And at the start of 2022, the Reign were forced on the road in the Challenge Cup semifinal due to the Sounders Champions League run, where they fell to the Washington Spirit in 10 rounds of penalties. We all remember them losing a heartbreaker at home to Kansas City in last year’s playoff semifinal. Wednesday also marks an opportunity to change the narrative about the Reign in knockout competition. The victor will head to either Kansas City or North Carolina for a very early Saturday kickoff for the final (9:30 am PT/CBS), while the loser will have a weekend off to rue their missed opportunity. Reign and Racing have a weird history, drawing their last five regular-season meetings. To accomplish that they must first figure out Racing Louisville in a semifinal match at Lumen Field on Wednesday (7 pm PT/CBS Sports Network). While the Sounders now have a week off to regroup, make adjustments and build on the positives from last week's three matches, the Reign have a quick turnaround to the Challenge Cup knockout rounds and a chance to win some silverware in the coming days. The next day Orlando had the Reign pinned on their heels to start the game, only for Pride goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse to make an extremely ill-advised challenge on Bethany Balcer during the Reign's first foray into her end of the field. Léo Chú's sending off, followed by five minutes of hell for the Sounders defense, undid a dominant first-half performance by the home side. Laura Harvey always likes to say that goals change games, but this weekend you could take that one step further back and say it was red cards that changed the narrative of both games at Lumen Field.
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