Tag: Portland Thorns

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 4, NJ/NY Gotham 1

Photo by Kris Lattimore

The air in Providence Park on a Tuesday night is different. After a frustrating one-nil loss to the Seattle Reign on Friday, and with the possibility of losing five games in a row to NJ/NY Gotham, the Portland Thorns took the field with something to prove to both themselves and the fans.

The Thorns’ first multi-goal game of 2025 arrived in spectacular fashion: a 4-1 thrashing of the juggernaut Gotham. It’s not that the Thorns have been unable to get near the goal—which is what their three goals across their first five games may have suggested. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Thorns lead the NWSL in shots (60) and are second in expected goals (10.2), only behind Kansas City. With a front line whose most experienced players are sophomores Reilyn Turner and Payton Linnehan, it has taken a few matches for the young team to find their footing. The Thorns seem to be heating up at just the right time, before a congested slate of games before the league breaks for the Euros in June.

With such a quick turnaround between games—only two training sessions—the Thorns had very little time to focus in after Seattle. Speaking postgame, both Caiya Hanks and Jayden Perry credited the Thorns leadership team, in particular Sam Coffey and Jessie Fleming, for helping create the right mentality headed into Tuesday night.

“Sam gave us a great speech at the beginning: to play with intensity, and smile, and have fun, and that showed today,” Hanks said.

Perry focused on the Thorns’ change in approach to their training sessions as modeled by Fleming and Coffey, saying, “The intensity and response in the quality and the energy, we knew we could have given more in that game and gotten a different result. We had to switch our mindset, and that showed in this game.”

Head coach Rob Gale said postgame that “19 players featured between the two games,” and spoke of his pregame speech, which referenced the late Pope. “We have to do it together,” Gale said. “We are not a team of superstars. We are servants to the team, and are humble, serving something bigger than ourselves.”

Right from the whistle, these slight shifts were evident. The Thorns were on the front foot, and playing with intentionality as they moved the ball across the lines and into the penalty box.

Mimi Alidou’s goal by Kris Lattimore

Mimi Alidou, the 29-year-old Canadian, started her first game for Portland nearly two weeks after she arrived in the city and quickly showed why the Thorns brought her over from Portugal midseason . In just the seventh minute, Alidou redirected a ball from Hanks into the back of the net with ease, a lá Christine Sinclair.

When speaking about Alidou, Hanks said that, even though the two don’t follow each other on Instagram yet, they “have this weird connection. I just knew that she was going to be there in the box,” she said. “It’s really cool when you meet someone and just know that you are going to have a really good connection on and off the field.”

Unfortunately, the celebrations did not last long. Thorns let Gotham respond immediately, and the game went into halftime tied at one. Credit to Gale, quite literally coaching for his job, for making tactical changes at half time. The first half had the Thorns playing on the back foot, defending Gotham (and allowing them just three shots). But after conceding, the Thorns never regained solid spells of possession and thus weren’t able to play the style of soccer that they needed to.

But Portland came out of the tunnel at half time flying. Finally, importantly, things were starting to click. The Thorns’ second half was one of their best in ages on both sides of the ball.

“We all knew we were due for a win,” Hanks said. “We had an issue with coming out slow in our last games, and we had to come out with the intensity and the fire. The games we come out fast are the games we win; we saw that in Utah. Once one or two go in, they just start flowing, and we were due for that.”

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Hanks was the star of the show against Gotham. She had three shots on target and completely dominated Gotham’s right back on every dribble and pass. After recording her first career assist in the first half, she added her first professional goal in the second. When asked about what it felt like, she said, “I released all my thoughts, all my hesitations, and just hit it.”

With that, the flood gates were open. It seemed as though every touch was turning to gold, and the Thorns were running circles around Gotham, dictating the tempo and exhausting the traveling team.

The best sequence of the night was absolutely in the 70th minute when the Thorns won a penalty kick (without even needing a VAR review—how I love quick footballing decisions). Coffey stood over the ball, then, from the back line, came rookie Jayden Perry. She stepped up in front of a rowdy North End, and calmly sent Ann Katrin Berger, 2024 NWSL keeper of the year, the wrong way, becoming the first rookie to score a penalty this year.

Perry gets her rose by Kris Lattimore

Perry said postgame that she advocated for herself early into the preseason. As the designated penalty kick taker during her time at UCLA, she had never missed. “I told Rob that I am confident in PKs, and that if he let me take them, I would do that job,” she said. “My teammates and my coaches put their trust in me, and I knew that they had my back.”

In addition to slotting home her first professional goal, Perry had a solid performance at center back, winning all but one of her ground duels and all of her aerial ones and making four clearances. She is only signed through this season, and with the Bhathal family in attendance on Tuesday, they should swiftly lock Perry down to a longer contract.

Perry added: “Little Jayden would be crying right now. It’s such a dream to play at this level, and scoring my first goal brings so much joy to me and my mom and my sister, who were here today. Today, we were playing with that passion that we had as little kids.”

The fourth and final goal of the night came from Deyna Castellanos, who broke a 23-game scoring drought by capitalizing off a rebounded shot. Soccer is a funny sport, because despite having a 50% passing completion rate, losing the ball 20 times (per SofaScore), and having zero clearances, blocks, interceptions, accurate crosses, or duels won, Castellanos still plays ninety minutes and scores a goal. My only hope is that the goal unlocks something within her, and she is able to be much more productive going forward.

Air Turner by Kris Lattimore

There is still so much season ahead of the Thorns, but the win against Gotham was a statement to the rest of the league: Don’t underestimate the Thorns. We might be without Sophia Wilson and Morgan Weaver, but we have the best young talent in the league.

Maybe we should play more games on balmy Tuesday evenings in Portland.

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Kansas City Current 3, Portland Thorns 1

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Portland Thorns started their season on the wrong foot when they lost 3-1 to Kansas City Current last Saturday. It was an expected result, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

A new season has begun and with it a new reality for the Thorns. Gone is the mighty team that was feared by other clubs, gone is the experienced roster, and gone is Portland as one of the top spots in the world for players.

Of course, this piece is not meant to be a depressing one, but if you watched the club play in this 2025 season, you know what I’m talking about.

So, despite the loss, how did the Thorns do? Let’s see.

The backline

After Becky Sauerbrunn retired and Kelli Hubly went to Bay FC in the offseason, Portland’s backline ended up with a serious lack of experience.

Coach Rob Gale chose Reyna Reyes, Jayden Perry, Isabella Obaze, and Kaitlyn Torpey as the four-back for the debut against the Current. We have to remember that Obaze didn’t have the best of seasons last year, and Reyes wasn’t that impressive either. Nonetheless, Portland plans to rely heavily on them this season.

It was great to see Reyes stepping up big for the Thorns on Saturday. She recovered many balls, and since the team was playing mostly on the left side, the Mexican had to stay sharp. She did.

If we talk about the the less experienced defender on the field, it was a difficult game for Perry. It was expected, though. Imagine you’re a rookie and your first match as a professional soccer player is against one of the top teams in the league, and you’re tasked with marking 2024 Golden Boot and MVP Temwa Chawinga—a forward that if you blink, you’ll miss. What is more, Perry had to perform in a very new backline that is just getting acquainted with one another.

Nonetheless, and despite that, Perry did well in some departments as you can in the table below.

Defensive stats by the back four. Source: Opta

The Thorns got the short end of the stick in their opener. And that’s the thing: Facing KC in your first game of the season without the firepower Portland had last year, with a very new backline, and on the road was a recipe for disaster.

When it comes to defending against tricky players such as Chawinga or Debinha, you have to be tricky as well. On the first goal the home team scores, maybe it would’ve been good to make Chawinga fall into an offside trap, but to do that Portland’s entire backline needed to be on the same page.  That wasn’t the case in Saturday’s match and maybe won’t be for some time.

It would’ve been great to have Sam Hiatt available, since she has been around in the league for some time now. and she knows the drill. “Sam had a knee injury at the end of last year and a long RTP [return to play],” Gale said after the match. “We haven’t got her up to 90 minutes yet, as we just had to build that back. The medical and performance department has done a really good job in getting her close to being able to go 60 minutes.”

With Hiatt not ready to play, we can expect the coach to keep using the four defenders he used against Kansas City for the next few games. Hopefully, they will get more acquainted with one another and improve little by little.

We have the ball… Now what?

Portland tried to, in true Portland fashion, build from the back. The problem is that the team doesn’t currently have the personnel to do so.

Below we can see an image that was repeated over and over again on Saturday. Mackenzie Arnold passed the ball to the center-backs, and they moved it between them while Sam Coffey approached to help. Kansas City put a line of players high enough to prevent them from passing the ball to the middle.

The Current’s plan worked, and as a result, the Thorns’ backline was disconnected from the middle, which resulted in the center-backs sending long, aerial balls to the midfielders. After losing those aerial duels, Portland lost possession.

Credit: NWSL

The Current had many tools to make Portland pay for losing the ball so easily. Speed, individual brilliance, and scoring prowess are just some of them, and all of them were on display during the three goals the home team scored on the Thorns. Of course, the visitors didn’t make the task that hard.

Kansas City’s first goal was the result of a bad defensive effort. Their second was the result of individual brilliance, and the third a combination of both factors. Debinha’s class shined through in that third goal, but Portland’s entire defense was also hypnotized by the ball and didn’t mark her. As a result, she pushed the ball—which Obaze then couldn’t clear on time—against the back of the net.

Credit: NWSL
Olivia Moultrie

In brightest day, in blackest night, Olivia Moultrie will always show up. The youngest player on the roster is playing her fifth season with Portland, and she’s not even 20-years-old. How cool is that?

It’s really amazing to see her as one of the “veterans” and and as someone who has so many responsibilities in the team. Of course, it’s not ideal, but seeing Moultrie take on those responsibilities with no hesitation shows her maturity as a player. The first game of the season showed her strong mentality on the field; even though she contributed with a goal for Portland—the Thorns’ only one—she also missed another.

However, Moultrie had enough guts to step up on the penalty spot against a mighty opponent at a pivotal point of the match. If she had scored, the Thorns would have been back in the game. Yes, she missed. Some surely asked why Coffey didn’t take it. But Moultrie was also qualified to do so. Moreover, the penalty was also a learning opportunity and part of her journey as a player.

“I’ve grown as a player,” she said after the match. “I’ve grown as a person as I’ve been on this team. These things are a natural evolution for me. And it’s just like, how can I help my team? How can I do whatever I need to do for us to win games?

On Saturday, one of the few positive things we witnessed was that growth Moultrie referred to. She will keep showing up for Portland because that’s the kind of player she is. Age has never been a problem for her. Since day one, she was ready to take on the mantle of being the youngest player in the league, and she has always been up to the challenge.

That attitude and leadership will be key for the Thorns this season. Hopefully, her teammates will observe that and follow her example.

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Soccer Thorns

Preseason: Portland Thorns 1, Utah Royals 0

Photo by Kelsey Baker

It feels as though the universe is playing a cruel joke on the Portland Thorns. With the large number of offseason departures, even the most sadistic person would not have expected—or even imagined—four of the Thorns’ starting XI missing the entire season before it even had a chance to begin. With Marie Müller and Nicole Payne’s ACL injuries, the Thorns are down to one outside back (Reyna Reyes) and out a massive defensive force and outside playmaker in Müller. With Morgan Weaver getting reinjured, presumably right after returning from her USWNT call up in January (we have no specific data or timeline released from the club) and Sophia Wilson announcing her pregnancy, the offensive structure that the Thorns have been built around since they went one-two overall in the 2020 NWSL College Draft is gone. 

In isolation, these injuries and absences are devastating, but combined with the general ineptitude that has plagued the front office since 2021, the Thorns seem to be on a downward spiral with no signs of slowing. On Friday night, the gates of Providence Park opened for fans for the first chance to see what this new Thorns team was going to look like during a preseason game against the Utah Royals. It left everyone with more questions than answers.

The Thorns lined up in a 4-3-3, the same formation they used for the majority of the last season. Let’s look at how each line played and worked together.

In defense, new signing, Australian (not Austrailian, as the Thorns spelled in their press release) Kaitlyn Torpey slid right into the starting XI. Sam Hiatt started alongside Isa Obaze at center back, with Daiane not dressing for the game. Reyes got the start as well, to no one’s surprise. While individually all four defenders are solid players, what they lacked as a unit was a leader. With both Becky Sauerbruun and Kelli Hubly departing, the Thorns need a player who is willing and able to dictate play and organize the backline, and this became abundantly clear whenever Utah was on the attack. On the Royals’ lone goal, Mackenzie Arnold came up big one-on-one from a close range shot, but no one was tracking the runners on the far side. Torpey lost sight of Ally Sentnor completely, and Sentnor was able to score a fairly simple goal in the bottom corner. Set pieces in particular were a struggle for Portland, with players losing their marks on corner kicks and not tracking Utah’s runs. It was these lapses in defending fundamentals that caused the defensive line to collapse. Luckily, both Arnold (and Bella Bixby, when she came in at the 60th minute) were able to make the necessary saves. 

Hiatt was the eldest starting defender at 27. As she has the most NWSL experience over her career with the Seattle Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC, and as a center-back, I have the expectation and hope that she will step up into that leadership position. However, I am also trying to keep my expectations reasonable and acknowledge that the Thorns are running on a skeleton crew of players and do not have the necessary coaches to help guide them. The Thorns are still without a goalkeeping coach and have only had two assistants since head coach Rob Gale was promoted last summer. By leaving these positions open, the Thorns are shooting themselves in the foot, with no time for a new hire to acclimate and disseminate their knowledge during preseason—when there are no consequences to trying new formations or tactics.  

The midfield trio of Jessie Fleming, Hina Sugita, and Sam Coffey was the best line on the field, and it was a shame that they were unable to dictate more play. Hina and Coffey both sat deeper, playing box-to-box, and read each other’s game very well; both were far-and-away the best players on the pitch. On both sides of the ball they retained possession, won tackles, and made clean passes to break through the lines, and Thorns fans should be manifesting that they maintain their health over the course of the season. Fleming, an utterly frustrating player last season, seemed to have more direction and intentionality in her play. Instead of merely running around the pitch, she helped start a high press, and was able to put lots of pressure on the Royals’ backline. While it became clear over the course of the match that Gale wanted to build the play out from Arnold through the wide channels, Coffey—as captain—should advocate for herself and her skills to switch up play centrally, particularly now that Weaver and Müller—the strongest wide playmakers—are out for the season. 

As everyone could have guessed once they heard the news that Wilson was going to be out this season, the Thorns’ biggest struggle for this year will be to score goals. Deyna Castellanos, the Venezuelan marquee signing of the offseason, offers some qualities similar to Wilson in the way she drifts on the backline and looks to poach space over the top, but she does not have the speed that Wilson does, nor does she have the defensive abilities or willingness to cover and run deeper. The way the Thorns set up in a 4-3-3 did not serve to highlight Deyna’s skillset, which we were able to see in flashes in her playmaking, dummines, and through-balls. There were several times over the course of the game where she put the ball on a platter for a tap-in, and a teammate fumbled or missed the target entirely. 

In particular, Payton Linnehan was incredibly frustrating to watch on the wing, with probably the most chances on the night. Unironically, I think that the now-retired Christine Sinclair would have been a good partner for Deyna, where her ball-knowledge and control would allow Sinclair to dink the ball in the perfect corner of the goal off of Deyna’s set-up. Currently, neither Olivia Moultrie or Linnehan have that control, nor did they show any flashes of it. 

If I were Gale and were looking at my teamsheet, I would opt to play a two-front of Deyna with either Reilyn Turner or Pietra Tordin, and push Moultrie more centrally. This would allow Deyna to work off of a pure striker in Turner or Tordin (both of whom seem to be on minutes restrictions due to lack of playing time across all three broadcast preseason matches) and allow Moultrie to play the way she likes, with the ball at her feet centrally, thus maximizing the skillset and potential of each player. 

Off the bench, both Turner and Tordin looked promising, but we are at risk of another Izzy D’Aquilla situation, where Portland’s head coach forces a natural striker to play out wide and eventually causes them to lose their spot on the team entirely. Jayden Perry looked relatively strong at center back and had the confidence to move the ball up through the middle more than Hiatt (who she replaced) did. After those three names, the Thorns’ bench was incredibly thin and offered no real league-ready depth, something that they will need with a season that stretches through November. 

Ultimately, I think that the Thorns are one serious goal-scorer away from being a mid-table team that sneaks into the playoffs. The squad looked shaky, but I feel inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are still getting used to one another. They are doing the best with what they have—barely meeting the roster minimum, not having enough coaches, losing four starting players in the last two weeks—but time is running out to right the ship before the season gets underway, and the hole is dug too deep. 

If Gale is out there reading this, I urge him to build your tactics around the team in front of him, not the one that he had a few weeks ago. 

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Portland Thorns’ 2025 Roster Breakdown

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More Connections, More Assists, More Goals

Sophia Smith cuts the ball across her body to beat a Washington Spirit defender.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe.
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Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Chicago Red Stars 0, Portland Thorns 2

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Portland Thorns’ new Ken-look-alike interim head coach Rob Gale has an undefeated record in the NWSL as Portland (finally) picks up their first home and road wins of the 2024 season. It’s been a slow and bumpy start to the season, and while it’s too early to make any calls on how competent Gale is as a coach, there is officially enough data to try and determine what type of team the Thorns are going to be under his interim tenure. 

Renewed sense of urgency
Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Thorns conceded within the first 10 minutes of three of their four first games of the season. Luckily—or more likely, intentionally—Portland has flipped the script and were able to score first in the sixth and 10th minute of their last two matches. Postgame against Houston, Sophia Smith credited the fiery start to a change in the team’s warmup, something that ensures the team gets a taste of competition and “that fire in our blood flowing before we step on the field and the kickoff happens.” The new pregame ritual includes competitive games like rondos. 

“To win is the expectation,” Smith said. “This is the Thorns that we know.”

Olivia Moultrie said  these wins have felt like “the start of a new season for the Thorns,” as they set a new standard for performances going forward. 

The lineup
Photo by Kelsey Baker.

 Gale has not made many changes to the starting XI that the Thorns began the season with, but the two he did make made all the difference. Firstly, Hina Sugita has played 90 minutes in both games, compared to being a second-half sub under former head coach Mike Norris. Hina a versatile player that needs to be on the pitch and can slot in pretty much anywhere in the front six. She played as a box-to-box midfielder in both games, connecting 88% of her passes in those 180 minutes and earning one assist. Gale’s choice to exchange Hina for Moultrie in the starting XI balances out Portland’s midfield; as in the first few games of the year, we saw Moultrie and Jesse Fleming occupying many of the same spots, leaving empty gaps in the midfield for the opposition to play through. 

After the Houston game, Gale said the midfield “smothered Houston” due to their pressing, and he was right.

Hina, Sam Coffey, and Fleming started against Chicago as well and worked very well together, combining for nearly 86% passing accuracy going forward. It seems as though the Thorns have found their ideal midfield trio going forward. 

The passing map from the Houston game makes it clear that the Thorns have well-executed passing triangles, which result in quick give-and-goes up the side of the pitch. The front three look a little wonky because Christine Sinclair and Smith frequently switch between center and wide forward, but the triangles are still there.

The Thorns are finally looking like the well-oiled machine that they have been in years past. I would also like to give a special shoutout to Isabella Obaze, who has looked remarkably strong and seasoned beyond her years in recent games, growing tremendously since that first showing in Kansas City. 

Gale starting Sinclair up front was a very curious (and unpopular) choice, but it allows Janine Beckie to come off the bench against tired legs, which is where she shines. After an ACL injury and a poor 2022 season, Beckie is still trying to find her footing on an attacking-heavy Thorns roster, especially with Payton Linnehan impressing in her early minutes. Sinclair, interchanging with Smith up top, has really surprised me. In the last two games she has one goal and one assist, showing that she can still be productive. I liked the Thorns using her to set a tempo and mindset early, and I think her presence up top helps ground the team as they work through their early-game jitters. Even if Sinclair’s speed and touch isn’t what it used to be, her mind is definitely still there. 

Photo by Kelsey Baker
The keeper issue

Shelby Hogan posted her first clean sheet of the season on Saturday, making three saves against Chicago. While her decision-making on the line was sharper than in previous games, Hogan’s distribution and ability to build out of the back still remained a major issue for the Thorns, as she gave the ball away in compromising positions numerous times and was bailed out by the woodwork. Prior to the game against Houston, the Thorns signed Mexican international Emily Alvarado from the Dash to provide competition for Hogan for the starting role. It was a move that makes sense at first, but upon closer investigation, leaves a little to be desired. I have been an advocate that, with Bella Bixby out on maternity leave, Portland needs an experienced keeper available for training and games. The Thorns started the season with three keepers who had played in two NWSL regular season games between them, the most inexperienced goalkeeper union in the league. 

Here is where the confusion lies: Alvarado also has zero NWSL regular season minutes, having served as Jane Campbell’s backup since Houston acquired her from Stade de Reims in early 2023. While she does have 39 starts in the D1 Arkema, she conceded 66 goals in those games. With the Thorns still working on building chemistry across their back line, bringing in another inexperienced keeper doesn’t make much sense. At this point, why not give Lauren Kozal a try in her second year with the team? Or even Kat Asman, who the Thorns drafted 39th overall and who has been with the team since the beginning of preseason. With a three-game week, I assume that we will see Alvarado in goal against Bay FC on Wednesday, and I am curious to see if her distribution and ability to organize the backline is any stronger than Hogan’s currently is. 

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Thorns’ one and only three-league-game week is this week, with the Bay and the Washington Spirit on deck for Wednesday and Sunday, respectively. It will be Gale’s first real test to see how he manages minutes for players to try to get nine points from the week. 

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Soccer Thorns

Losing and Learning

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

Four games into 2024, the Portland Thorns sit at last place in the NWSL and are one of two teams in the league yet to record a win this year. Their most recent result: a 0-2 loss to the rival North Carolina Courage.

I was at a loss about what to write about that game until Tuesday; give or take some scorelines and player quotes, it feels about the same as pretty much every Thorns game this year. The team is obviously talented but isn’t playing at the level we know they can and let points slip due to defensive errors. Against North Carolina, Portland simply lost to a team that played better soccer, and I have no idea how much of that we should be attributing to players coming in and out of the team due to international breaks, how much of it was due to players still figuring out how to be on the same page as one another this early in the season, and how much of it we can pin on poor coaching.

Unsurprisingly, the last of those does seem to be a factor. Three days after the Courage loss, the Thorns announced an internal reorganization of the club, with now-former head coach Mike Norris named the new technical director and assistant coach Rob Gale serving as the team’s interim head coach.

“Thorns FC have set the standard for excellence in the league,” Thorns general manager Karina LeBlanc says in the club’s release. “These changes will help us maximize our strengths as we continuously pursue championship-level success.”

As LeBlanc alludes to, Portland prides themselves on being a model of excellence in American professional women’s soccer. Of course, that hasn’t always been the case off the field (a certain abusive former head coach and general manager come to mind). But their on-pitch success—capped off by a league-leading three championship titles—speaks for itself.

When a team with the reputation of Portland is on a winless streak, something eventually has to give. “Not a lot—if any—of the players on this roster have been in this position,” Norris said after the Courage loss. And that position—sitting on one point for games into the regular season after a disappointing end to last year—demanded change from the Thorns organization. In this case, the change was appointing Gale to an interim head coaching position.

I think the move was a good one; Norris spent over a season at Portland’s helm and, while he seems to genuinely care about the team, has struggled to deliver the kind of results the Thorns expect. Despite that, I think he has something to bring to a player development role, and I’m glad Portland was able to transition him into a position that allows him to play more to his strengths within the club. Obviously, the issue isn’t fully resolved until the Thorns name someone as their next head coach, but the club’s willingness to take action in moving toward a better fit for the role is a good start.

“What I find encouraging is that people are frustrated and people are pissed off that we’re not doing well and we care,” Becky Sauerbrunn said after the North Carolina game. That combination of frustration and caring is a catalyst for change.

The Thorns have shown that they’re ready to take that first step as an organization by opening up the search for a head coach that can better fit the team’s needs. And hopefully that shift—and the players’ hunger to be better—can help this team start to click in the right ways.

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 0, NJ/NY Gotham 1

Photo by Kris Lattimore.

There’s no disputing that 2024 is a new era for the Portland Thorns. The club is under new ownership, majorly switched up their backline, have partnered with lesbian icon FLETCHER, and, on Sunday, lost their first ever home opener to reigning NWSL champions NJ/NY Gotham FC.

If one of those seems like it’s not like the others, it’s because it’s not: the Thorns are on something of an unprecedented losing streak, having failed to take a point out of their last four matches (unfortunately, a club record) across all competitions going back to last season.

Record aside, Sunday’s match looked to be a marked improvement on Portland’s season-opening 5-4 defeat in Kansas City. The Thorns looked more locked in, were making a collective effort to win balls (even if they struggled then use that possession to build out of pressure), and were ultimately denied from the scoreboard by two offside calls on two highlight-worthy Sophia Smith goals and a handful of brilliant saves from Gotham’s backline and goalkeeper Cassie Miller.

“I don’t think I could have asked for any more in terms of trying to win the game,” Thorns head coach Mike Norris said. “I’m not sure we could have done more without coming away with one or three points.”

The defense thing

Naturally, when a team concedes five goals in a game—as the Thorns did against the Kansas City Current last week—their defense is going to be something of a focus in the next one.

It also wasn’t shocking to see the changes Norris opted to make in Portland’s backline, with Becky Sauerbrunn replacing Isabella Obaze and Reyna Reyes stepping in for Nicole Payne in the Thorns starting XI. (Sauerbrunn and Reyes had both been limited in their minutes the week prior, as both were returning from national team duty and reintegrating with their club team.) And the changes, to Norris’ credit, left the team looking noticeably more settled in defense.

“This week, we really focused on team defending,” Sauerbrunn said. “When the people in front of you are really putting a shift in, it makes it a lot more obvious and easy for the backline to know where they need to be.”

Not a small portion of that can be credited to Sauerbrunn. Portland had looked to be missing her leadership against the Current—an issue amplified by the team playing a goalkeeper with relatively limited NWSL minutes and three of their four defenders making their league debuts.

“She just oozes confidence in terms of what she gives off and the belief and confidence that she has in other players,” Norris said of Sauerbrunn. And that mindset spreads to the players around her: “When you’ve got somebody with Becky’s experience in the backline, I think the leadership, the communication part, I think it just helps to bring the best out of other people as well.”

Fortunately, that best in others came out, with the Thorns showing a commitment to win one-on-one battles—not just in defense, but across the field—that had been missing last game.

“Eyes are on the backline,” Sam Coffey said, “but it starts with our No. 9, it starts with our frontline […] just making sure we are being our most front-footed, aggressive selves all over the field, and I think we did a much better job of that tonight.”

Photo by Kelsey Baker.
Did things just not go Portland’s way?

The thing is: Gotham definitely got lucky with Smith being offside on both her disallowed goals. The other thing is: Portland’s attack wasn’t nearly as fluid as we know it can be.

The Thorns did generate a fair number of chances—15 shots for 1.24 expected goals to Gotham’s nine shots and 0.72 expected goals—and were unlucky with the Smith offside calls and a couple shots that sailed just wide, but they also bypassed building possession through working through the midfield, a method that has traditionally helped Portland maintain control of a game’s tempo and find their moments to break down their opposition’s defense. Instead, the Thorns tried to use their width to move the ball up the flanks. It’s a decision that’s not unfounded given the skill of Reyes, Marie Müller, Morgan Weaver, and Janine Beckie, but Portland thrives on being a team that can hurt their opponent in so many ways, and confining their attack to the flanks limits those options.

And it’s not that the Thorns didn’t look good in the moments they attacked through the midfield: Jesse Fleming sent a beautiful through ball to Smith toward the end of the first half, and Hina Sugita added a new energy to Portland’s offense when she subbed on for Fleming in the 78th minute.

“She came on, she had an impact,” Norris said of Hina, “and that’s all you can ask from anybody coming off the bench.”

Hina’s presence on the field added another wrinkle to the Thorns going forward, and her connection with Smith added a fluidity that was lacking from portions of Portland’s attacking game.

I know it’s early in the year, and Norris is still figuring out his starting lineup for the season, but I’m honestly surprised to see a player of her skill sitting on Portland’s bench for the first 75 minutes of the game—especially in a match that could have used her flare.

When do we start asking about Norris?

We’re two weeks into the season, and Portland is the only team to lose their first two games and sits in last place. (The San Diego Wave could match that opening run, but they’ve only played one regular season match this year.) The Thorns, as mentioned above, have also lost their first ever home opener and are on their longest losing streak across all competitions in club history.

I think a number of factors are responsible for that—new ownership and offseason defensive upheaval among them—but I also think we have to start asking questions about Norris if the results continue.

Fortunately, we’re not there quite yet; Norris seems like a coach who has the respect of his players, and he has time to turn things around.

I’m sorry, I don’t really know Dune, but the people seemed to like this Tweet

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Dissecting the Draft

Payton Linnehan. Photo courtesy of Penn State athletics.

On Jan. 12, the Portland Thorns’ coaching staff picked five new college players from the 2024 NWSL Draft. As of right now, three of them—Payton Linnehan, Olivia Wade-Katoa, and Kat Asman—have signed with the club for the 2024 season.

So, let’s get to know this year’s picks a little better and see how they can potentially help the team this season to stay competitive and win some silverware.

Payton Linnehan (forward, 11th overall pick)

Portland’s first-round pick certainly has fans excited to see her in action. This is only logical, since she has not only has played with Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey, but she also helped her school win the Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2019 and 2022.

Linnehan’s certainly fun to watch. The winger is very good at dribbling, with the ability to leave more than one opponent behind or get out of difficult situations when she’s double- or triple-marked.

Her work in tight spaces is great, and she can be unpredictable by fooling the opponent with just one touch. She might not be as fast as a forward like Morgan Weaver, but her dribbling abilities compensate for this. Linnehan has shown that she not only feels comfortable going on the right wing but also through the middle.

The already-existing connection with Coffey, as well as her dribbling abilities makes Linnehan a potential Rookie of the Year in this 2024 NWSL season. Portland has always been able to rely on their Penn State players; let’s hope Linnehan continues that trend.

Olivia Wade-Katoa (midfielder, 23rd overall pick)

Ahead of the draft, the Brigham Young University midfielder appeared on the NWSL Prospect Profiles—and rightly so. Wade-Katoa proved to be a game-changer in her time in college over and over again, notably scoring in BYU’s historic comeback against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2023 NCAA quarter-finals.

As a midfielder, of course, Wade-Katoa’s position on the field is behind the line of attack. But, interestingly, she always holds her runs, and unless there’s a corner, she stays put in the top of the box.

Her duties as a midfielder for BYU weren’t always to distribute the ball; usually, her work was without the ball. She would stay centrally and wait for her opportunity to arise. Wade-Katoa’s opponents recognized how dangerous she was. As soon as she got the ball on her feet, she would be double- or tripled-marked or would be fouled near the box.

The midfielder doesn’t need many touches or many opportunities to make her shots count, and that’s how she helped BYU to reach an NCAA semifinal last year.

Kelsey Kaufusi (defender, 25th overall pick)

Portland’s first ever draftee from Utah State is also the only defender they selected this year. Kaufusi is an interesting pick. Her natural position in college was right center-back, and she has a variety of qualities that make her an interesting prospect now that Emily Menges is gone.

Although Kaufusi,’s aerial presence is notable, as is her passing range, two other qualities stand out the most. That’s her speed and her passing precision.

Kaufusi can sprint almost 22 yards just under three seconds and 44 yards about five seconds. That feature of her game helped Minnesota many times when school’s defensive shape wasn’t the best in counterattacks.

Kaufusi will remind fans of Menges when it comes to speed, with the former Thorns center-back having saved Portland countless times in that manner.

Kaufusi’s long-passing range precision earned her the nickname “Coast to Coast Kaufusi” from Equal Time Soccer’s Matt Privratsky. And the title suits her perfectly. In this regard, fans will see that she can be likened to a player like Kelli Hubly.

Kat Asman (goalkeeper, 39th overall pick)

Out of all the picks, this was an unexpected one. Knowing Portland already had three goalkeepers, everybody thought there was no need for a fourth. But little did we know that starting goalkeeper Bella Bixby had a surprise for the Thorns’ world—a surprise she announced one day after the draft—which made fans understand why head coach Mike Norris selected a goalkeeper for the club.

Photo: Bella Bixby Twitter
Bella Bixby announced her pregnancy on social media. Image: Bella Bixby’s Twitter.

Make no mistake: Asman’s a certified wall between the pipes.

The Nittany Lion made herself a name while defending Penn State’s goal. “You’re gonna get absolutely nothing past her,” Penn State said to the Thorns after Asman was picked. “One of the greatest stories of growth and resilience in Penn State history. Portland, congratulations on drafting Katherine Asman, the best goalkeeper in America!”

Being a goalkeeper in the United States—and specifically in the NWSL—is hard because many of them are potential national team material. If there’s a position where there’s a vast number of options for the US, it’s in goal.

What about in Portland? Well, goalkeeper backup Shelby Hogan barely played last season. When she did, she did very well, but those performances still didn’t grant Hogan more significant minutes in the regular. When Norris decided to use her, it was maybe in the most important game of the year: the playoff semifinal. By then, Hogan hadn’t played in seven games, with the Challenge Cup match against OL Reign at the beginning of August being the last one she started in.

Third goalkeeper Lauren Kozal didn’t feature at all in the entire year. She sustained an injury in her knee last July, which made the club search for a temporary replacement. 

Without Bixby, the logic points to Hogan getting the starting position this season. But Asman’s rookie status doesn’t entirely rule out her getting some minutes this year, since she will can battle for the backup goalkeeper position against Kozal, whose rookie year was hindered due to that injury.

Can Asman rise to the challenge? She proved her value in her time at Penn State, and her coach, Erica Dambach, has a high opinion of her. “Even as a young keeper, you could see her potential,” she said of Asman. “She’s brave and communicates well.”

Asman is not afraid to wait patiently until she’s game-ready. In college, she decided to redshirt her freshman year, and she saw the field as a redshirt sophomore in just five games. The goalie later said that was one of the best decisions she ever made because it helped her to develop as a person and understand what it really means to play soccer at a Division 1 level for the Nittany Lions and to be part of a family.

According to her coach, it was in Asman’s penultimate season when she realized she could really affect the outcome of a game. Dambach praised Asman’s consistency and steadiness, as well as the big saves she made to help her team win matches.

Asman is no stranger to winning silverware, having won the championship with Penn State in 2022. In the process, she collected individual recognition: she was named Big Ten Soccer All-Tournament and Defensive Player of the Year. Not only did she make history, but helped her team to do so as well.

Now that goalkeeper coach Nadine Angerer is gone from Portland, there’s this fear that the goalkeeper position will not be as good as it used to be. It is comforting to remember that Hogan has spent three years being coached by the German and can therefore pass all that knowledge to Asman. And although Bixby won’t suit up for matches, she is used to coaching young generations and will be sure to pass her knowledge to the younger keepers.

Katie Duong (midfielder, 53rd overall pick)

Given the success of Stanford’s women’s soccer program, it’s kind of impossible not to get excited about the addition of Cardinal Duong to the team.

Duong was a necessary pick. Portland’s midfield is composed mostly of players that have national team duties, and when they’re gone for FIFA windows, the team suffers because of it.

The Stanford graduate is great with quick short passes, which helped her team to get out of pressure and move the ball forward.

Duong is also very good with passing precision, distributing the ball from the midfield to the wingers. She never disengages from the play, which allows her to win rebounds and second balls. She’s not afraid to shoot from outside the box—although her aim could be better.

When it comes to defending, Duong tends to anticipate her rivals to recover the ball. Once she does, she scans the field to see which teammate is available to receive quick pass to start an attack or to make a key pass.

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

Once a Thorn, Always a Thorn

Photo: Matthew Wolfe
Photo: Matthew Wolfe
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