Tucked underneath some of the ugliest streaks the Reign have ever been on was one that ultimately saved the team 鈥 fullback Sofia Huerta had recorded a goal contribution in every NWSL market except the defunct Boston Breakers in her 12-year career.
The U.S. international walked into a new stadium against a new Boston Legacy team Friday looking to showcase her skills to a new fanbase. Weighing the moment down was her Reign being winless in their past five matches and dragging through a 499-minute scoring drought.
Huerta shattered it all 12 minutes into play at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. Reign winger Maddie Dahlien earned the team a penalty and Huerta stepped to the spot.
"I was really just staying calm in that moment and trying to control my breath," Huerta said of her mentality before taking the shot. "I knew it was important and I wasn't going to let the team down."
Legacy keeper Casey Murphy was sent the wrong way, Huerta mashing a right-footed shot into the back of the net. The score 鈥 Huerta鈥檚 first of the season 鈥 ended the Reign鈥檚 510-minute stretch without netting a goal.
The expansion side tried a late comeback, but the Reign held on to win 2-1. It鈥檚 the club鈥檚 first victory since March. Boston (2-6-3) had their five-game unbeaten streak snapped.
"We can do a better job of imposing ourselves early in the game, but once we settled in it looked like us," Dahlien said. "I'm really proud of gritting it out."
Dahlien was attempting to angle a header past Murphy in the eighth minute with Jorelyn Carabal铆 marking her. The blocked shot rolled off Carabal铆鈥檚 arm and hand, ceding the penalty. Despite the violation looking obvious, there was a long VAR check.
There was no debate about Dahlien鈥檚 own goal in the 51st minute. The play started from a corner kick. The ball made its way to defender Madison Curry outside the box, who was patient in sending the ball back into the box for Dahlien to direct into goal with the insole of her shoe. It鈥檚 Dahlien鈥檚 first goal of the season.
"Scoring early was good, it settled us down," Reign coach Laura Harvey said. "You could sense a little bit of relief at the end of the game from the group of finally getting it over the line and getting the three points."
Boston had their chances against Reign keeper Claudia Dickey. The stadium鈥檚 pyrotechnics shot into the air and majority of the 9,141 in attendance erupted after a A茂ssata Traor茅 goal in the 87th minute. But she was ruled offside.
Traor茅 tried again in second-half stoppage time. She pounced on a through ball from center back Emerson Elgin and angled it past Dickey. It's Traor茅 second goal this season.
During the Reign's drought, they ceded six goals, which is respectable in the 16-team league. The team wanted to retain the defensive mindset Friday and were upset they couldn't keep the clean sheet.
"I'm surprised how good they are being an expansion team," Huerta said. "This wasn't an easy game that we won just easily. It was a tough game. We felt if we focused on the details, we could win this game."
Friday鈥檚 match was the league鈥檚 debut in Rhode Island. The Swans are claiming it as home due to Gillette Stadium聽undergoing final renovations for the FIFA men鈥檚 World Cup next month.
Reign defender Jordyn Bugg made her debut start of the season. The match was her second due to starting the season with a hamstring injury.
Bugg was one of six changes to the starting lineup. Teammates Madison Curry, Ainsley McCammon, Sally Menti, Maddie Mercado and Holly Ward replaced Emily Mason, Shae Holmes, Sam Meza, N茅rilia Mond茅sir, Emeri Adames and Mia Fishel.
Harvey made her first changes in the 71st minute, pulling Bugg, Ward and Menti for Fishel, Mond茅sir and Mason.
The Reign (4-4-2) will close out this portion of their schedule with a road match against the Washington Spirit next week. The NWSL will have a monthlong hiatus in June for the World Cup.
"After the Gotham game we were at a crossroads," Harvey said of the 2-0 loss at Lumen Field last week. "We couldn't keep saying the same things and keep doing the same things. We needed to go a bit deeper than that. Our culture allowed us to do that. It gets tested and it gets strained, but when you have a good culture, ultimately the people in that room care and you can come out on the other side of it. You saw that in not only the win, but how we got the win."

(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Posting comments is now limited to subscribers only. or log in using the link below. For additional information on commenting click here.
Log in
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.