After four long weeks of away games, a boisterous crowd of 15,828 welcomed the undefeated Thorns back to their sometimes rainy and always rowdy home. Saturday night, fans watched 95 minutes of doubtless play and connection between the Thorns, who handed the Washington Spirit their first loss of the season. The Thorns are now the only undefeated team in the league and are ranked third overall.
DANCING LADY IN RED DRESS EMOJI
FOUR GOALS CLAP CLAP EMOJI!
Midfielder Lindsay Horan landed the first goal in the 26th minute with a perfectly placed assist from Tobin Heath. Then, thanks to a Washington Spirit’s defenders face, the Thorns grabbed a second point.
SORRY NOT SORRY
Thorns longtime captain and Portland mainstay Christine Sinclair was back on the field with every bit of her experience and intelligence. Her precisely threaded through ball to Tobin Heath for a third point in extra time of the first half confirmed that we had a very special night on our hands. Sinclair, who we share with Canada’s national team, has been leading this city to championships since her college years. Her patience and game smarts anchor the team.
“She calms us down and gives us quality in between the most dangerous areas," said Thorns Coach Mark Parsons of Sinclair after the game. "How many times did we knick it, got Sinc on the ball, and she threaded balls to Tobin or Nadia [Nadim] or got someone in behind? She’s still doing her minutes, and she’s still getting sharper. It’s amazing to get her back out there because of that quality she brings and the experience she has. She pushes us toward the team we will be and a team that can do the horrible stuff, defend deep if we need to like last week, or move the ball like we did in periods tonight.”
SINCLAIR FOR MAYOR
Finally, in the 78th minute, over 15,000 minds were blown as we watched tenacity and quickness meet in perfection as Meg Morris drove a final, fourth goal into the net for the Thorns.
CLEANUP ON AISLE 5
SHUT DOWN
The Washington Spirit managed to grab a goal off to the Thorns in the 55th minute, but outside of that, our GK Adrianna Franch had little to do at Saturday night’s game with only two shots on her. Defender Meghan Klingenberg played another full 90 for the Thorns, suffocating the Spirit’s killer forward Crystal Dunn. Last year Dunn won the NWSL Golden Boot, but outside of her assist to Joanna Lohman, she couldn’t shake Kliengenberg.
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
The Thorns face off with the Seattle Reign on Sunday, May 29th, at Providence park. We just played our rivals a week ago in a heated and physical match in Seattle last week. We landed in a draw but not without a fight. Seattle lost to Chicago on Sunday afternoon.
Sure, it’s early in the season, The team is still coming together, gelling, and figuring out how to best move quickly and strongly as a team—but fully formed or not, this team is fun to watch. As Sinclair said after Saturday’s match, “I think tonight, and in Seattle, you saw a team that’s tight. We’re a unit. We’re willing to fight for one another. You know, I look at someone like Lindsey Horan who just wins absolutely everything, does all the dirty work. We’ve got world-class players who put in the work, and that’s not always the case.”