SAN DIEGO — In club legend Megan Rapinoe's final season, the OL Reign is just one victory away from claiming its first National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) championship.
Here's everything you need to know about the OL Reign's championship appearance which will kickoff on Saturday evening.
Game info
OL Reign vs. Gotham FC | Time: 5 p.m. | Date: Saturday | Location: Snapdragon Stadium, San Diego, California
How to watch
The NWSL Championship will air on CBS, Paramount+ and other streaming platforms.
Championship watch parties
The clubs said there are 10 OL Reign watch parties at several locations across Seattle and western Washington.
Here are the locations you can catch the OL Reign's championship game:
- Seattle: Rough & Tumble Pub
- Seattle: Rookies Sports Bar and Grill
- Seattle: Machine House Brewery
- Seattle: Bait Shop
- Tacoma: Doyle's Public House
- Olympia: Three Magnets Brewing
- Bellingham: Menace Brewing
- Chimacum: The Keg and I
- Shelton: Spencer Laker Bar & Grill
- Burien: Logan Brewing Company
OL Reign's path to the championship
The Reign earned 32 points from 22 matches to secure the No. 4 seed in the NWSL playoffs.
In its first playoff game, which will end up as Rapinoe's last home match with the club after she announced her retirement earlier this year, the Reign beat fifth-seeded Angel City FC to advance to the semifinals.
The victory meant the Reign drew top-seeded San Diego FC, who featured United States national team star Alex Morgan.
The Seattle-based club scored an early goal in the second half to beat San Diego FC 1-0 and advance to its third-ever NWSL Final. The OL Reign have never lost to San Diego in nine games, winning seven matches and drawing two.
OL Reign playoff history
The OL Reign has been a consistent factor in the NWSL playoffs, but the team has never won a championship.
This year's run to the championship will mark the club's first appearance in the final since 2015.
Here's how the OL Reign have fared in the playoffs in previous seasons:
- 2022: Lost in semifinals
- 2021: Lost in semifinals
- 2020: NWSL playoffs canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
- 2019: Lost in semifinals
- 2018: Lost in semifinals
- 2017: Missed playoffs
- 2016: Missed playoffs
- 2015: Lost NWSL Final
- 2014: Lost NWSL Final
- 2013: Missed playoffs
Key Reign
Megan Rapinoe, forward
Rapinoe has spent 11 seasons in Seattle, every season in Reign franchise history.
She's one of just five players to be with the same club every year since 2013, joining teammates Lauren Barnes and Jess Fislock.
In her long tenure in Seattle, Rapinoe has scored the most goals in club history and is among the most prolific scorers in league history.
Winning a NWSL championship would be the perfect end to Rapinoe's distinguished career.
"I've given to Seattle just as much as Seattle has given back to me," Rapinoe said before her final home regular season game in October. "I know this is the end of my career here, but I feel like it's just the beginning in so many ways."
Bethany Balcer, forward
While Rapinoe typically led the club in goals, her role has shifted in the later stages of her career.
In 2023, Rapinoe leads the team in assists (5) but is just fifth on the Reign in goals (2), indicating a fundamental shift in her role. Rapinoe is more of a table-setter and a creative fulcrum in the offensive attack rather than the one who finishes the opportunity.
That's where Balcer comes in, who leads the team with six goals this year. The 26-year-old has spent her past five seasons with the Reign and has been among the team's leading goal scorers since she arrived in 2019.
If the Reign win the championship on Saturday, there's a decent chance Balcer will be on the receiving end of a goal.