Only having ten matches is a difficult sample size to determine the identity of a soccer team. Matches where eight were away from home, six of them at a neutral site and not playing in front of the usual 20,000 supporters. Portland Thorns didn’t win a game in the Challenge Cup preliminaries but beat a juggernaut in the playoffs. They came in last place in one competition and first in the other.
The 2021 edition of the Portland Thorns looks to pick up on the momentum of 2020. In the offseason, they’ve gotten healthy, strengthened in the draft, and added a defender/midfielder to an already strong roster.
2020 Season
Challenge Cup: Eighth place, lost to the Houston Dash in the semi-finals.
Fall Series: First place – 10 points.
It was two different runs of form for Portland. In the Challenge Cup, they drew three and lost one. In their first match, they lost to NC Courage on a 94th-minute goal by Lynn Williams. Portland Thorns scored two goals in four matches, putting themselves in last place. Then came the playoff round.
Portland beat the same Courage that gave them their one loss of the preliminary round. The Portland Thorns won 1-0 on a stellar shot stopping performance by goalkeeper Britt Eckerstrom. Carolina had 21 shots and eight of them made it to Eckerstrom – all of them saved. In the 68th minute, midfielder Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez passed in front of goal, just moments before the ball would cross for a goal kick, and winger Morgan Weaver scored the game-winner. They would end up losing to Houston in the semi-finals on a goal by forward Rachel Daly. Midfielder and US International Lindsey Horan was unable to play in the match due to injury.
In the Fall Series, Portland allowed a league-low three goals and scored ten on their way to the Community Shield. They won three and drew one. US captain Becky Sauerbrunn made four-match appearances, after playing only one in the Challenge Cup. Forward and Canadian international Christine Sinclair scored six of the team’s goals. Both Sinclair and Horan played every minute of the four-match Fall Series.
To talk more about the Portland Thorns, BWS spoke with journalist Grant Little. Little covers the Thorns for Stumptown Footy, a site dedicated to the Thorns and Portland Timbers of MLS. In addition to Portland, he covers Real Madrid Femenino on Managing Madrid and hosts their podcast Las Blancas.
BWS: How would you describe the 2020 Thorns season?
Grant: Yeah, so it was definitely a tale of two competitions. We started out and you had the group stage and they finished in last place of the group. They didn’t get a single win, they lost to North Carolina in extra time, and pretty much drew with everybody else. Then you get into the knockout round and we get North Carolina, which, I mean, that was an amazing game. You saw performances from (defender) Kelli Hubly, who was incredible, Eckerstrom had that amazing performance and goal and then Weaver gets her goal so that was the silver lining of the Challenge Cup.
Then you have this really irritating game against Houston where we have a lot of the ball and we have no idea what to do with it once we get into the final third. This Houston team all Challenge Cup is like: “We’re going to sit back. We’re going to let you come at us and as soon as you lose the ball, we’re gone.” Shea Groom is going to put in a header, Kristie Mewis and Daly are going to score a banger.
You know, Daly is everywhere. So that was the challenge got where I think we underperformed expectations. I think it’s fair to say that and then you have the fall series, where they win all the matches, except the last one where they tie with OL Reign and they end up winning the Fall Series. We win the Fall Series, we’re able to give that money to charity for Mimi’s Fresh Tees. It was good performances.
I think we got more goals and we got more wins than necessarily the performances suggested. So, I think the true Portland lied somewhere in between those two competitions. Rather than being like, “the Challenge Cup was horrible, but this was the real Portland in the fall series.” I think there was a tale of two competitions and somewhere in the middle, you find what Portland actually was in 2020.
Offseason Moves
What Portland lacked in quantity during the offseason, they made up for in quality. The most notable piece of business came after the conclusion of the Fall Series. On Oct. 22, Portland received midfielder/defender Crystal Dunn from NC Courage in a three-team trade. OL Reign received a 2021 international spot, 2022 draft pick, and $250,000 in allocation money for the US International.
A name that didn’t make an appearance for Portland in 2020 is winger Tobin Heath. The two-time World Cup-winning US senior team member opted out of the Challenge Cup. She signed with Manchester United before the Fall Series. At the Oct. 26, 2020 Racing Louisville FC expansion draft, Louisville picked Heath’s rights with their second to last pick. This ends a 70 appearance, seven-year career with Portland.
The final move came on Jan. 19, 2021, and it was for someone that had a legendary appearance. Eckerstrom retired from professional soccer at the age of 27. It came after a five-year playing career. In response, Portland signed the 2019 Big East goalkeeper of the year, free agent Shelby Hogan. She signed on Feb. 11, 2021.
Draft Picks
Round 1 – Yazmeen Ryan – Midfielder – TCU
Round 2 – Sam Coffey – Midfielder – Penn State
Round 3 – Amirah Ali – Forward – Rutgers
Round 4 – Hannah Betfort – Defender – Wake Forest
Ryan is an attacking focused midfielder. She’s scored 20 goals, and assisted on 18, in 65 career collegiate matches. Portland made a trade to pick Ryan specifically, to help strengthen their midfield. Portland traded midfielders Emily Ogle and Gabby Seiler to Houston for the pick used on Ryan, plus the 37th overall pick, in the fourth round.
At the time of publishing, attacking midfielder Coffey started 71 of 72 career collegiate matches. The former Boston College ACC Midfielder of the Year transferred to Penn State before the 2019 season. Across both teams, she’s scored 33 goals and assisted on 38. Coffey currently leads the Big Ten in scoring with six goals. Combined with Ryan, the two join a midfield with Horan and Rodriguez. They’ll bring depth to a side that will likely lose Horan to the Tokyo Olympics.
In the final two rounds, Portland added forward and defensive depth with Ali and Betfort. None of the four are with the team and are finishing their college careers.
2021 Preview
The sample size will increase drastically in 2021. It can be argued that any team can look poor or strong in small four-match chunks. Portland has at least 28 matches between the Challenge Cup and the regular season to let the league know their identity.
All teams have to adapt to players leaving for international duty, but Portland will have to overcome more than most. Dunn, Sauerbrunn, Horan, Sinclair and possibly even 19-year-old forward Sophia Smith could be gone for parts of the year. Also, their draft picks won’t be available until into the regular season, in May.
On the backline, it’s between Bella Bixby and Adrianna Franch. Portland drafted Bixby in 2018, making her debut in the Challenge Cup. After starting all four preliminary matches, she suffered an ACL injury and missed the remainder of the season. Franch brings a veteran presence, playing with Portland since 2016. She had an injury during 2020 and didn’t play all year. In 2019, she started 14 matches, with a record of six wins, five losses, and four draws.
Grant Little has high expectations for the Thorns.
BWS: What do you see for the Thorns in 2021?
Grant: Yeah, I think with this roster and then looking ahead to potentially double expansion draft with Sacramento, maybe not who knows with them, but at least single expansion. They have to be going in for a title this year, in my opinion. They signed Dunn and Horan to contracts with the club not designated as allocated players. So, they’re hopefully trying to keep both of them for a longer period of time.
But you can only keep together a team of this quality for so long, I think in this league, especially with only 10 teams and expansion coming and everything. So, I think you’ve got to be gunning for the NWSL Cup. Obviously, the Olympics throws a huge wrench into that, because you’ve got Sauerbrunn, Horan, Dunn and potentially, I don’t think Sophia Smith will be in the team, but could she be a backup player? Maybe? Yeah. Selfishly? I hope not.
Then you have Sinclair gone too? Yeah. Then you look at the other international breaks, you might be losing Rocky Rodriguez. It’ll be a whittled down, not whittled down because they still have a lot of depth, but you’re losing a lot of really, really quality players. But, I think, a lot of teams are going to be in that same boat, not to the extent but this team has the quality to kind of still compete without them.
I drew up a lineup, a 4-3-3 of what could potentially be the lineup and you’re talking about a backline of defenders Christen Westphal, Emily Menges, Natalia Kuikka, and Meghan Klingenberg. Midfield of Celeste Boureille, Rodriguez, Angela Salem, and a front three of Weaver, Smith, and Simone Charley. That’s still a quality team. Obviously, it’s not the same team, but it’s still a team that I think can compete and when all of those players are there, hopefully, the team is firing on all cylinders. I don’t see a team that has the same talent. Obviously, they can be beaten on tactics because you know Chicago is going to be good, Washington is going to be really good. There’s a lot of quality teams. OL Reign is going to be really good too.
Portland Thorns starts their Challenge Cup Friday, April 9. They welcome expansion side Kansas City NWSL to Providence Park. Check BWS before the start of the tournament for more team previews and news from around the league.
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