In her first year as the number one goalkeeper for the Seattle Reign, Haley Kopmeyer has been named NWSL Player of the Week for Week One. Kopmeyer made eight saves, six coming in the first half, in the Reign’s 1-1 draw with Sky Blue FC this past weekend.
Kopmeyer busy in the first half
Kopmeyer was busy in her first opening day start. She made huge saves in the first half to keep the New Jersey-based Sky Blue off of the scoreboard. The first came in the 17th minute on Leah Galton and then once again in the 20th on Raquel Rodriguez. She made another save in the 30th minute on a Sam Kerr shot and once again stopped Galton in the 53rd.
She did concede once in the 62nd minute after Reign defender Merritt Mathias fouled Kelley O’Hara and Sarah Killion converted the penalty to level the score at 1-1. She almost stopped the penalty as she guessed correctly but was not able to get enough of her hand on the ball to stop it from going in.
First honor for Kopmeyer
Kopmeyer is the 14th Reign player all-time to earn NWSL Player of the Week honors and this is her first time being named as such.
The Reign remains at home as they welcome the Houston Dash to Memorial Stadium this Saturday, April 22. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT. The Dash enters the game coming off a 2-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars at home. The Reign have never dropped points to the Dash and look to continue that trend on Saturday night.
The NWSL Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by the NWSL Media Association, a collection of media members that cover the league on a consistent basis.