Portland’s Emily Sonnett collides with Orlando’s Rachel Hill (photo by Jeff Wong).
Both the sun and the fans, a season record 17,115 to be exact, were out but shadows were cast by some questionable calls and the age old NWSL discussion of refereeing quality. The Two disallowed goals, a missing penalty, a coach who was told off for something not against any rule in the book, all made an appearance.
The tone was set within the opening minutes. The Pride’s Ali Krieger took a throw-in a good ten yards from where it went out, and the referee called it as such. A strong start which was not to hold.
Orlando’s Christine Nairn was taken down in the box in the 4th minute, and it was reasonable for her to expect a call. But no call came, and the game would continue.
It appeared as if the Thorns scored from a redirected Horan header which Weber pushed into the net; however, it was called offside. It would be Orlando’s Alex Morgan’s header in the 11th minute which would be the first goal of the game. This goal was preventable; once again, an individual mistake allowed her to pounce. In the 21st minute, Nairn would double their lead with a long range volley.
Portland’s Christine Sinclair, not one to allow another team to keep a clean sheet in her home, scored a header in the 23rd minute. This came from a Heath corner. The next Thorn opportunity came from a ball Harris failed to gather. Luckily for her, the angle of the ball she deflected wasn’t right to bounce back into the net.
Orlando’s Ali Krieger goes up against Portland’s Tobin Heath (Photo by Dante’y Buitureida).
Morgan had a good solo run less than a minute later, but the freshly returned Menges was able to gather the speed to catch her.
In the 30th minute, the center referee would stop the match to give Parsons a personal talking to. The referee curtly told him that he was not allowed to point at his head, and if he were to do it again, he would be expelled. Whilst it is possible that there is some by-law about coaches using their hands to communicate with their players, it’s not listed in any rule book the coach was aware of.
Morgan headed a ball safely into the arms of Thorns’ keep Britt Eckerstrom in the 41st minute. Harris tipped a Heath shot over the bar less than a minute later and that was the first half. USWNT fans might be interested to know that Horan and Morgan left the pitch seeming to be in an argument.
A second disallowed Thorns goal would come in the 47th, when Harris and Horan collided, and Portland’s Midge Purce was able to slot the resulting loose ball into the net. However, as Horan was called for a foul, despite winning the ball originally and going in with one foot cleats down, it was disallowed. Shortly after regaining her feet and mobility, Harris made an excellent save, proving that the collision had at least not impeded her full range.
Portland Thorns Christine Sinclair given the yellow (photo by Diego G Diaz).
The first yellow card would not come, however, until the 64th minute, when the Pride’s Carson Pickett grabbed somebody’s face whilst trying to muscle them off the ball. A minute later, Andressinha of the Thorns would join her in the books for pulling at somebody’s shirt.
There was a shout for likely hand ball from Krieger in the 66th minute, but the referee opted to continue play. Sinclair was handed a yellow card of her own in the 76th minute when, rushing Harris who had opted to tactically kill time, she knocked her over in an attempt to win a ball which Harris had already picked up. Pickett was then saved by the crossbar from an embarrassing own goal when she headed a ball towards Orlando’s goal. The Pride’s Dani Weatherholt would win the last yellow of the game in the 84th for knocking somebody to the ground and despite five minutes of injury time, that ended the game.
Parsons made a good show of trying to remain as professional as possible, but it was clear the officiating frustrated him. Citing a few earlier games of the Thorns this season, and a few non-thorns ones too, he made it clear that he felt as if the NWSL was used only as a training ground for referees, something which is wholly unacceptable. Whilst it’s easy to discount this particular incident as “sour grapes” there have been enough questions this season across the league to make it relevant critique.
Next Saturday the Thorns will head to DC to face the Washington Spirit.
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Portland Thorns
