SEATTLE — Bethany Balcer’s goal in the third minute was all the Seattle Reign needed for a 1-0 win at home against the Washington Spirit.
The Reign earned the penalty on the first play of the match, as Balcer flicked the long ball from kickoff behind her, finding a streaking Jordyn Huitema who was brought down in the box. Balcer got Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Kingsbury to dive right and calmly slotted her penalty kick into the left corner, giving Seattle the lead.
A Spirit equalizer in the 69th minute was called back after a video review, as Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey was fouled on the corner kick.
Toward the end of the match, the Spirit were down to 10 players, as a video review found that Kingsbury collected a ball just outside her box and was shown a red card.