Reign enter rematch with Gotham FC in much different place than last fall’s title match

The long-awaited rematch of last fall’s NWSL championship match is set for Sunday. The Reign, however, aren’t nearly the same team that lost the title to NJ/NY Gotham FC 2-1 in November.

Seattle is 13^th in league standings and hasn’t won since May.

“To even be talking about playoffs at this point in the season with where we’re at would be foolish,” Reign coach Laura Harvey said. “We have to just take every game as it comes.”

The Reign are still adjusting to the loss of club original Megan Rapinoe, who retired from the sport last fall. U.S. internationals Emily Sonnett and Rose Lavelle left the Reign and joined Gotham via free agency in January while former Seattle defender Sam Hiatt was traded to the East Coast rival.

Sonnett, a defender, hasn’t missed a start in helping Gotham concede a league-tying fewest 11 goals. Hiatt has started 10 matches on the backline this season while Lavelle, a midfielder, started her past six and has three goals overall.

Here’s a look at Sunday’s match:

The details

Reign (2-9-3) at Gotham (8-3-3)

Time/place: 10 a.m. Sunday at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.

TV: ESPN2, ESPN+, ESPN Deportes

Radio: N/A

Series history: Seattle leads the all-time series 12-9-7 since 2013.

Here are the storylines:

Injury update

Reign captain Lu Barnes and fellow defender Ryanne Brown didn’t make the trip due to injuries both sustained during the second half against Racing Louisville last week. They were able to participate in parts of training but ruled out by Harvey.

Bounce back

Gotham and the Reign are entering Sunday’s match wanting to erase poor performances. GFC was unbeaten in nine matches before getting shut out 2-0 by the Washington Spirit last week.

Seattle, with a player advantage, conceded a goal in the waning seconds to draw 1-1 against Louisville at Lumen Field. The Reign are unbeaten in their past two matches.

Quotable

“It’s hard to prepare for teams you don’t play very often,” Reign keeper Claudia Dickey said. Her club trained the past two days in New Jersey. “A lot of teams play us a little bit differently. If we continue to play how we play, that’s going to help us a lot. We’ve been better in possession and defensively we’ve been a lot stronger … except for the goal last weekend. But putting that forward because we know [Sunday] is going to be difficult. We know they have a bunch of players who can score in any moment.”