With Saturday night’s 3-0 win over the Orlando Pride, OL Reign has claimed the 2022 NWSL Shield.

The shield, awarded to the club with the best record at the conclusion of the regular season, will return to Reign for the first time since 2015 and the third time in the club’s history.

OL Reign topped this year’s table with an 11-4-7 record, earning the No. 1 overall seed ahead of the 2022 NWSL Playoffs. This year marked the second time in league history for the NWSL Shield to be decided in the final weekend of play.

As the presenting sponsor of the NWSL Shield, CarMax, the sponsor, has committed to doubling the bonus pool awarded to the winning team, increasing earnings from $5,000 to $10,000 per player to support equitable pay in the women’s game.

“I want to congratulate OL Reign on their incredible success this season,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman said in a statement. “This was a particularly competitive regular season and I applaud the team for all the hard work they put in to achieve this accomplishment. I look forward to watching them compete in what will surely be an exciting postseason.”

With the No. 1 seed, OL Reign earned a first-round bye and home field advantage for the semifinals and will await the outcome of the quarterfinals to determine their opponent.

More details regarding the 2022 NWSL Playoffs will be available this week.

 

 

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.