**Portland, Oregon** – Portland Thorns FC earned a big 3-0 win over the Kansas City Current in the club’s regular season home opener in front of over 13,000 fans at Providence Park on Portland on Saturday night.
Portland got off and running early with forward Morgan Weaver scoring after just 8 minutes to send the crowd into a frenzy. Following a scramble just inside the center of the 18-yard box, midfielder Rocky Rodriguez gained possession and was able to slide through a perfect pass toward the left side of the box for Weaver to catch on to. Taking the pass in stride, Weaver then got enough on her shot to beat Kansas City goalkeeper Adrianna Franch and put her side one-up.
In the 34 ^th minute, forward Christine Sinclair then put her side two to the good from close range. Midfielder Natalia Kuikka settled the ball on the right side of the box and clipped a pass to the back post that was contested in an aerial 50/50. With neither challenger winning the ball, it fell to the feet of Sinclair who blasted a close-range effort home to lift the Thorns to a two-goal lead.
At the break, Portland held a healthy two goal advantage over the visiting Current, who are awaiting a Challenge Cup semifinal date midweek.
Not letting the halftime interval get to them, though, Portland would end up adding the game’s third goal in the 51 ^st minute through the lethal Sophia Smith. Giving away possession in their defensive third, Kansas City scrambled a bit as defender Meghan Klingenberg intercepted a pass and pressed ahead toward the visitors’ defense. Picking out Smith inside the penalty area, the forward cut just inside once before firing a rocket of a shot that beat Franch and decided the contest.
Overall, it would be difficult for Kansas City to argue the result having produced just one shot on target and five shots total compared to Portland’s 12 on goal and 19 total across the 90 minutes. Portland was able to treat its home crowd to a three-goal victory and has put some important building blocks on its 2022 regular season campaign.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights