A young fan congratulates the team. Photo by Diego Diaz.
With a Welcome Home banner hanging over the North End wall, the Portland Thorns walked out of the tunnel for their first game at Providence Park since their heartbreaking loss to the Western New York Flash in last season’s semi-final round. Facing the Chicago Red Stars, another strong contender from last season, this would turn out to be a test of team depth for both sides as each had several key players missing.
In the freezing cold and pouring rain Chicago would start out strong, breaking through to the Thorns back-line within minutes of the starting whistle. However, they were met by Thorn defenders Emily Sonnett and Emily Menges who easily stopped the run, a pattern that would continue all night. “Sonnett really stepped up in disrupting their first faze of the attack.” Mark Parsons commented after the game, “Did really well to get in. Get a toe, get a knee, get an ankle on it and just disrupt that first bit and didn’t allow them to get in their flow as much.”
Thorns and Red Stars match-up last season between Sinclair and Red Star Colaprico.
With a strong defense that rarely let the ball slip through, Chicago was forced to take chances from the outside. The first serious threat came from Chicago midfielder Courtney Raetzman who sent a howler to the upper left corner. Just a few minutes later it would be Vanessa DiBernardo sending it lower right on a free kick. Both were dangerous enough shots to put Thorns FC keeper Adrianna Franch in a full stretch to prevent them from seeing the back of the net.
The breakthrough goal would come off a run from Portland forward Christine Sinclair who made it up the left side only to be blocked by Red Star defender Arin Gillaland. The Thorns quickly recovered possession and sent it through to the middle of the box where a waiting Allie Long was run over by a Chicago defender, drawing the penalty kick for Portland. Nadia Nadim would put it away in the 26th for the first and only goal of the night.
By the second half the rain stopped and the physical play and rampant subbing began. With several fouls being called, no cards were ever pulled. After a hard kick to the shins in the 70th, Portland forward Hayley Raso stayed down, drawing enough concern for the sub to be subbed off only a few moments later. While the play continued to be physical the defense on both ends were strong enough to prevent many serious attempts on goal from happening for the rest of the game.
In total, 17 of Portland’s players and 18 of Chicago’s would see action, as they fight for their spot on the final roster. Parsons admits, their play tonight made life more difficult for him. “Collectively as a group I thought everyone came in… 25 players right now in camp and it’s a headache for me because everyone’s looking really good. Great place to be for us.”
The Thorns FC Spring Invitational (presented by Tillamook) will continue this Wednesday with Portland playing the U-23s National Women’s Team. Kick-off is at 7:30 pm with a live-stream available through the Thorns FC website.
Game Stats:
POR: GK Franch, D Boureille (Flynn, 75), D Sonnett, D Menges, D Klingenberg (Johnson, 58), M Henry, M Long, M Shim (Herndon, 67), F Nadim (Raso, 38, Hubly, 75), F Sinclair ©, F Weber (Cox, 75)
TOTAL SHOTS: 7; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 10; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 4; SAVES: 5
CHI: GK Dalton, D Gilliland, D Gorden, D Naughton, D Short (Comeau, 46), M DiBernardo © (Luba, 46), M Colaprico (Proffitt, 46), M Mautz, M Raetzman (Kaskie, 60), F McCaffrey (Green, 60), F Walls (Kolander, 60)
TOTAL SHOTS: 15; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 7; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 6 SAVES: 3
Portland Thorns
