Portland Thorns 2, Washington Spirit 1 | Highlights & Recap

Rob Gale and the Portland Thorns make it four in a row

With their third game in a one week window, Rob Gale would make five changes (three in the backline). He would insert Marie Muller, Nicole Payne, Isabella Obaze, Christine Sinclair, and Jessie Fleming for Reyna Reyes, Meghan Klingenberg, Kelli Hubly, Morgan Weaver, and Olivia Moultrie.

For the fourth straight game, the Portland Thorns would start on the front foot with a goal. This time it came off a nice sequence from Portland Thorns who got the ball to Hina Sugita on the left endline in the box. She put a move on her defender and laid back the perfect pass to Sam Coffey who calmly finished near post.

In the 22nd minute, the Portland Thorns would double the lead on a set piece. Obaze winning the initial header which led to a Christine Sinclair tap in goal.

For the initial part of the first half, the Portland Thorns dominated, but after the second goal, it was all Washington Spirit. At one point, the visitors had five straight shots with a few of them coming close. They were very unlucky to not score in the last ten minutes with multiple shots just barely off the mark. It was the exact same script that everyone saw at Bay FC.

In the early parts of the second half, the momentum continued to be with Washington. They reeled off consecutive shots by Trinity Rodman and Ashley Hatch early on that almost got them on the board. Portland struggled with their press and still could not get the ball out of their own half.

Gale made three changes at the hour mark and that gave the Portland Thorns renewed life. Olivia Moultrie, Ana Dias, and Payton Linnehan subbed on for Sinclair, Jess Fleming, and Janine Beckie.

After finding multiple chances through their subs, in the 73rd minute Washington looked to have secured a PK after Muller clipped Rodman. Fortunately, VAR ruled that the foul ocurred outside the box. Captain Becky Sauerbrunn proceeded to block the free kick and clear it.

Playing with fire for the majority of the game will eventually burn you. In the 87th minute, Lena Silano rose above the Thorns backline for a headed goal to cut the lead in half.

The Portland Thorns playing up a goal or two goals have been unrecognizable. They go on the back foot after playing excellently on the front foot that led them to the lead.

To preserve the three points, they would have to dig down deep once again as there would be eight whopping minutes of stoppage time.

The last ditch defending and extra details in stoppage time were superb. They rarely let Washington breathe and made sure to earn another home win, and their fourth consecutive win since the Rob Gale interim era started.

Make no mistake — the metrics will not be kind to Portland. They were second to almost every important one.

Washington’s xG, shots, possession, and every key metric was in their favor. This is definitely a concern that could catch up to them very soon.

Tonight, those metrics favored Washington except in the one that mattered: the score. This team is learning how to win ugly and that’ll also pay dividends down the road.

Highlights

First Half

4’ 1-0 POR - Beautiful sequence of football from Hina who slips it back to the top of the box to the Squishmallow Queen, Sam Coffey!

22’ 2-0 POR - Christine Sinclair puts away the rebound to double the lead.

26’ Mueller plays it into the box to Fleming who steers the header wide.

34’ Chaos in the box leads to multiple shots, but Kingsbury is up to the task each time. Muller tries to chip, but can’t get enough on it.

41’ Spirit corner kick leads to a beautiful strike that is cleared off the line by Mueller!

42’ Sullivan’s shot just goes wide of goal…

45’ Three minutes of stoppage time

45’ +1 Sarr finds Rodman who just misses

Second Half

50’ Trinity Rodman and Shelby Hogan collide… Both are down… They are both up, with the Spirit and USWNT star taking the worse of it.

53’ Rodman hits a shross that grazes the bar. Moments later, Hatch gets a shot off unmarked, but Sauerbrunn is there to stop her.

58’ Chaos in the box leads to a shot from outside the box, but Hogan is there with the save of the match.

61’ Olivia Moultrie, Ana Dias, and Payton Linnnehan on for Sinclair, Fleming, and Beckie.

66’ Bethune’s long range effort just goes wide.

68’ The Thorns break the counterpress and play some nice & quick combinations that leads to a Soph Smith shot.

72’ Olivia Moultrie skates by a defender and gets a shot off which goes high in the air and somehow finds Dias for the headed goal! However, it’s called offside.

73’ Muller makes a tackle on Rodman in the box and ref points to the spot. After VAR it is ruled out of the box.

79’ Shelby Hogan is down

87’ 2-1 POR Lena Silano rises above every Thorn for the expertly placed headed goal.

89’ Reyna Reyes on for Mueller & Marissa Sheva on for Hina Sugita

90’ Eight minutes of stoppage time

Scoring Summary

Portland Thorns

4' - Sam Coffey

22’ - Christine Sinclair

Washington Spirit

87' - Lena Silano

Next Up

It’s rivalry week, y’all: the Seattle Reign are headed down I-5 to square off against the Thorns at Providence Park. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. PT on Saturday, May 11.