SEATTLE — Most kids involved in sports dream of becoming a top player when they grow up. But Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey grew up wanting to be a coach.
“Whenever we were, as kids, me and my brother watching games, we watched them through a lens of a coach, because my dad made us sort of do that, to be honest. So, I just always had this love of it,” Harvey told The Equalizer.
She could not have imagined then that on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2024, she would become the first head coach to win 100 regular season National Women’s Soccer League games when her Seattle Reign defeated North Carolina Courage 1-0.
The moment had been a long time coming, with win No. 99 recorded back on May 3. Everyone was on the edge of their seats as stoppage time ticked down in a game that remained scoreless until the 96th minute, when Emeri Adames forced an own goal off Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy. Veteran midfielder Jess Fishlock, who featured for Harvey in a majority of her NWSL victories, thinks it was fate that the 18-year-old scored the goal securing Harvey’s 100th win, with Adames representing Harvey’s belief in her young players and the Reign’s bright future.
The relief of finally hitting the long awaited milestone while getting a win the team desperately needed — both mentally and to mathematically stay alive in the playoff race — was palpable from all of the Reign players, staff, and fans in Lumen Field after the final whistle Sunday night. For the record-setting coach, all credit and pride in the result went to the players.
“My overall thoughts were that I thought we had some very good individual performances… but I think just as a collective group we knew what tonight meant — nothing to do with me and my wins — but just what it meant getting three points, setting the tone for the second half of the season, giving ourselves a chance to climb where we want to go, we knew we had to win tonight,” Harvey told media after the belated win.
