The Seattle Reign played their home finale against Sky Blue FC in front of 4,471 fans at Memorial Stadium in Seattle, WA. The Reign locked up the NWSL Shield for the second straight season after Wednesday night’s 3-1 victory over the Boston Breakers. Sky Blue is coming off a 1-0 win over the Portland Thorns back on August 22nd.

From the beginning, you could tell that Sky Blue wanted to win this match. They put early pressure on the Reign in the midfield and attacked Seattle looking for an early goal. They found that early goal just in the 6th minute of play. After the Seattle committed a foul just outside the box, Nadia Nadim stepped up to take the kick and what a kick it was. She got the ball around the Reign wall and beat Reign goalkeeper Hope Solo to the far post.

Sky Blue didn’t sit back and play defense. They looked to put the game out of reach early. Fortunately for Seattle, the New Jersey based club was not able to find that second goal. Sky Blue was clearly the better team in the first half. They outplayed Seattle in all areas and just seemed to want it more than Seattle.

Seattle used the same lineup they used Wednesday night against the Boston Breakers, but something just seemed off. The players were not able to connect on a majority of their passes in the midfield. They were constantly under pressure and when they did relieve some of it, they turned the ball right back over with careless passes.

It appeared that Seattle got on the board in the 33rd minute after Megan Rapinoe chipped Sky Blue goalkeeper Brittany Cameron, but the goal was waved off for an apparent handball in the box by Rapinoe.

The second half was an entirely different game. Not only were the Reign coming at Sky Blue with all they had, but the weather wanted to get involved as well. It was a torrential downpour, but it didn’t seem to bother the players one bit.

Seattle had several near misses in the second half. In the 58th minute, Kim Little took a free kick that was redirected by Jess Fishlock, but Cameron was there to make the save. In the 65th minute, Katrine Veje crossed the ball across the mouth of the goal, but Merritt Mathias was unable to get to it. Then again in the 70th minute, the ball was played in front of goal and seemed to just stop and sit there forever right in front of the open net. Unfortunately for Seattle, no player was there to convert it.

The Reign’s next best chance came in the 77th minute after Rapinoe played a beautiful ball across the mouth of the goal. Little was there at the other end, but was unable to redirect it into the back of the net. After Little was taken out about 23 yards from goal, she stepped up to take the kick in the 83rd minute. She sent her kick in and it deflected off of a Sky Blue defender and had Cameron beat, but it didn’t have the post beat and Sky Blue was able to clear the ball.

Just as all hope seemed lost and their incredible unbeaten streak at Memorial Stadium was about to end, Fishlock saved the day. In the 90th minute, Little sent in a cross and Fishlock rose above everyone else and headed it home to send those in attendance into pandemonium.

The Reign weren’t done yet. In the dying moments of the match, the Reign found themselves in a two versus one situation. Eli Reed and Danielle Foxhoven were attacking the goal. Reed passed the ball to Foxhoven who was one on one with the ‘keeper. She took her shot at the first post, had the goalkeeper beat, but sadly the ball just missed for the game-winning goal.

Head Coach Laura Harvey had this to say after the match; "Sky Blue were the better team tonight. They came here to win. I told the players at the half that they had a choice... I think they showed a lot of character and that's what this part of the season will take. The ability and the character. We showed that 100%."

Seattle will now travel and face the Washington Spirit on September 5th while Sky Blue FC next takes on FC Kansas City at home for their final game of the 2015 NWSL season.