

SEATTLE (August 15, 2014) – Seattle Reign FC (16-1-6, 54 pts) will play its final game of the regular season on Sunday, August 17, as they take on Portland Thorns FC (9-8-6, 33 pts) at Providence Park in Portland, Ore. The match kicks off 2 p.m. (PT) with a live, high-definition broadcast available in markets outside Seattle on ESPN3.com, and on Comcast SportsNet Northwest (CSNNW) in Seattle and in most markets inside Washington state.

While Seattle has already clinched the NWSL shield – and home field advantage throughout the playoffs – Portland currently finds itself needing help from other teams to make the playoffs. Saturday’s games will likely determine Portland’s fate: wins from Chicago and Washington will eliminate Portland from the playoffs, while combinations of losses or draws from the Spirit and Red Stars may open the door for Portland to make the playoffs with a win in Sunday’s match against Reign FC.

Seattle is coming off a 1-1 draw with the Spirit last Saturday evening, to complete their regular season home schedule undefeated, with a record of 8-0-4.

Washington got on the board first in the 29th minute, with forward Lisa DeVanna finding midfielder Diana Matheson behind the Seattle backline, with Matheson knocking a low shot past goalkeeper Hope Solo on the far post for the game’s first goal.

Despite controlling the time of possession for most of the second half, Seattle would remain one goal down until the 89th minute, when forward Megan Rapinoe connected with Scottish international and NWSL Player of the Month Kim Little on a pass into the box. Little then broke past a line of four Washington defenders, dribbling past goalkeeper Chantel Jones for the equalizer on the near post.

Little leads the NWSL with 16 goals on the season.

With the draw, Reign FC remains atop the league standings with 54 points, 13 points ahead of second-place FC Kansas City, and 19 points ahead of the Spirit. Seattle is now 16 points ahead of the previous record for points in a season, with one regular season match left to play.

Portland is coming off a 2-0 loss to the Boston Breakers last Sunday at Harvard Stadium. Forward Jessica McDonald is tied for third in the NWSL in goals with 11, while midfielder Allie Long is tied for fifth with nine. Forward Christine Sinclair leads the NWSL in both shots and shots on goal, with 77 and 40 respectively. Defender Nikki Marshall is the lone Portland player to start all 23 of the team’s games.

Seattle has already clinched the season series with Portland, with a record of 2-0-0. Reign FC won the first matchup in Portland on May 10, with Little dribbling past Thorns FC goalkeeper Nadine Angerer on the near post in the 89th minute on a breakaway to score the game’s lone goal in Seattle’s 1-0 victory.

On July 27, in front of a team-record crowd of 5,957 at Memorial Stadium, Seattle rolled to a 5-0 victory over Portland, with two goals from Japanese international Nahomi “Naho” Kawasumi, and one apiece from Rapinoe, Little, and forward Sydney Leroux.

Visit ReignFC.com or call (855) REIGN-FC for details on NWSL playoff tickets. Seats for Seattle’s NWSL semifinals match on Sunday, August 24 at 8 p.m. at Memorial Stadium (opponent TBD) start at $24.

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