**Portland, Oregon** – A six-goal thriller saw Portland Thorns FC and the North Carolina Courage pull out a 3-3 draw that involved a Sophia Smith brace and the Courage coming back from a two-goal deficit and down twice in total to split the points on Friday night.
The Courage nearly opened the scoring after just six minutes when a defensive error by the Thorns allowed midfielder Debinha, who returned to the North Carolina team sheet on Friday, to have a high quality look on goal from close range. As Portland goalkeeper Bella Bixby distributed the ball out of the back, her pass was misplaced with it ending up falling right to Debinha’s feet just outside the box. With a somewhat open net, though, the Brazilian was unable to curl her shot into the back of the net as the Thorns’ defense took a collective sigh of relief.
However, Portland would end up finding the game’s first goal in the 8 ^th minute when forward Sophia Smith shot forward and beat Courage goalkeeper Casey Murphy with a smooth finish. After the Thorns won the ball back near midfield, a ball forward for Smith saw the talented forward cut inside then out again as she created space in the penalty area for a one-on-one with Murphy. Smith then finished with aplomb to Murphy’s right as she helped the hosts jump out in front within the game’s first 10 minutes. The finish helped mark the 32 ^nd goal of the season in just 14 games, with Smith also now second in the Golden Boot race with 10 goals. In addition, Smith became the youngest player in league history to reach the 10-goal mark in a season.
The next few minutes were all Portland as well as chances for attacker Hina Sugita and the forward Smith—multiple times—were all repelled by either Murphy or the North Carolina defense, though the hosts looked like they hadn’t missed a beat since their last time in action as they pushed the Courage to the limit early on.
Then, in the 24 ^th minute the Thorns stepped up to a two-goal lead as attacker Morgan Weaver put home a rebounded effort from just a couple of yards out to put the Courage further in a hole. As Smith danced around the top of the box, she then pushed the ball out to the right for Sugita in a wide position. Sugita fired in a cross toward the middle of the box for forward Christine Sinclair, and although the Canadian was able to get her shot away, Murphy did well to keep the initial effort out. However, in parrying the shot to the right, Weaver was able to capitalize on being in the right place at the right time as she pounded home the bouncing ball as Portland’s tear continued.
Five minutes before the halftime break, Portland then saw an effort saved off the line as their impressive attacking play only continued. This time, Smith turned from scorer to near provider as she flicked a ball into the box for Sugita in the penalty area and Sugita laid it off for Sinclair just inside the penalty area. Sinclair then opened up her foot and aimed to the far side of goal, but North Carolina defender Carson Pickett did very well to clear the effort off the line with her head to give the Courage a lifeline.
At the halftime interval, Portland could hardly have dominated more in terms of chance creation though North Carolina would have been buoyed by the fact that the deficit was not greater than two goals heading into the second half.
The second half saw both sides test the others’ goal in the opening 15 minutes as the hour mark ticked closer. First, Smith had a shot saved in the 51 ^st minute before North Carolina forward Diana Ordoñez had a shot blocked in the 52 ^nd minute and teammate Abby Erceg failed to hit the target on a Debinha free kick.
However, just after the hour mark, the Courage’s pressure on the Portland goal paid off as back-to-back opportunities in front of goal eventually saw Ordoñez rise above the rest on a corner kick to head home from a few yards out. Having won her side that corner seconds earlier, Ordoñez was able to get on the end of the ball in as she headed down to the bottom right corner of Bixby’s goal to pull one back with plenty of time to play.
Portland would end up sticking itself right back into the match, though, and nearly found a third goal on the night if not for a fantastic save from Murphy. Earning a corner on the other end of the field, the forward Sinclair was able to loop a header over the defense and toward the top right corner of the goal. However, Murphy was privy to the effort and reacted in time to prevent the shot from finding the back of the net and keep her side down just the one goal.
In the 71 ^st minute, North Carolina threatened and nearly found their second goal from an extremely similar position as their first came. With Carson Pickett on corner kick duty again, she clipped a ball into the middle of the box that the forward Ordoñez was able to latch onto. Again producing a powerful header, Bixby was equal to the effort.
However, one minute later, Ordoñez would not be stopped as she received a ball from Williams out wide and rose well above any challenging Portland defenders to power her headed effort home. With North Carolina carrying momentum, teammate Ryan Williams was in possession on the right side of the field where she whipped in a cross toward Ordoñez. Having scored just a few minutes earlier, Ordoñez again made no mistake as she produced an unstoppable effort to bring the visitors level with just under 20 minutes to play.
With that, the match really opened up and Portland would end up retaking its lead in the 77 ^th minute through who else but Sophia Smith. Timing her run to perfection, teammate Olivia Moultrie weighted a perfect through pass in behind the Courage defense for Smith to latch onto. Once in possession, Smith then rounded Murphy and buried the opportunity to put her side back in front with even less time to play. The goal puts Smith now tied for top the league in goals scored, level with San Diego forward Alex Morgan (11) in the scoring charts.
Not done yet though, North Carolina would end up finding one final goal through substitute Jaelene Daniels in the 85 ^th minute. A ball into the box from the right side of the field caused confusion amongst the Thorns defenders, but Daniels was in good position to make a play. Bundling the ball over the line from close range, Daniels’s equalizer stood as the game’s sixth and final goal.
All in all, a thrilling encounter between the Thorns and the Courage saw two of the league’s most successful clubs split the points at Providence Park on Friday night.

Match Highlights

Match Highlights