Portland, Oregon
– Portland Thorns FC concluded their 2022 home regular season slate with a dominant 3-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars, with goals from Morgan Weaver (2) and Taylor Porter propelling Portland back to the top of the league standings.
Portland, Oregon
– Portland Thorns FC concluded their 2022 home regular season slate with a dominant 3-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars, with goals from Morgan Weaver (2) and Taylor Porter propelling Portland back to the top of the league standings. In the first half, the two sides traded chances with both Portland goalkeeper Bella Bixby and Chicago netminder Alyssa Naeher active at different points. First, Bixby produced a fantastic save on a chance from Chicago forward Mallory Pugh just outside the box in the 25 th minute, beating the powerful drive over the crossbar and out for a corner kick. Then, in the 30 th minute, Naeher was called into action after Thorns forward Sophia Smith broke forward into the box and faced the goalkeeper one-on-one. Opting to try for a far post finish though, Smith was denied by Naeher who pushed the ball a different direction with the stop. At the break, the two sides were left scoreless though plenty of opportunities were presented to both. Out and into the second half, Portland wasted little time in its search for an opening goal as forward Morgan Weaver lifted her side in front in the 48 th minute with a smooth finish. Weaver had been played down the left side of the box by teammate Sam Coffey, and as she edged closer to the front of goal, she made a move down toward the goal line to create space with her defender. Finding just enough space, Weaver then slotted the ball across the face of goal with a low driven effort that beat Naeher and in the blink of an eye Portland had gone a goal ahead. Unrelenting, Portland then added to their advantage in the 61 st minute with Weaver again finding the back of the net with goal from close in. This time, forward Sophia Smith did the bulk of the hard work as she took a pass in the right side of the box and blitzed toward the endline where she was able to put a cross in. Spotting the run of Weaver toward the near post, Smith beat the onrushing Naeher and picked out her teammate leaving Weaver to tap the effort home amid the Chicago defenses’ best efforts. Portland continued to control the game and playing one player down from the 58 th minute on and then two players down from the first minute of stoppage time on put a big dent in Chicago’s stride. It was right at the death of the match, then, that Portland struck for the third and final time as it gave something for the home crowd to elate over with substitute Taylor Porter scoring in the third minute of added time. After a set piece move fell apart, Smith was in possession and moving along the edge of the center of the 18-yard box to her right. Attempting to end the move, a Chicago defender stuck a toe in and won the ball as it rolled into Taylor’s path. An outrageous strike across her body followed though, and the ball flew into the top left corner past Naeher to put the icing on the cake of a big afternoon. In the end, a dominant Thorns performance saw the hosts outshoot their opponents 21-7 with a 7-1 advantage in shots on goal, all en route to their 3-0 win. The result propels Portland back to the top of the table with a one-point advantage on OL Reign, while the loss for Chicago now leaves them on the outside looking in with one regular season game to play as they sit in seventh (30 points), just behind North Carolina in sixth (31 points).