A game that is widely considered the most important one on the entire remaining National Women’s League Soccer regular season schedule has been moved back a week.
Wednesday night’s tilt between Utah Royals FC and Washington-based Reign FC was set to go a long way in determining which side will make the playoffs, as they’re tied for the fourth and final spot with four games each remaining, but it will be played next Wednesday because of “extreme weather” in Tacoma, Washington.
The clubs and NWSL came to the joint decision Wednesday evening to postpone the contest after “heavy rain” over the last several days made the field at Cheney Stadium an unplayable surface.
As the playoff race has reached a crucial point, the postponement of Wednesday’s game could be seen as a positive for URFC, as offensive cogs Christen Press and Vero Boquete had been listed Tuesday as doubtful and questionable, respectively, for the clash because of injury.
In the roughly three hours in between when the game was officially postponed and when it was rescheduled, there was discussion concerning when the best date to move it to might be, considering the NWSL will observe a FIFA break from Sept. 30-Oct. 11 but many of both teams’ key players are expected to be with their national teams during this time.
As it stands, URFC will play three contests from Sept. 21-28. It will face the defending NWSL champion and current league-best North Carolina Courage on Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium, then Reign FC next Wednesday on the road, followed by a Sept. 28 road date against the Chicago Red Stars.
Following the FIFA break, the regular season finale will be Oct. 12 at Rio Tinto Stadium against the Houston Dash.