Thorns defeat Pride in their home opener

Ana-Maria Crnogorčević of the Portland Thorns battles with Pride defender Toni Pressley (Photo by Jeff Wong).

The rain was constant, dampening everything but the hopes of the 16,466 excited observers as it came down. The excitement in the air was palpable; to the waiting, it seemed like years since they had had a chance to scream themselves hoarse for the girls in red. The wait would be rewarded by a 2-1 scoreline, and the most encouraging attack seen yet from the Thorns this season.

As has become customary for Parsons’ Portland, they started with three in the back: Reynolds, and Sonnett, as usual, and Hubly in the place of the the still stress syndrome suffering Menges. Purce was out right, in the wingback position she seems to be favored in this season, with Klingberg out left. Boureille, whose playing time has mainly come from W-league, was given a chance in the midfield, along with Horan and Sinclair, who essentially functioned as advanced play-makers. Mallory Weber and Tyler Lussi were out front, pressing and pushing wherever they could. Orlando’s defense didn’t have a particularly good time of it, Carson Pickett in particular getting burnt by Purce and Weber in alternating moments.

Captain Christine Sinclair, celebrating her game winning goal against Orlando (photo by Diego Diaz).

Harris was the first keeper of the game called into action. In the first of many saves she’d be called upon to make, six, to be exact, she managed to stop a Lussi attempt from finding the back of the net. Orlando would, however, draw the first blood of the game. In the 20th minute; Emily Sonnett, in a momentary lapse of judgement, chose to take a quick restart from a Morgan foul, passing the ball to an unprepared Horan who was easily dispossessed by Nairn. She slotted the ball through to Ubogagu, who found her mark. They would have another good chance in the 27th minute, but, inches too high, it would bounce off the cross bar.

Horan evened the score in the 28th minute, when Orlando’s defense failed to quieten her, and she curl a shot no keeper could save past Harris. Sinclair would have a good chance barely a minute later, but it wasn’t until the 39th minute, when the wet turf played its part by tripping up Pride defender Edmonds making her unable to properly guard Kling, who crossed the ball to Horan, whose shot was then toe poked in by Sinclair.

Chioma Ubogagu of the Orlando was the only member of the Pride to put a goal on target (photo by Diego Diaz).

The 51st minute saw another chance for the Thorns, but Harris would gather Sinclair’s shot safely. In the next 15 minutes, an increasingly shaky Orlando defense, struggling with the fresh legged Crnogorcevic and Onumonu, who replaced Weber and Lussi respectively in the 60th minute, would force Harris into making three more saves. Whilst Elinsky, subbed in the 67th minute for Pickett, would help a little, it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Neither would four minutes of injury time.

The game plan for Portland was fairly clear: keep Providence Park a fortress and keep the dangerous front three of Orlando silent. They succeeded; Morgan only managed to complete 11 of her 22 passes and only had one shot. Leroux, likewise, only had one shot. Whilst Chioma, who did have three shots, only had one on frame, that being the goal. That goal was the only shot on frame all game for any of the Pride.

Both teams are still obvious works in progress, finding out what works without previously essential pieces. Portland, however, appears to have figured out a bit more. Neither players nor coach are content to sit on what they have, particularly now that some of the new pieces have felt the unique atmosphere Portland can bring. Purce mentioned feeling like a real thorn for the first time, now that she’d got to play a home game, and Onumonu was seemingly awestruck by the tifo. For the players who have felt it before, there was nothing like home.