Seattle Reign FC took on the Houston Dash at Shell Energy Stadium on April 6 with kickoff set for 5:00 p.m. PT, and Laura Harvey answered the trip with her seventh unique lineup of the 2026 season. Reign FC made four changes from the previous week, with Emeri Adames, Maddie Dahlien, Mia Fishel and Ainsley McCammon moving into the starting XI.
Sally Menti, Nerilia Mondesir and Brittany Ratcliffe were available off the bench, while Jess Fishlock was out because of a lower leg injury. Seattle entered with 17 players on the active roster who had earned at least one start this season, but Harvey’s choices pointed to a side still searching for its best shape and willing to keep shifting pieces until it finds it.
The lineup also came with weight beyond the turnover. Claudia Dickey extended her run to 47 consecutive starts, the second-longest streak in club history behind Lauren Barnes’ 59, and Sofia Huerta wore the captain’s armband for the second time this season. Huerta, named co-captain with Fishlock ahead of 2026, had 95 starts in 98 regular season appearances since being traded to Seattle from Houston in 2020, a reminder that this game carried more than one thread from her past.
Fishel’s return to the starting XI was one of the clearest markers of the night. It was her first start since Week 1 at Orlando on March 15, and her sixth NWSL regular season start and 14th appearance since joining the club on July 10, 2025. Seattle also had three of its five Texas natives in the lineup, with Adames of Dallas, McCammon of Bedford and Sam Meza of Dallas all in the side.
McCammon and Meza started together in midfield for the eighth time since 2024, a pairing that has not gone quietly: Seattle was unbeaten in six of the eight matches in which they have started there together. The Reign’s latest XI was the youngest of the season at an average age of 24.7, and the ninth-youngest regular season lineup in club history, a blend of youth, familiarity and necessity that made the night in Houston feel like a snapshot of where the club is right now.
