Tag: izzy d’aquila

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Orlando Pride 2, Portland Thorns 1

Photo by Kelsey Baker

The Portland Thorns’ unprecedented six-game winning streak was bound to come to an end eventually, and a clash against top-of-the-table (!!!!) Orlando Pride on a sweltering Florida Friday night finally did them in.

Initially listed on the pregame availability report as “questionable,” the Thorns went the entire 90 minutes without Sophia Smith, who was “just a day or two too early with the low leg injury,” according to interim head coach Rob Gale. Her injury is not severe or lengthy enough to keep her out of the USWNT camp this week, but hopefully Emma Hayes doesn’t make a bad first impression and play Smith before she’s 100% sound.

Going up against the league leaders and their driving force Barbara Banda, Gale needed to prove that he was more than just a vibes merchant and can tactically guide the team—especially without crucial the support pillar of Smith. 

Here is what he got right, and what he got wrong.

Right: Izzy D’Aquila

Making just her third appearance of the season—and longest yet at only 28 minutes—Izzy D’Aquila came on and took full advantage of the opportunity to play at her best position as the No. 9, something she rarely got the chance to do under former head coach Mike Norris, netting the first regular season goal of her career. 

Bringing on D’Aquila in the 62nd minute was a smart change by Gale, and he deserves credit where it is due, but unfortunately, he also needs to be held accountable for his initial starting XI and the poor showing of the first half.

Gale started a front line of striker Christine Sinclair, left winger Olivia Moultrie, and right winger Janine Beckie. Only one of those three players was playing in their preferred and strongest position, and only one of them is fast (the answer is Beckie to both). With no speed up top, the Thorns were absolutely smothered by the Pride’s press in the first half and could not break through. Portland only managed three shots (and only one on target) in the first half to Orlando’s 14, and they only had six touches in the Pride’s 18-yard box—an absolutely abysmal stat line for the Thorns.  

Once Sinclair was removed from the game, the pace picked up immediately. The Thorns tripled their number of shots and entered the Pride’s box 15 times. While Orlando’s halftime substitution of Banda very well could have been the reason for the Thorns’ increased number of touches and possession, adding the speed of both D’Aquila and Payton Linnehan to the front line was a tremendous help in allowing the Thorns to successfully press. 

The question going forward becomes: How can D’Aquila get on the field more as a No. 9 when Smith’s name is written in on the starting XI in that position in permanent ink? With Morgan Weaver out until after the Olympics in August at minimum, and Linnehan still unable to play major minutes, the Thorns lack options out wide. In the 2023 season, D’Aquila got some minutes out wide, but did not get any return on goal involvements. The best course of action moving forward, and to prevent Smith from picking up additional knocks that can keep her off the pitch, is for D’Aquila and Smith to split minutes at the No. 9. Besides the season opener against the Kansas City Current where Smith played 75 minutes, she has consistently gotten 85 or more minutes in each game. While the Thorns rarely had the commanding 2+ goal lead that might have given Gale the confidence to sub Smith off early, a valid argument could be made that against consistently weak teams like the Houston Dash, Angel City, and the Utah Royals, D’Aquila can get the start and the bulk of the minutes while Smith rests. 

Another option that requires Gale to be a bit more bold in his formations is to have Smith and D’Aquila start in a front two. This change would allow the Thorns to build up the pitch centrally—the region where they have had the most success since Gale took over—and D’Aquila can unleash the through balls she consistently played forward for fellow Bronco Kelsey Turnbow at Santa Clara.

Wrong: Jessie Fleming

On the whole, the Thorns’ midfield had a collectively bad game, and it was probably Sam Coffey’s worst performance in a Thorns jersey. The starting trio of Hina Sugita, Coffey, and Jessie Fleming were unable to possess the ball, and they routinely lost it to the Pride’s intense pressure. However, 11 games and eight starts into the season, I think it is a fair time to examine how well Fleming has adjusted to the league and question whether or not she is a starting-caliber player for the Thorns. 

Fleming was pulled from the game at halftime, after a 45 minutes where she was clearly the weakest link of the three midfielders, and replaced by Linnehan. The move allowed Moultrie to slide back to her more natural central position. In those 45 minutes, Fleming had 10 completed passes over 16 total touches, and she won none of her duels or tackles. 

With two coaches already in her short tenure at the Thorns, it is possible Fleming’s poor positioning is due to a lack of clear instruction and tactics from the coaches. But regardless, with the international and elite club-level experience that Fleming has under her belt at only 25, her field awareness should be much higher. 

Per FBref, Fleming is in the 50th percentile of progressive passes compared to other midfielders and in the 80th for progressive runs. As the player at the top of the Thorns’ midfield triangle, Fleming should be the most creative player, playing balls forward to unlock the Portland forwards. However, that is not the role that she has been playing. She more often than not opts for short, less than 10-yard passes either perpendicular or backward (an average of 56% of her passes per-90 minutes are short; an average of 40% are medium, between 15 and 30 yards).

Despite playing in that more advanced midfield role, Fleming only has one assist on the season and holds an average of 0.12 expected assists per 90 minutes. For comparison, Moultrie, in the same eight starts, has 0.21  expected assists and 0.42 expected goals and assists per 90 minutes. As the two players are competing for the same position, it’s fair to say at this point that Moultrie is the more productive player and should be starting in that attacking midfield role. Moving her into that space also opens up a spot on the wing for Linnehan to slide into. 

As of right now, Fleming is not fitting into the system that Rob Gale is trying to play, and by placing her into the midfield, other players like Moultrie and Sinclair are forced to play out of position, which ultimately hurts the team as a whole. Fleming’s hefty transfer fee, international resume, and Barclay’s experience does not—and should not—make her a guaranteed starter in the league. 

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: OL Reign 0, Thorns 0

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

The Northwest Derby turned another chapter Sunday as the Portland Thorns—who were already eliminated from contention in the Challenge Cup—took on OL Reign up in the Emerald City. It was a battle of defenses, resulting in a 0-0 draw that left Thorns fans breathing a sigh of relief.

Heading into the match, it would be understandable to expect head coach Mike Norris to throw in the towel on a match like this, rest all starters, and just get some minutes for the deeper bench. It would also be understandable for someone to look at the schedule and Portland’s recent results and say, “This is a team desperate for a win; we need to start whoever is available.” 

In the end, the Thorns split the difference, starting Shelby Hogan and Izzy D’Aquila in place of Bella Bixby and Morgan Weaver. A veteran-heavy backline left Reyna Reyes, who’s shown significant growth in form this season watching from the sidelines, as Meaghan Nally came in as a defensive sub for Emily Menges late in the second half. 

Watching this match as a fan of the team would not have been easy, I will concede that.

Fortunately, I was able to don my “media” cap for this one and set my emotions aside as I watched OL Reign dominate on the attacking action on pitch. The Thorns struggled to get into the attacking third in the first half, as their passes continued to get picked off through the midfield. Without Weaver in the starting lineup, the team lacked the burst-speed to get behind the backline and play over the top, as well. With the exception of a few half-chances, the Thorns never looked particularly dangerous offensively in this match, and with Weaver only seeing roughly 15 minutes, including stoppage, the chances just never materialized. Fortunately, the Thorns defense and Hogan played a solid match, keeping the score 0-0 and giving Hogan a well-deserved shutout. Given Challenge Cup stakes for either team, to escape Seattle with a point is a victory for Portland and a disappointment for OL. That is always something Riveters can hang their hat on.

Planning ahead

All-in-all, I got the message: We want to be competitive, but we want to get our depth players some minutes before the international players return as well. Players need match minutes to develop. 

I recognize that many may disagree. Players come to play, and they always (or should always) give 100%. I won’t ever imply that players take games off, but sports psychology is a finicky field. Playing in front of a crowd, the adrenaline of competing against another team, and the ability to match the intensity, skill, and focus of an experienced opponent whose goal is to pulverize you, is not easily replicated in practice. Additionally, some teams perform better when their backs are against a wall; must-win games can bring out another level in a team and their players. But why does this matter though when we are getting several of our international stars back within the next couple weeks? (Editor’s note: I’m still mad that Japan isn’t advancing past the quarterfinals, but it’s nice that all our World Cup players should be on their way back to Portland in the near future.)

It is hard for me to criticize USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski for his lack of rotation of the during World Cup, only to turn around and also criticize Norris for giving minutes to rotational players instead of regular starters—especially in a Challenge Cup match that wouldn’t realistically change our standings in either the league or the Challenge Cup race. 

That doesn’t mean this was a meaningless match. You always want to field a competitive team, especially in a derby, if for nothing else than for team psyche and routine. However, the chance for players like D’Aquila and Taylor Porter to get extended minutes is an opportunity the Thorns hope will pay dividends in late September and early October. With the Challenge Cup now a mid-season tournament, players are playing far more minutes each week than they are accustomed to. International players have had to add their duties to their country, and the resulting additional travel, on top of these extra games when they are with their club. It’s a lot of minutes on the body. 

As the season winds down, teams are looking to make a push for playoff positioning. The intensity is going to rise, and the minutes will be harder and more physical, players’ bodies are going to take longer to recover, and the fear of injuries will intensify. As the season goes on, having these rotational players ready to plug in will be extremely important. Developing their game mentality and their physical abilities to compete at the NWSL level will be a risk that should see benefits throughout the remainder of this season—and hopefully into the playoffs.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

It is a unique perspective to watch a match from the press box, one you don’t get on camera or from the stands. As I watched OL continue to drop ball after ball over the Thorns’ outside backs, as Kelli Hubly and Menges did their best to rotate and take away angles, I realized how much the midfield still needs tweaking on the defensive end. 

Having attacking outside backs like Meghan Klingenberg and Natalia Kuikka leaves the defense in a constant state of transition. It felt, for much of this match, that the midfield needed to support the backline by getting back defensively. Too many times the Regin’s counterattack left the Thorns scrambling. 

This didn’t seem like a practical skill issue as much as a situational awareness issue. 

Players appeared to be clambering to put out fires they hadn’t anticipated. 

The Thorns have a midfield of players who excel at maintaining possession with the ball at their feet, but outside of Sam Coffey, it seemed the Reign defense was too often picking off the ball, resulting in Seattle counterattacks. When that happened, it became a mad dash to stop the bleeding. And fortunately, the Thorns had the skill and physical attributes to do so. 

Going back to my previous takeaway, this is something that can be practiced in training, but is a skill that takes match minutes to really become proficient at. It’s a mental preparation of visualizing possible outcomes, including the movement of opposing players positioned around the pitch, and how to respond. Veteran players have experienced nearly every outcome, have learned from their mistakes, and tend to be able to react with lower levels of stress and put themselves in less vulnerable positions. This is one reason why getting those minutes to rotational players in matches like this, will be better for the team down the road. 

That said, practicing visualization outside of matches will have practical applications for mental preparedness during in-match scenarios. Similar mental preparation tactics are deployed across occupations that face high-stress and volatile situations, such as emergency responders. In the moment, our brains don’t recognize the difference between, “Oh no, this is a life threatening situation,” and, “Oh no, I made a mistake that may give up a goal.” We all lack the ability to differentiate the value of those when our brains kick in the cortisol, but mental preparation helps us preemptively adjust in relation to changing conditions such as defensive positioning. 

With outside defenders moving so far up the pitch into the attack, the midfield needs to prepare themselves better mentally to react on the defensive end.

There’s speed, and then there’s speed

In case anyone was wondering, Sophia Smith, Hina Sugita, Weaver, Rocky Rodríguez, and Crystal Dunn are really, really fast. Their presence has the ability to change the offensive look of this team. The Thorns struggled to drive the offense past the Reign’s defensive midfield through the feet of Coffey. Hannah Betfort is a fast player, and can outrun much of the team in a baseline-to-baseline sprint, but the aforementioned players would win handily in a sprint from baseline to the top of the keeper box. Tziarra King had this for OL, which is another reason they were able to play over the top so easily against Portland. Without that quick burst of speed, the Thorns lacked the ability to play over the top, and struggled to get footholds offensively. OL Reign were able to dedicate their defensive resources to keeping play near the centerline of the pitch and to disrupting passing lanes. 

None of this is an indictment of the talent or skill of Betfort or D’Aquila. The Thorns don’t lack for talent, but the talent needs to be complimentary within the system, and the system didn’t adjust to fit Betfort and D’Aquilla. They’re just currently not the type of forwards who create the extra foot of separation needed to put a defense on their heels and cause chaos for an opponent’s backline, like Smith and Weaver are. 

There are ways for them to develop positioning tactics, like we’ve seen from Christine Sinclair or Lindsey Horan, that would make them more effective and impactful in the roles they play.

But the main takeaway is that without the dual speed of Smith and Weaver, or Weaver and Hina Sugita, the Thorns just aren’t getting behind enemy lines and become largely one-dimensional offensively. This has become glaringly obvious in the team’s recent run of play. Hopefully, the change of roles for D’Aquila and Betfort upon the return of Portland’s World Cup players allows them to be more effective within their minutes—and allows the team to be more effective at supporting their skill sets.

What next?

The World Cup misfortunes of Canada, Costa Rica, USWNT, and now Japan will hopefully breathe life back into a stagnant Thorns offense in the coming weeks. With the return of Rodríguez, Smith, and Dunn, the Thorns will get injections of speed and energy (not to mention the reigning NWSL MVP, who is statistically on pace to be in contention to repeat the title). One of my favorite aspects of Sinclair this year has been her defensive tenacity on turnovers between the goal and centerline, often getting the ball back before it can be played forward, if not disrupting the play and slowing the counter. The Thorns still sit comfortably in second place in the NWSL standings, with a majority of the NWSL matches during the World Cup being of the Challenge Cup variety, and not impacting league standings. 

They return home on Sunday, Aug. 20 for a match against the North Carolina Courage. Whether or not international players will be available for that match remains to be released, but an eventual return is inevitable, and tentatively on the horizon for some. In the meantime, the Thorns will continue to watch the film and grow from these opportunities. 

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Soccer Thorns

Thorns 2023 Draft Recap: Building for the Future—and the Now

Photo courtesy of Portland Thorns FC.

Newly appointed Thorns head coach Mike Norris had his first big test of the 2023 season at the NWSL draft on Thursday night in Philadelphia. The Thorns desperately needed to redeem their credibility in vetting players after drafting a fascist last year. Fortunately, both Norris and general manager Karina LeBlanc emphasized that it was important that the players they were looking at fit in the locker room. 

In my opinion, Norris and LeBlanc had a very successful draft night, and I’m going to explain why. 

The Thorns’ approach to the 2023 season seems to largely be to “run it back” and maintain the vast majority of players from their 2022 Championship-winning season. Marissa Everett retired from professional soccer, and free agent Abby Smith chose to sign with Gotham FC, but the Thorns spent much of the early offseason signing key players like Morgan Weaver, Rocky Rodríguez, and Sam Coffey to long-term contracts. Then, the Thorns went silent: coachless and for sale. 

It wasn’t until a few days before the draft that a three-team bombshell trade hit, leaving the Thorns without Yazmeen Ryan, who is set to play for Gotham FC. In exchange, the Thorns received $200k in allocation money and the fifth overall pick in the 2023 draft. 

Losing Ryan, who had a breakout 2022 season on the wing, is not ideal—especially during a World Cup year. But the Thorns have a plethora of quality options to slot into her place, including Janine Beckie and new draftees Izzy D’Aquila and Laruen DeBeau. 

Norris and LeBlanc were tight-lipped about their strategy heading into the draft, but the goal seems clearin retrospect: with nearly the entire starting XI expected to represent their countries during the 2023 WWC, the Thorns need quality depth players who are ready for the speed and physicality of the NWSL. With the four picks in the 2023 draft, the Thorns succeeded in meeting that goal. 

Reyna Reyes, University of Alabama, LB

Reyna Reyes is without a doubt the future of the Thorns’ defense. With Meghan Klingenberg, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Emily Menges all reaching the twilight of their careers, Reyes is the team’s long-term option at left back. Already capped with the Mexican senior national team, Reyes put up ridiculously high passing, crossing, and dribbling numbers during her time in Alabama. The 2022 SEC Defender of the Year is able to put players on skates and should be able to match Kling and Natalia Kuikka’s aggression going forward if the Thorns choose to continue using their wingbacks as playmakers in the box. Reyes’ boasts a long list of accolades; she was a 2022 Mac Hermann semi-finalist, 2022 USC All-American first team selection, and Honda Award finalist. She helped Alabama reach the semifinals of the College Cup for the first time in program history, capping a college career of 79 starts, 15 goals, and five assists over four years. Fortunately for the Thorns and unfortunately for her national team, Mexico won’t be at this year’s WWC, so Portland will have Reyes for the full 2023 season. 

Izzy D’Aquila, Santa Clara University, FW

Izzy D’Aquila is one of the most clutch forwards in the college game. In the 2022 season alone, she scored 19 goals and had five assists in 21 games, bringing her tally up to 50 career goals. Of those 19, six were game winners. D’Aquila has a conversion rate of 29% across her four years as a Bronco. She was a national-championship winner with Santa Clara in 2020, scoring the game-winning penalty kick against Florida State. D’Aquila also helped the Broncos to the 2021 College Cup, where they fell short in the semi-finals, and helped captain the team to winning the WCC three years in a row. She is a three time WCC first team recipient. With Sophia Smith headed to New Zealand and Australia, D’Aquila will have plenty of time to show off her scoring skills with both feet and her head, especially if her unbelievable run of form transfers to the professional game. 

Lauren DeBeau, Michigan State University, FW

https://youtu.be/YnJrg7Lwa_g

Lauren DeBeau is another incredibly prolific goalscorer who should get playing time this season. DeBeau had a conversion rate of 41% in 2022, scoring 11 goals and providing four assists in 22 games, five of which were game winners. She was the first ever athlete to take home the Big 10 Forward of the Year award for MSU, and her 2022 season earned her second-team All American honors. DeBeau is both a savvy play-maker and a clinical goal scorer. She helped send MSU to the Big 10 Championship game with a game-winning goal—and to the second round of the NCAA tournament with the game-winning assist. She is a confident dribbler, completing nearly four a game, and wins over 50% of her aerial duels. 

Lauren Kozal, Michigan State University, GK

If Nadine Angerer selects a goalkeeper, you can be assured that they are incredibly talented. Lauren Kozal earned first-team All American honors in 2022, and was the first Spartan to be a Mac Hermann Trophy semi-finalist. After taking one redshirt year as a freshman, Kozal started every remaining game for Michigan State over the next three years, giving her plenty of time to hone her skills in goal. Over 23 games her senior season, she allowed only 15 goals and had 63 saves— giving her a save percentage of 0.81%—alongside ten shutouts. Under the tutelage of Angerer, Kozal should become a force to be reckoned with over the coming years. 

It is clear that the Thorns have found players who can not only make an immediate impact in a year in which they will have a lot of playing time, but also players who have the potential to become longtime stalwarts of the club.

Give the Thorn’s draft class an A+.