chapter while maintaining its strong ties to the Puget Sound region.

A New Era

The year opened on a bright note for OL Reign. The club announced last December that it had entered into an agreement for OL Groupe, the parent company of Olympique Lyonnais, to acquire the club. The club also appointed a new head coach, Farid Benstiti, whose resume includes a proven record of domestic success in France, Russa and China. The club also acquired several exciting NWSL talents such as Dani Weatherholt, Sofia Huerta and Amber Brooks while re-signing longtime Reign players, including Jess Fishlock, Lauren Barnes. The club also made a long-term commitment to reigning Rookie of the Year Bethany Balcer, signing her to a three-year extension.

The club made strides off the field as well. After the club revealed its new branding and crest on March 6, the club seemed poised to enjoy another record-breaking year in both attendance and viewership thanks to a multi-year broadcast deal with CBS and Twitch.

A Change of Plans

2020 had other plans.

Rising levels of COVID-19 across the country first forced the cancellation of the Thorns Spring Invitational, which would have afforded OL Reign its first chance to jell as a team ahead of the NWSL regular season.

The COVID-19 situation grew more severe in early March,  ultimately leading the club to suspend training just one week into its preseason. OL Reign used the time to focus on the community, organizing the delivery of hundreds of club-themed cupcakes to essential workers on the front lines of the COVID battle, and organizing blood drives with Bloodworks Northwest and the Red Cross.

When it became clear that the NWSL regular season would not move forward as originally planned, the league, under the leadership of new commissioner Lisa Baird, came up with a bold plan to resume play inside a bubble with the announcement of the NWSL Challenge Cup.

Preseason in Big Sky Country

In early May, the club was faced with Washington state guidelines that prohibited the team from returning to full team training. With just over a month to prepare for the Challenge Cup, OL Reign elected to relocate to Missoula, Montana to restart its preseason training ahead of the tournament. The club received a warm welcome from Missoula residents and its hosts, the University of Montana.

Players and coaches alike quickly set to work adjusting to the new realities of the abbreviated preseason and the need to prepare for the condensed match schedule that the Challenge Cup required. The pandemic required several players to endure significant challenges to join up with the club—like Spanish defender Celia Jiménez Delgado, who was in transit for 40 hours to join her teammates in the United States.

After a month of training in Missoula, the club announced its 28-player roster for the Challenge Cup. The squad boasted a number of new and returning players. Joining the likes of Balcer, Fishlock, and Barnes were new signings like Costa Rican international Shirley Cruz, Japanese forward Nicole Momiki and defender Alana Cook, who joined on loan from Paris Saint-Germain. The club was at last ready for competitive play and made its way to Utah.

The NWSL Challenge Cup

The NWSL Challenge Cup in Salt Lake City, Utah was an opportunity for OL Reign and the NWSL alike. For the club, it was a chance to start to implement the style that Benstiti has deployed so successfully in other leagues around the world. For the league, it was the chance to make history by becoming the first professional sports league in the United States to return to play after COVID-19 brought the sports world to a screeching halt. It also was the opportunity for the league to make its national television debut, thanks to its partnership with CBS.

OL Reign returned to the pitch for its first competitive match in 254 days on June 30, playing Sky Blue FC to a scoreless draw to begin the Challenge Cup preliminary round. The match served as the first chance for players like Momiki, Cruz, and Cook to play for the badge, but also as the return of key players like Jasmyne Spencer and Taylor Smith, both of whom had recently recovered from long-term injuries.

The club suffered a 2-0 setback against eventual cup-winners Houston on July 4, but bounced back with a late goal from Balcer in a 1-0 win over Utah on July 8. The win over Utah marked the first minutes for keeper Michelle Betos since she suffered a season-ending achilles tendon rupture in May of 2019.

Entering the final match of the preliminary round against Portland, OL Reign sat in fifth place on the eight-team table with a 1-1-1 record. Though the match was played without fans and on a neutral site, players still felt emboldened by the rivalry, particularly as the match was designated to serve as the club’s 2020 Pride Match, presented by Boeing.

The match finished as a scoreless draw, marking OL Reign’s third clean sheet of the tournament. The point meant that OL Reign finished third in the preliminary round, while Portland finished last with an 0-1-3 record. The draw also marked Jess Fishlock’s return to the field for OL Reign after a season-ending injury in 2019.

As part of its Pride Match festivities, the club sold its match-worn, rainbow-numbered, raising over $6,000 for the Rainbow Center in Tacoma.

The club delivered its strongest performance of the tournament in the quarterfinal against the Chicago Red Stars on July 18, outshooting its opponent 15-10 and forcing six saves from keeper Alyssa Naeher. The team demonstrated that it had adapted to Benstiti’s pass-centric approach, moving the ball through the middle of the field and generating a multitude of dangerous chances. Still, neither team was able to score over 90 minutes of play, and OL Reign was narrowly eliminated from the tournament on kicks from the penalty mark, 4-3.

The NWSL Fall Series

Following Houston’s victory in the Challenge Cup, the NWSL decided to resume play back in local markets with the NWSL Fall Series, the winner of which would be awarded the Verizon Community Shield and $25,000 for their community partner—a local business or nonprofit that they had partnered with for the competition.

To reduce travel-related risk, teams were broken up to regional pods, with OL Reign placed in the western pod along with Portland and Utah for the four-match series. The competition would be a good chance for OL Reign to see how deep its roster was, having sent several marquee players out on loans to European clubs ahead of the return to play.

OL Reign chose the Black Future Co-op Fund, an organization seeking to battle the historic inequalities experienced by Washington’s Black communities, as its partner organization for the Fall Series. As part of the partnership, the club committed to a minimum donation of $15,000 to the fund, regardless of the club’s final position on the table.

In a year full of delays, OL Reign’s start of the tournament was pushed further back on the calendar after smoke from wildfires along the west coast necessitated the delay of the club’s road match against Portland.

When the club did return to the pitch, it was for a 2-2 road draw against Utah Royals FC on September 26. Despite the long break from competitive play, the club rallied from an early two-goal deficit to fight its way to a point on the road.

Four days later, the club made up its road match against Portland, suffering a defeat that was sparked by a pair of Portland goals shortly before halftime. The match marked Balcer’s final goal of 2020 as the forward finished the year with three goals and one assist in eight appearances, leading the club in scoring for the second straight year.

A pair of penalty kicks kept OL Reign from besting their rivals at home on October 10, but the match did at least provide OL Reign the chance to play a competitive match at home after a year-plus absence.

The club ended 2020 on a high note in its final match against Utah on October 17. OL Reign swamped the opposition, outshooting them 23-10 and playing with a high-intensity defensive scheme that matched up well with the strong combination play Benstiti aims for his squads to play. Huerta and newcomer Leah Pruitt, who made her first start for the club, both scored in a 2-0 victory.

“The Fall Series was a good opportunity for our players to play again,” Benstiti said. “It was difficult for us to come back and play after such a long break after the Utah tournament, especially with so many players who are on loan. I often speak about needing our rhythm on the field in games, I think this break disrupted the rhythm of the club before this fall tournament; our rhythm of training, of preparation. It made us a little uncomfortable, but our performances in these four matches kept getting better and better. It is natural that we should finish with our strongest performance. Even if there is still room for us all to grow, I am very happy that we were able to end our year with a win at home.”

During the final match, the broadcast recognized OL Reign Academy players Tatiwyat Buck and Arianna Ortiz as the recipients of the first-ever Boeing Academy Scholarships. The scholarships, sponsored by Boeing and awarded to young players of color, will cover Ortiz and Buck’s full cost of participation with the OL Reign Academy for the 2020/2021 season.

Looking Forward

As the club enters the offseason, it begins looking ahead to 2021 as it continues its quest for an NWSL Championship. The club made a move to acquire the rights to USWNT Rose Lavelle—currently playing in England for Manchester City—ahead of the Fall Series. An additional move on October 22 saw the club move goalkeeper Casey Murphy to North Carolina in return for an influx of allocation money, an international roster slot and a 2022 draft pick as it starts building its roster for the future.

“The next steps are new for me,” Benstiti said. “Whether it’s an exchange with another club, or what our players might do. It’s very different for me because in Europe we would decide if a player would stay or leave. This is special for me, I will try to give my opinions about the next season for the team, and then I trust Bill [Predmore] to do a very good job to help build our roster for next year.”

2020 certainly didn’t unfold the way the club—or the league—predicted, but OL Reign and the NWSL found ways to be successful despite the obstacles faced. The club came together and adopted Benstiti’s new style with relatively little time to adjust, and the roster has continued to solidify its core for the future. The league, meanwhile, successfully became the first professional sports league to resume play in the United States while dealing with COVID-19 and saw a nearly five hundred percent increase in viewership over 2019.