The 2018 Seattle Reign FC season was the club's sixth season of play and their sixth season in the National Women's Soccer League, the top division of women's soccer in the United States. After finishing fifth in the league for two consecutive seasons, the Reign finished third to return to the playoffs, where they lost to Portland Thorns FC in the semi-final.
Vlatko Andonovski replaced Laura Harvey as head coach on November 7, 2017. Andonovski was previously the head coach of FC Kansas City.
This was ultimately the club's last season of their first stint in Seattle, as well as its last as Seattle Reign FC. During the 2018–19 offseason, the club's principal owners, Bill and Teresa Predmore, announced that the team would move to Tacoma, Washington for 2019 and beyond, rebranding as Reign FC. In addition, the team gained two new minority investors—the ownership group of the Tacoma Rainiers, a Triple-A Minor League Baseball team in the Pacific Coast League, and Adrian Hanauer, the principal owner of the region's Major League Soccer team, Seattle Sounders FC. Reign FC played in the Rainiers' home of Cheney Stadium. A new soccer stadium in Tacoma, already planned for the Sounders' USL Championship affiliate Tacoma Defiance, was expected to be built by 2021, with Reign FC to move in upon its completion. However, in December 2021, it was announced that the club would return to Seattle.
Club
Coaching staff
Roster As of July 16, 2018.
Competitions
All times are in PT unless otherwise noted.
Preseason
Regular season
Regular-season standings
Results summary
Results by round
Playoffs
Appearances and goals
Only players who have made appearances are listed.
|colspan="14"|Goalkeepers:
|colspan="14"|Defenders:
|colspan="14"|Midfielders:
|colspan="14"|Forwards:
|colspan="14"|Players who left the club during the season:
Awards
The Best FIFA Women's Player Megan Rapinoe (nominee)
Ballon d'Or Megan Rapinoe (shortlisted)
ESPY Awards Best NWSL Player: Megan Rapinoe Best International Women's Soccer Player: Jodie Taylor (nominee)
The Guardian 100 Best Footballers in The World
No. 10: Megan Rapinoe No. 36: Jodie Taylor No. 89: Nahomi Kawasumi
NWSL season awards
Most Valuable Player: Megan Rapinoe (finalist) Goalkeeper of the Year: Lydia Williams (finalist) Coach of the Year: Vlatko Andonovski (finalist) Best XI: Megan Rapinoe Second XI: Steph Catley, Lydia Williams
Team season awards Most Valuable Player: Megan Rapinoe Defender of the Year: Lauren Barnes Newcomer of the Year: Allie Long Golden Boot: Jodie Taylor (9)
NWSL Player of the Month MonthResultPlayerRef.March Megan Rapinoe
NWSL Team of the Month Month Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Ref.March Megan RapinoeMay Steph CatleyJuly Theresa Nielsen Megan RapinoeAugust Lydia Williams Theresa Nielsen Megan Oyster
NWSL Player of the Week WeekResultPlayerRef.1 Megan Rapinoe7 Megan Rapinoe
NWSL Goal of the Week WeekResultPlayerRef.1 Megan Rapinoe6 Rumi Utsugi7 Megan Rapinoe14 Jodie Taylor16 Megan Rapinoe17 Jodie Taylor19 Jasmyne Spencer20 Jess Fishlock22 Jodie Taylor
NWSL Save of the Week WeekResultPlayerRef.1 Michelle Betos4 Michelle Betos5 Michelle Betos6 Michelle Betos7 Lydia Williams8 Lydia Williams10 Lydia Williams13 Lydia Williams19 Lydia Williams21 Lydia Williams22 Lydia Williams
Contract extensions DatePlayerPosNotesRef October 23, 2017 Haley Kopmeyer GK Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Maddie Bauer DF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Rachel Corsie DF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Merritt Mathias DF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Kristen McNabb DF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Rebekah Stott DF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Christine Nairn MF Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Larissa Crummer FW Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Kiersten Dallstream FW Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Katie Johnson FW Club options exercised October 23, 2017 Beverly Yanez FW Club options exercised November 29, 2017 Nahomi Kawasumi FW Re-signed November 29, 2017 Jess Fishlock MF Re-signed November 30, 2017 Rumi Utsugi MF Re-signed December 5, 2017 Lydia Williams GK Signed to a new contract January 22, 2018 Lauren Barnes DF Re-signed
Transfers For transfers in, dates listed are when the Reign FC officially signed the players to the roster. Transactions where only the rights to the players are acquired (e.g., draft picks) are not listed, and amateur call-ups are not considered official signings either. For transfers out, dates listed are when the Reign FC officially removed the players from its roster, not when they signed with another club. If a player later signed with another club, her new club will be noted, but the date listed here remains the one when she was officially removed from the Reign FC roster.
Transfers in DatePlayerPosPrevious clubNotesRef November 22, 2017 Jodie Taylor FW Arsenal Free transfer after guest-player stint with Melbourne City January 11, 2018 Allie Long MF Portland Thorns FC Traded for a conditional 2nd-round draft pick in the 2020 NWSL College Draft and the rights to Caitlin Foord January 18, 2018 Yael Averbuch DF Utah Royals FC Traded, along with the 25th pick in the 2018 NWSL College Draft, for Diana Matheson January 29, 2018 Jasmyne Spencer FW Orlando Pride Traded for Haley Kopmeyer and the club's natural 3rd-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft January 30, 2018 Michelle Betos GK Vålerenga Free transfer January 30, 2018 Megan Oyster DF Boston Breakers Contracted dispersal draft pick January 30, 2018 Elizabeth Addo MF Boston Breakers Contracted dispersal draft pick January 30, 2018 Morgan Andrews MF Boston Breakers Contracted dispersal draft pick January 30, 2018 Christen Westphal DF Boston Breakers Contracted dispersal draft pick January 31, 2018 Theresa Nielsen DF Vålerenga Free transfer March 23, 2018 Adelaide Gay GK ÍBV National Team Replacement player for Lydia Williams March 30, 2018 Jaycie Johnson FW Nebraska Cornhuskers National Team Replacement player; signed standard player agreement on July 10 May 1, 2018 Alyssa Kleiner DF Washington Spirit Free transfer June 12, 2018 Adriana Leon FW Sky Blue FC Traded for a 4th-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft
Draft picks Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in. Only trades involving draft picks and executed on the days of the 2018 NWSL College Draft and the 2018 NWSL Dispersal Draft, respectively, will be listed in the notes.
PlayerPosPrevious clubNotesRef Ally Haran DF Wake Forest Demon Deacons College Draft Round 3, Pick 5 (25th overall); acquired from Utah Royals FC Celia Jiménez Delgado DF Alabama Crimson Tide College Draft Round 4, Pick 6 (36th overall) Megan Oyster DF Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft Round 1, Pick 3 (3rd overall) Elizabeth Addo MF Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft Round 1, Pick 8 (8th overall); acquired from Orlando Pride Morgan Andrews MF Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft Round 2, Pick 2 (11th overall); acquired from Orlando Pride Christen Westphal DF Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft Round 2, Pick 7 (16th overall) Lindsay Elston MF Boston Breakers Dispersal Draft Round 3, Pick 3 (21st overall)
Loans in StartEndPlayerPosParent ClubNotesRef January 29, 2018 October 11, 2018 Steph Catley DF Melbourne City Rights acquired from Orlando Pride for Carson Pickett and Christine Nairn
Transfers out DatePlayerPosDestination ClubNotesRef September 22, 2017 Elli Reed DF Retired October 23, 2017 Madalyn Schiffel GK Retired January 11, 2018 Rebekah Stott DF Sky Blue FC Traded, along with Katie Johnson, for the rights to Caitlin Foord January 11, 2018 Katie Johnson FW Sky Blue FC Traded, along with Rebekah Stott, for the rights to Caitlin Foord January 18, 2018 Diana Matheson MF Utah Royals FC Traded for Yael Averbuch and the 25th pick in the 2018 NWSL College Draft January 29, 2018 Carson Pickett DF Orlando Pride Traded, along with Christine Nairn, for Steph Catley January 29, 2018 Christine Nairn MF Orlando Pride Traded, along with Carson Pickett, for Steph Catley January 29, 2018 Haley Kopmeyer GK Orlando Pride Traded, along with the club's natural 3rd-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft, for Jasmyne Spencer January 31, 2018 Merritt Mathias DF North Carolina Courage Traded, along with the club's natural 2nd-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft, for the Courage's natural 1st-round pick in the 2019 NWSL College Draft January 31, 2018 Rachel Corsie DF Utah Royals FC Waived February 19, 2018 Larissa Crummer FW Newcastle Jets Waived April 25, 2018 Adelaide Gay GK Portland Thorns FC National Team Replacement contract concluded July 16, 2018 Maddie Bauer DF Djurgården Waived
References
External links