Seattle Reign FC host Bay FC at Lumen Field on Saturday, September 12, with kickoff set for 5 p.m. PT and the match streaming on NWSL+. It is the return leg of their season series, and both clubs arrive needing points for very different reasons.
Seattle comes in 8th with a 10-8-4 record and 34 points, while Bay FC has dropped to 15th place. Since the teams last met at the start of August, Seattle has gone 4-1-2 and Bay FC has gone 1-4-1, a run that has left Bay FC with postseason hopes hanging by a thread and Seattle trying to hold its place above the playoff line.
That is why the matchup is drawing attention now. Seattle beat San Diego 1-0 last weekend and stretched its goal-scoring streak to 13 games, tying the club record set in the 2014 season. Bay FC, meanwhile, lost 2-1 at home to the Kansas City Current on an 89th-minute goal from Rocky Rodriguez, a late blow that did little to help its standing in a crowded, unforgiving race.
The one concern for Seattle is in goal. Claudia Dickey suffered a facial laceration after a hard collision while blocking a shot from Ludmila late in last weekend's game, and Laura Harvey said the deep wound and stitches were still an impediment. Dickey did not suffer a concussion, but she was expected to need a few more days to recover, leaving Seattle to sort out the backup situation after Elena Milam was signed to a short-term contract and Neeku Purcell remained on loan with Dallas while Evan O’Steen was with the US national team at the U20 Women’s World Cup.
Bay FC still has time to stay alive, but not much room to breathe. The club cannot be eliminated from playoff contention for at least a few more weeks, which keeps the race mathematically open even as its form slips and Jordan Silkowitz has carried a heavy load with 10.4 goals prevented and a 77.2% save percentage. Seattle, by contrast, has its own pressure point: Angel City is only two points behind with the same number of games played, so every point gained or lost can shift the line beneath the Reign before the weekend is over.
Seattle has home games left to bank, and this one may say as much about its staying power as Bay FC's fading margin for error. If Dickey cannot go, the Reign will have to protect a playoff position and a record-tying scoring run with a patched goalkeeping setup, which is the kind of late-season problem that can decide more than one table spot.
