**SEATTLE, Wa.** – The OL Reign and Angel City FC produced a scoreless draw on Wednesday night at Lumen Field despite both teams creating looks in front of goal throughout the match. In the end, though, it seemed like neither side could truly get going and challenge the other enough to break and the sides settled for a point apiece to round out the midweek Challenge Cup action.
It all kicked off quickly in Seattle with Angel City forward Katie Johnson putting the ball in the back of the net after eight minutes, seemingly giving the visiting side something to celebrate. A ball in from the left side found the run of Johnson in the box, who was unmarked as she attempted to head past Reign goalkeeper Laurel Ivory. Watching the ball ripple the back of the net, celebrations were muted as a soon-to-be VAR review confirmed an offside position from Johnson, wiping the goal away.
Seconds later on the other end, an exciting chance for OL Reign opened up through attacker Tziarra King. In possession on the left side of the field, King cut inside onto her right foot as she approached the top of the box and attempted to bend a powerful drive toward the far post. As she unleashed the effort, the ball managed to squeeze around the Angel City defense and past goalkeeper Brittany Isenhour, but it could not bend back far enough and ended up striking the post on its way back into play. From there, the Angel City defense got the ball clear but within two minutes both sides had produced a look on the other’s goal.
However, a relatively tame rest of the first half saw one more decent look in front of goal again through the feet of King in the 43 ^rd minute. Teammate Sofia Huerta picked out King with a deep cross toward the far post, and King did well to settle and get a shot off before a rush of Angel City defenders came her way. That shot, however, took the slightest deflection off a defender on its path toward goal and ended up rolling inches wide as the hosts came agonizingly close to their opening goal.
Into the second half, the Reign came closest in the 48 ^th minute as they came forward just after the halftime interval. Forward Bethany Balcer spotted a run from teammate Olivia Athens as she was headed toward goal and played the midfielder in. Just a few yards out from the goalmouth, Athens attempted to slot the ball under Isenhour as she came off her line, but the goalkeeper was well-positioned and smothered the chance to end the move.
Then, just after the hour mark, possibly the best chance of the entire net for Angel City came via a set piece. As the ball came in toward forward Claire Emslie, back-to-back headers from Emslie and defender Sarah Gorden pushed the ball closer and closer toward goal. However, a remarkable goalline clearance from Reign defender Ryanne Brown was the lone thing coming between the only goal of the evening and not, and Brown did well to keep the ball out in what had to have been a decision of millimeters on the line.
An overall edgy encounter, neither side would ultimately be able to create enough in the closing 20-plus minutes in front of goal. The Reign do maintain their unbeaten start to the competition after a win in the opening match, though, while Angel City earns a first point in this year’s Challenge Cup after falling to OL Reign in the opening round of fixtures in mid-April.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights