Thorns take the tie in their second home game

Lindsey Horan tussles with Meggie Howard of the Washington Spirit (Photo by Jeff Wong).

There was plenty of last minute panic for the thorns, who announced not one, but two injuries before the first Friday night match of the season against the Washington Spirit. Already missing the defensive veteran Menges, Klingenberg and Franch would become late scratches, leaving Sonnett and Reynolds to keep the standards to that of last season. This was Britt Eckerstrom’s first NWSL game for the Thorns; her first in the league since 2016. The originally undrafted Kelli Hubly would fill out the left side of the defense, making her the third undrafted player to feature on the roster this season after Boureille, and Ball. It was also the debut of the Thorns new away kits which, dependent on who you are, come off as just the right amount of quirky and quintessentially Portland, or just a plain mess.

The match started almost immediately with Sinclair dispossessing a Spirit player. This, however, would not set the tone of the match, and in the ninth minute, the Spirit would have a chance; a close corner which seemed to take forever to clear. Three minutes later, the Thorns would get their first chance, but Spirit keeper, Bledsoe, would easily gather it.

The referee spent a considerable time talking to players in the first half; whilst his attempt to keep the game under control by communication was noble, getting the cards out in the first half might have held the player’s on a shorter leash and avoided a couple of worries in the second half.

In the 21st minute, Pugh would get the first clear shot of the game for Washington, but it would go straight to Eckerstrom’s safe hands.

In the 26th minute, there was a bit of confusion and it seemed to take the entire Thorns line up to stop the ball from going over the line. It would pay off for the Spirit in the 37th minute, however, when Ordega was able to swim through a sea of white and tap the ball over the line. Her four shots on target constituted the majority of her team’s shots.

Sonnett earned the first card of the match, taking out Hatch in a manner which was, perhaps, unnecessarily rough given the circumstances.

Ifeoma Onumon of the Portland Thorns on one of her many breakaways (Photo by Jeff Wong).

In the dying seconds of the first half, Ifeoma would make a good run into the box. Defended by two Spirit players, one of them would inadvertently take her out going for the ball, conceding the first of two penalties that the otherwise fairly solid DC defense would give up during the match. Sinclair stepped to the spot, and as she had so many times before in her career, slot it home.

The Thorns settled into the match, controlling the second half more than the Spirit had controlled the first. They didn’t allow DC to get a single shot on target off, shut down the Spirit’s passes, won more duels and held the majority of the possession. There was a quite bit of back and forth, but the Spirit seemed rather toothless.

In the 87th minute, Bledsoe took out Sonnett in a play for the ball, earning herself a yellow and quite a few boos from the home crowd. The Thorns were awarded a penalty but Sinclair, the usual penalty taker, found herself unable to move properly and requested that Horan take it. It was not to be. After a weird sort of stutter step that might have been an attempt to psych out Bledsoe, or simply a mistake, it was saved. Horan herself, who’d been flirting with the line for a while, was finally awarded a yellow card in the 88th minute.

Eckerstrom will almost certainly start again next week and whilst the stats indicate a strong first game with a save percentage of 80% on four saves, one cross claimed, and one punch, there were a couple of communication kinks to work out of the line, which should come with time. Hubly continued to display that she does deserve a spot on the roster holding the highest pass accuracy and only conceding one foul. Boureille, likewise, had one of the highest pass percentages.

The Thorns are unsure as to when Franch will return while Klingenberg should be back no later than the may 5th Seattle home match. Sinclair is unsure at this point. Ball and Morris are still on the injury list, and Salem is back at school. However, Raso and Carpenter should arrive today, and Andressinha on Tuesday, bolstering the offensive side of the roster. Parsons made it clear, that no matter the reputation of the player, a spot on his pitch had to be earned and that the players who had held down the fort would still be very much in consideration.