OL Reign coach Laura Harvey wants to make sure people know just how good Megan Rapinoe’s recent form is.
Since returning from a successful W Championship campaign with the U.S. women’s national team, Rapinoe has been directly involved with a goal for OL Reign in each of the club’s last seven games, and needed just two minutes after subbing into Wednesday night’s 1-0 win at NJ/NY Gotham FC to score.
This time around, she and Jess Fishlock combined to open up the Gotham defense, with Fishlock winning a penalty kick that Rapinoe powered past Michelle Betos.
After the match, Harvey told reporters that in her opinion, Rapinoe’s form right now is at least as good as it was in 2019, when she went supernova as the USWNT won the World Cup for the fourth time. Rapinoe went on to win the Ballon d’Or for her stellar performances that year.
“There was just something a little bit different about her in the way that she was approaching everything (this year),” said Harvey. “We all know that (Rapinoe) hasn’t got a lot of time left in her career — whatever she wants that to be, will be on her — but I feel like this year she’s really imparted herself on this team.”
“I think she realizes that we are talented. I think she realizes that she has a really big role to play in pushing us over the line in games like these, where it’s tight. I mean, it’s happened in multiple games of late: this game, (North) Carolina, Orlando, where she just comes up with something that can win the game. She did it again tonight. The ball to Jess (Fishlock) for the penalty, and then taking the penalty.”
Rapinoe’s incredible form
In just 766 minutes in NWSL this season, Rapinoe has six goals and four assists. To Harvey’s point, Rapinoe has scored or assisted result-changing goals for the Reign in four different games since returning from the USWNT’s W Championship run. She also got the game-winning assist in her last USWNT appearance, a 2-1 win over Nigeria.
“In the biggest moments when you need quality and you need someone who can step up and take that pressure, she’s it,” said Harvey. “Everyone will talk about her age and how old she is, but that doesn’t matter. She’s just performing at a level that is exceptional right now. She’s probably in better form, honestly, than in 2019. And that was wild, right? Like, what she did in 2019 was phenomenal on the world stage. But I think she’s probably in as good a form, if not better, right now.”
Rapinoe and the Reign, now having picked up 13 of 15 points in their last five games, are just one point away from clinching a playoff berth.
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