Seattle Reign arrived at Sunday’s match against the Chicago Stars with a simple assignment: win and keep their playoff path alive. Kickoff came at 4 PM PT on October 18 at Northwestern Medicine Field at Martin Stadium in Evanston, IL, with Seattle sitting ninth and one spot outside the postseason line.
The timing mattered because Seattle had a route into eighth place. The Reign were two points behind North Carolina, and a San Diego win over the Courage on Saturday opened the door for Seattle to leap into the final playoff position with a victory. That made Seattle Reign FC vs Chicago Stars less about a routine regular-season date and more about a match that could change the bracket by night’s end.
Seattle had reasons to believe it could take that step. The Reign had beaten Chicago 1-0 at home in August, even while being outshot 24-5, and they entered the day with a 12-12-10 all-time record against the Stars. But the road has not been nearly as forgiving. Seattle owned a 3-9-3 record away against Chicago, a mark that explains why the task in Evanston carried real weight even before the first whistle.
Both teams also came out of the FIFA international break with something to prove. Seattle had lost 1-0 to the North Carolina Courage in its last match before the pause, while Chicago fell 3-0 to the Denver Summit. For the Reign, the pause arrived with Lynn Biyendolo out because of maternity leave and Maddie Dahlien sidelined by a knee injury marked SEI, leaving Seattle to chase a result without one of its key attackers.
Chicago was dealing with its own absences. Ryan Connaughton was out with a knee injury, Jordyn Huitema and Natalia Kuikka were both out with knee injuries marked SEI, Rachael Kundananji was listed as out for an excused absence, and Julia Grosso was unavailable because of a neck injury. The Stars entered at 5-20-2, with a minus-48 goal differential, while Seattle stood at 12-11-4 with a plus-1 differential, a gap that underscored how much the Reign had to gain from a win and how much Chicago had to spoil.
Jeremy Scheer was the referee, with Christian Little and Matt Trotter as assistant referees, Ryan Homik as fourth official and Abdou Ndiaye on VAR. The game was available on Roku Channel in the United States, free to stream for viewers there, with Josh Eastern and McZerboni on the USA feed. What mattered most, though, was still the same: Seattle had a live chance to turn one result into a playoff place, and if it did not, the road it had spent months building would narrow fast again.
