Categories
Soccer Thorns

Four Takeaways from Portland’s Quarterfinal Victory over North Carolina

Leo recaps Portland’s first win of the Challenge Cup.

Photo by Lucas Muller.

After wrapping up the preliminary round of the Challenge Cup winless in last place, the Portland Thorns pulled out a thrilling 1–0 win over the North Carolina Courage with a 68th-minute goal from rookie Morgan Weaver.

The match marks the first playoff game that the Courage have lost since the 2017 NWSL Final, and the first time North Carolina has been shut out since last May.

1. Injuries didn’t bode well for Portland early on

Beyond the tournament-ending injuries for AD Franch, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Sophia Smith, Bella Bixby, Lindsey Horan, and Emily Menges were also listed as questionable ahead of today’s match. While both Horan and Menges started the game, Bixby’s right knee injury paved the way for Britt Eckerstrom’s first start since August of last year.

Unfortunately, the knocks didn’t end there. The first half of the match saw both Horan and Katherine Reynolds go down—for Reynolds, in a head collision with Lynn Williams that saw both of them bleeding and Reynolds subbed off the pitch.

Horan was able to come out in the second half, but fell to the ground again in Portland’s defensive box. She was subbed out for Celeste Boureille in the 51st minute.

Especially given the fact that the Thorns have looked uninspired without Horan in this tournament, these early injuries were worrying.

2. Parsons made some interesting defensive choices, but it worked out alright

Portland started the game with Reynolds on the right, Meghan Klingenberg on the left, and an Emily Menges-Kelli Hubly centerback pairing. In her 40 minutes on the field, Reynolds was often left dealing with Williams up North Carolina’s left flank, and found herself burned by Williams a handful of times—including in the first minute of the match.

While Reynolds is a better defender when isolated one on one, the decision to start her over the faster Christen Westphal was questionable, and the Thorns were lucky that the Courage didn’t take advantage by overloading that side with Williams and Jaelene Daniels.

The other somewhat illogical choice, in the first 20 minutes at least, was the partnership between Menges and Hubly. At the beginning of the match, Menges was consistently the player stepping higher to win the ball while Hubly hung back, something that felt counterproductive given their respective strengths. However, the duo figured things out as the match went on, with Hubly more often pushing up to win the ball and Menges stepping to take on players.

3. Believe it or not, the Thorns scored a goal

After scoring a total of two goals in the preliminary rounds—with one of those goals coming off a Horan set-piece header—things didn’t look particularly promising for Portland’s attack heading into this one. On top of that, they’ve looked significantly worse without Horan.

Regardless, the Thorns broke through when Christen Westphal played a pass up the line Rocky Rodríguez. Rodríguez dribbled to the endline and squared her hips to send a low cross front of goal and beat her defender. Morgan Weaver peeled off Addisyn Merrick at the far post to tap the ball in, and the Thorns were up with their first game-winner of the tournament.

4. Britt Eckerstrom had the game of her life

Slipping down Portland’s goalkeeper depth chart to the third string, it was hard to know what to expect from Eckerstrom going into this game. Fortunately, she did really, really well.

If she had any nerves, Eckerstrom worked through them in the first half; her handling was a bit shaky, and she was lucky to catch her own rebound on two separate occasions. She was also fortunate in the fact that North Carolina struggled to put their shots on target, with a handful of sitters hit wide of goal or missed completely.

However, the Thorns ended the half 0–0, and Eckerstrom showed flashes of the fantastic positioning and ability off her line that she relied on heavily in the second part of the game.

And that second half was something to behold; Eckerstrom was everywhere across the face of goal. She came out several times to smother a through-ball in traffic—including blocking a Courage breakaway and deflecting the rebound wide—and got a strong punch to a brilliant Debinha free kick to preserve the Thorns’ lead.

Bonus: #FreeNadine

Eckerstrom was absolutely fantastic today, but it was kind of cool to see Nadine Angerer listed as a sub for the Thorns—even if it was the result of Portland’s first- and second-string keepers being injured. And, yeah, it was a great game, but can you honestly say it wouldn’t have been better if Angerer had gotten a couple minutes at the end?

By Leo Baudhuin

Leo Baudhuin is a student journalist covering the Thorns and the NWSL. They love cats, climbing, and Gritty, and they’re always down to talk about astrology. (They’re a gemini, if you were wondering.)