NWSL title game: Reign FC again falls to FC Kansas City

PORTLAND – For more than a year, the Seattle Reign has brooded  over its National Women’s Soccer League championship game loss to FC Kansas City.

Thursday night, in front of an announced crowd of 13,264 at Providence Park, with a chance to make amends against that same FCKC team, Seattle instead got hit with a serious case of déjà vu.

Amy Rodriguez scored the game’s only goal in the 78th minute, and though Seattle controlled the tempo for most of the night, the Reign again fell one win shy of the NWSL title as Kansas City repeated as league champions, 1-0.

The bracket had set up perfectly for a Reign team that again finished the regular season in first place by double-digit points. In the semifinals awaited the Washington Spirit, the same team they squeaked past at the same stage last season. Then Kansas City upset Chicago on the road, and the rematch was on.

Seattle dominated the 2014 campaign so thoroughly that it clinched the regular-season title with more than a month to spare. But in the title game, the Reign was upset 2-1 in front of stunned home fans.

Early on, at least there were scoring chances: Rodriguez shook free for a decent look 12 minutes in, then Kim Little fired right into KC goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart’s arms when released on a counterattack. From there on out, though, the teams mostly just poked and prodded.

Reign midfielder Megan Rapinoe smashed a shot off the left post midway through the second half, but otherwise, the game looked destined for added time.

Then Lauren Holiday found Heather O’Reilly, who hooked in a cross for Rodriguez’s head. Rodriguez’s header caught Seattle goalkeeper Hope Solo leaning.

The Reign pressed, huffing and puffing until the last.

But for the second straight year, Kansas City held on. For the second straight year, Reign bodies sank dejected to the turf as white-shirted opponents screamed in triumph around them.