Flash beat Thorns to move onto NWSL Championship

After an overtime win by the Washington Spirit against the Chicago Red Stars on Friday evening, the second playoff between the Portland Thorns and Western New York Flash had a lot to live up to. With double overtime, 7 collective goals and the largest crowd ever for an NWSL playoff game at 20,086, it did not disappoint.

Western New York Flash opened the scored in the 16^th minute on a goal from Sam Mewis, following a signature long throw-in from Jess McDonald. The ball bounced directly to her left foot, Mewis picked out the spot she wanted and placed a perfect volley into the lower corner of the net. WNY continued scoring in the 38’ on a goal by Makenzy Doniak to take an early 2-0 lead. Another impressive throw-in by Jess McDonald started the sequence. McDonald received the ball on her left foot from McCall Zerboni, sent a cross to the back post and Doniak finished the goal on a difficult header.
Approximately 11 seconds after the Thorns kicked off, Christine Sinclair cut the lead in half on a beautiful one-touch volley in the 39^th minute. Almost immediately after the Sinclair goal in the 40^th minute of play, Flash head coach Paul Riley was ejected from the match on an interesting call of “running into” the fourth official. The halftime whistle blew with the 2-1 lead by WNY holding steady.

Throughout the early minutes of the second half the goalkeepers from both sides, Michelle Betos for the Thorns and Sabrina D’Angelo for the Flash, made phenomenal saves to keep the score at 2-1. With time running out and desperation kicking in, two yellow cards were given to Abby Dalkemper of the Flash and Dagny Brynjarsdottir of the Thorns in the 76^th minute. The game was far from over and it was in the 78’ when Rookie Emily Sonnett buried the ball into the back of the net to tie things up at 2-2 with less than 12 minutes to play. Teammate Tobin Heath served the free kick into the box; it bounced around a couple of times before Sonnett struck it into the back of the net. Thorn’s head coach Mark Parsons praised Sonnett in an interview Saturday, stating “I have no doubt that she is the best rookie in this entire league.” This second goal energized the Thorns who saw several opportunities at scoring the game-winning goal as the 90^th minute approached. The Flash defense and goalkeeper D’Angelo remained strong for the game to stay tied and require extra time to be played.

Extra time was eventful to say the least. Eight minutes into the first extra time period Golden Boot winner Lynn Williams put WNY back on top with a low shot into the corner of the net. Just three minutes after Williams’ goal, keeper D’Angelo had to make an incredible save, pushing the ball into the crossbar to help maintain her team’s lead. In the 103’ Williams received a gorgeous through ball from teammate Mewis after beating fellow U.S. national team player Meghan Klingenberg and calmly and confidently scored her second goal to give the Flash a two-goal lead at 4-2.

The Portland Thorns persisted as both teams continued to play a physical game, even into the second extra time period. Yellow cards were awarded to Liz Eddy and Tobin Heath for physical play and to Sabrina D’Angelo for wasting time during stoppage in the second overtime. The Thorns had multiple opportunities to equalize but were unable to find the back of the net for a fourth time. The game ended after 120+ minutes with a 4-3 victory for the WNY Flash.

The Flash will move onto their second NWSL championship game where they will meet the Washington Spirit in Houston, TX at the home of the Houston Dash on Sunday October 9^th at 5 pm EST on FS1.