Instant Reaction: Portland Thorns 4, Seattle Reign 0

The Thorns Dominate the Cascadia Rivalry with a 4-0 win

The Portland Thorns are currently on a five-game consecutive win streak (for the first time in history) after felling the Seattle Reign 4-0. The first half was a close one, Olivia Moultrie’s goal in the 42nd minute was the lone one… but not for long. In the second half, three more Thorns made their mark: Sophia Smith, Hina Sugita and Peyton Linnehan.

This win for the Thorns not only brings their record to 5-3-1, but brings the clash between Portland and Seattle to a full-on draw. Portland now has won 15 times, Seattle has won 15 times, and there have been 9 draws.

The game was immediately chippy. In the fourth minute, Sugita was taken out (a trend that would continue all match, Sugita took a beating). Seattle took the first shot on frame of the game but was not able to actually find the back of the net. Though Soph Smith tallied the first shot of the game.

A few players stood out to me tonight: Hina Sugita, Marie Müller, and Sophia Smith.

Sugita was all over the pitch tallying interceptions left and right as well as deftly distributing the ball to her teammates.

Müller did phenomenally to stymy any Seattle attacks, she was physical in the back and well versed in the offense. She also had a goalline clearance in the second half (not the only one of the game… but I’ll get to that shortly).

Finally, Sophia Smith… need I say anything? No — but I will anyway. She always manages to dribble through numerous opposing players (more than I expect every time). She also buried a lovely PK in the 80th minute.

The offense for the Thorns was solid across the board, a bunch of different players found opportunities on net. It is easy to give players props on the offensive side but the defense tonight also shone. Most notably Kelli Hubly. She had a wonderful goal-line save in the 48th minute to deny Seattle an equalizer. Shelby Hogan was also solid between the posts, with numerous saves keeping the shutout.

Jess Fishlock loves to play the villain and she does it well, from dramatic flops to solid fouls to a flair for the dramatics, but you know in the end it adds to the rivalry.

But there’s only so much Seattle could do when the Thorns ran away with the second half. The second goal was the PK from Smith which she sent in the opposite direction of Ivory. The PK came from a handball from Sofia Huerta that was sent to VAR for far longer than it should have been. There is some debate over whether it was a legit handball — or not but I’ll leave that up to y’all to decide (or debate if that’s your thing).

There were 13 minutes of stoppage time added to the match, and just when I thought we could do with a 2-0 victory the Thorns doubled it. The third goal came from none other than Hina Sugita in the 93rd minute: a stunning shot from outside the 18 sent the 20,000 fans in Providence Park into a frenzy.

Finally, Peyton Linnehan magnificently netted her second NWSL goal, scoring a great cross from Smith.

Overall, a wonderful show from Portland — THE THORNS ARE SO BACK.

Scoring Summary:

POR: Olivia Moultrie (42’), Sophia Smith (PK, 80’), Hina Sugita (90+13’), Peyton Linnehan (90+13’)

Next up:

Houston Dash away on May 17th. The Thorns will play at 5 P.M. PT and the match will be streamed on NWSL+.