Match Recap: Portland Thorns at Bay FC
Thorns unbeaten streak snapped in San Jose
Match Recap:
It was an unsuccessful trip to San Jose for the Thorns as they tallied their first loss in NWSL play this season against Bay FC, by a scoreline of 1-0.
Although the Thorns have been absent from NWSL play for three weeks now, sizable amounts of soccer have still been played for the members of the club out of Portland. With a combination of CONCACAF Cup play and international action, soccer has been heavy on the minds (and bodies) of this squad, with Thorns fans eager to see if they could pick up with the momentum they left off with in NWSL play.
As promised, Rob Gale rolled out a lineup that aligned with what he told us would be a ‘mixed bag’ of player unavailabilities ahead of tonight’s match. Along with Mackenzie Arnold continuing rehab on that leg injury, Deyna Castellanos (back) and Isabella Obaze (injury) were also unavailable for the Thorns tonight.
Highlights:
9’ Thorns nearly concede in the first fifteen
Someone you don’t want to see escape the backline of the Thorns — Asisat Oshoala. Bay FC manages to quickly turn defense into offense, before sneaking a pass up field to an open Oshoala. Portland, however, manages to escape unscathed after Oshoala ricochets her shot off the goal post.
26’ Hey old friend 👋
In the 26th minute Bay FC’s Kelli Hubly stepped foot onto the pitch against her old team following an injury to starting defender, Jordan Brewster. Hubly spent her first 8 NWSL seasons in Portland, and was a member of both the Thorns 2017 and 2022 NWSL Championship teams.
This is Hubly’s first season with Bay, after signing a two-year contract with the club during the 2024-25 offseason.
33’ YELLOW CARD BAY
An active and aggressive Oshoala upends an airborne Jayden Perry, drawing the first yellow card of the match. Despite what could’ve been a scary fall, Perry was able to recover and take the following free kick for the Thorns.
39’ A first half goal for Bay
Not in the first fifteen minutes, but still in the first half, the Thorns concede a goal to Bay FC. You have to tip your hat to Bay defender, Alyssa Malonson who scores one from a nearly impossible angle, off of the assist from Bay’s offensive leader Penelope Hocking. Giving the Bay a 1-0 advantage late in the first half.
With this score being the final, it remains that Bay has not lost this season when scoring the first goal of the contest. Similarly, Portland has not won a contest outright when being the team to concede first.
43’ Hanks puts Bay on skates
This was not the first time, and will certainly not be the last, that Caiya Hanks flashes her ball handling abilities leaving not only those of us watching at home, but also those trying to defend her, in awe.
The rookie continues to gain comfortability in this league, and it is only a matter of time before she becomes lethal in the goal with the ball in her possession.
Halftime: Thorns 0, Bay 1
The only halftime change we saw from either clubs was one I’m sure Thorns fans were excited to see play out in their favor. Pietra Tordin, who has been coming out of her shell offensively in recent games for the Thorns, came onto the pitch for second half play in exchange for Payton Linnehan.
63’ SUB for PORTLAND
Reilyn Turner comes onto the pitch for the first time tonight, replacing Mimi Alidou. Turner has the ability to provide an offensive spark for the Thorns, as a player with the ability to score in a multitude of ways.
76’ Bella Bixby: cool, calm, collected.
After Bay FC chooses to bring on some fresh legs in the 71st minute, part of that triple sub, Racheal Kundananji proves to be trouble for the Thorns.
Kundananji gets her second shot off in just her first 5 minutes on the pitch, but it’s no trouble for Bixby as she nabs it out of the air keeping the Thorns chances at the equalizer alive.
78’ SUB for PORTLAND
Jessie Fleming comes onto the pitch for Kaitlyn Torpey.
80’ BAY EARNS ANOTHER YELLOW, at Portland’s expense
Kiki Pickett takes down Caiya Hanks, in an attempt to slow down what could have a breakaway for the promising rookie. The worst part is that it leads to Hanks exiting the match, grimacing in pain and gingerly guarding an apparent injury to her arm.
Alexa Spaanstra would come onto the pitch for the Thorns replacing Hanks.
+6 minutes of stoppage time added
Only facing a one goal deficit, a comeback is not too daunting a task for this Thorns team, especially when given 6 extra minutes to do so. Tonight, however, late game heroics were not in the cards for this team.
90’ +5 the dagger, nearly.
Something Thorns fans probably weren’t expecting to see again, at least not so soon, was a goal kick from Bixby being picked off by the opposition. Despite it finding the back of the net for Bay, this would ultimately be called back by the officials.
Full time: Portland 0, Bay 1
Final Thoughts:
It is always worth noting when the Thorns come out looking cohesive, especially when it’s on both sides of the ball. Despite controlling much of the possession in the first half, a more than solid performance by Bay’s keeper Jordan Silkowitz kept the Thorns out of the goal.
When it came to the second half it seemed like the Thorns could not string quality touches together, which could not be afforded having given up a first half goal. So, the question remains: who is the X-factor for this Portland offense that steps up to score when it’s needed most?
A win tonight seemed crucial at this point in the season for the Thorns, in what remains to be an extremely tight NWSL race. Three points can be the difference between some breathing room in the top 4, and fighting for the scraps near the cut off for that playoff line.
What might be more crucial at the moment is the update on the injury we saw Caiya Hanks suffer in the 80th minute. That news is something that might have more of an impact on the trajectory of the Thorns’ season than the three points that were lost tonight.
The Thorns will return home after their month long hiatus away from Providence Park on June 15th to take on the Washington Spirit.
Embarrassing Stats Report:
Shots: Bay FC 10, Portland 16
SOG: Bay FC 2, Portland 5
xG: Bay FC 0.9, Portland 1.1
Post-shot xG: Bay FC 0.43, Portland 0.92
Goals: Bay FC 1, Portland 0
This is what Ken means when he goes on about how his squad is "the better team". In terms of "doing soccer-y things"? Yes. The Thorns generated more, and better chances. They "should" have run off with at least a point, either from holding on to a scoreless draw or from bagging the equalizer.
But as we all saw, the problems were the same problems we've seen from KenBall all season; at one end turnovers and individual errors in the backline, in the middle incoherence and an inability to play through a midblock, in front of goal failure to finish (when the buildup was there) or lack of connectivity that broke down the buildup with a mishit pass or tackle-for-loss before the shot.
I keep coming back to "WTF do you do in practice, Ken?" Because on the matchday field it looks like eleven people who just met. The understanding seems frail, the sense of skills-to-roles distant.
If it was obviously a problem of individual ability it would be on the player or players.
When it's across the squad? It's - as we also all saw - it's on the boss.
But - and here's what bugs me - I can see this squad sort of bumbling along to a 6th place finish. There's still a lot of individual ability here. And I think that'll be enough to save Ken's hide.
This match didn't tell Agoos anything he didn't know. If he didn't hand Ken his head before, I don't see this changing that. We're on 1.45pts/game almost halfway through the season, and the red line is 1.36pts/game right now. That's a playoff finish, and then all Ken has to do is win three games straight. He hasn't done that since the tenth game of 2024, mind, but...
One last interesting stat; right now we're GD+4 (16GF, 12GA). If you remove three of our eleven matches (Gotham and Racing here, Houston away) we're GD-2 (5GF, 7GA). Our attack looks better than it is because of three outburst games; without them it's 0.62G/gm.
The team with the lowest GF in the league (Chicago, 8 in 11 games) is 0.72G/gm.
I know they're just Power Rankings, but whom at ESPN are Gotham paying off? Or, of whom do Gotham have kompromat?
Seriously... #5. After their 3rd straight loss? After being down 2-0 only 11 minutes in and remaining that way for the next 90 minutes? After 12 points in 11 matches? After needing Sonny's WWE shenanigans to con a late PK opportunity from Tigres? After going winless since April 26? After they fall to 10th on the table, just 1 point clear of 12th?
Also, at this point we should be below Loovull.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45478878/nwsl-power-rankings-kansas-city-current-overcome-injuries-gotham-fc-stay-top