The Portland Thorns extended their unbeaten streak to four games as they handed the Washington Spirit their second defeat of the season last Saturday at the sold-out Maryland SoccerPlex. Portland maintained its hold on the top spot in the National Women’s Soccer League standings, improving to 3-0-1. The team remains the early favorite to finish the year in first place.
The Thorns wasted no time establishing their presence against Washington. In the 12th minute, Alex Morgan found herself amid four Spirit defenders after corralling a deep pass from Nikki Marshall. Morgan moved to evade them and ended up getting entangled with the Washington’s Domenica Hodak, eliciting a penalty kick. Morgan lined up and ripped a low shot to the left corner as Spirit goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris guessed wrong, putting Portland up 1-0. It was Morgan’s third straight game with at least one point.
Morgan nearly struck again in the 18th minute as she stole the ball from a Spirit defender with an open goal in front of her, but her shot ricocheted off the right post and bounced out of bounds. The Thorns were unrelenting in their attack in the first half, posting six shots while holding Washington to just two. Portland went into the locker room at halftime with the lead, but the Spirit had begun to ratchet up their defensive effort. Washington took a more physical approach to dealing with Morgan after the goal, twice knocking her to the ground and earning fouls.
Unwilling to be intimidated, the Thorns came out firing in the second half. In the 51st minute, Nikki Washington intercepted a Spirit pass and booted a beautiful unassisted shot that curled around Harris and skated into the goal to give Portland a 2-0 lead. The Spirit did not give in, however, stepping up their offensive pressure considerably while the Thorns’ defense dropped off a bit. Thorns goalkeeper Karina
LeBlanc shut down the late Washington run by coming through with six saves, five in the second half.
Spirit midfielder Diana Matheson finally got Washington on the board in the 86th minute. Matheson drove into the box but got twisted up with Thorn defender Jazmyne Avant on the way, earning a penalty kick and a chance to cut the deficit in half. This time it was LeBlanc who guessed wrong as Matheson blasted a shot into the left side. Washington was unable to add to their total in the closing minutes, and the Thorns left town with the victory.
Portland wraps up their road trip with a match against the Chicago Red Stars on May 12 at Benedictine University Sports Complex.