Mallory Weber of the Portland Thorns and Bruna Benites of the Dash tangle for possession at Providence Park for closing game of the pre-season Portland Invitational Tournament (Photo by Diego G Diaz).
With many of the internationals away at camp, the final Thorns lineup of the preseason tournament looked like a bit of an experiment. Parsons opted to go for Weber, the Thorns sole goal scorer against the U23, as the center-forward with Nadia Nadim on the right wing and the trialist Herndon on the left. As with the two previous preseason games, one center-midfielder sat so far back that at times they appeared to be a third center-back. This was a team that was missing not only Long but Horan, Heath, Sinclair, Klingenberg, Henry, Dagny, and Reynolds. Eckerstrom got her first look in goal for the Thorns and handled it herself with a calm sort of certainty which all of the team seemed to be imbued with. This was particularly impressive as three trialists started the game; in fact, only the center-back pair and Nadim were regular Thorns starters, whilst the Dash fielded arguably their strongest starting team yet.
To start things off, there was a bit of mess in the Thorns box in the fifth minute, where the ball was neither cleared nor put into the net, luckily Eckerstrom eventually gathered it. Again in the 8th minute the thorns found themselves lucky as a header skimmed just over the top of the net. Near the 11th, there was a collision of heads from a thorns corner, and neither Bruna of the Dash or Boureille of the Thorns seemed worse for ware and were able to return to the game.
It was in the 17th minute that Shim struck goal off a free kick of Nadim’s which deflected off a Dash defender. Williams got a glove to it, but the shot was simply too powerful, giving the Thorns the lead.
Soon after Hubly bowled over a Dash player in the 24th minute. Had this been a regular season game, a play like that would have likely been a card. The game got increasingly choppy for a while with Thorns and Dash alike littered over the pitch. Daly was in fact pulled off the pitch, perhaps something related to her back, but was able to reenter less than a minute later. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that somebody might have been sent off in this game had it taken place during the regular season. As it was, it took until the 27th minute for a card to be shown, the recipient the Dash’s Rachel Daly. The card itself was for dissent, none of the Dash’s first half fouls came from Daly. Nadia Nadim would join her in the book near the 43rd minute. Whilst the official stats from the half tallied at 4 for the Dash and 6 for the Thorns, the referees did not catch every callable offense.
PORTLAND, OR – APRIL 1: Portland’s Britt Eckerstrom rises above to snatch the ball away from the charging Houston Dash during the closing game of the pre-season invitational (Photo by Diego G Diaz).
The second half started with excitement as the Thorns got into the box, but it was two to one and Herndon found herself unable to get the shot off. Portland native and former Portland Pilot Ellie Boon got her first look of the tournament when she came in for Portland native and former Portland Pilot Kendall Johnson in the 62nd minute. Mo Fitzgerald, a returning amateur and school teacher by day, came onto the pitch for Nadim in the 66th minute. It would be Rachel Daly, who shot one from a distance at the 76th minute, to even things up. It was only the Dash’s third shot on goal, and it was a near perfect shot into the upper right hand corner, that Eckerstrom wasn’t able to touch.
The Thorns gathered themselves relatively quickly, and got right back on the attack, winning corners, pressing the Dash to the last. Shim skimmed another over the goal, showing another flash of what won her her roster spot in 2013. Poliana was stretchered off during injury time after taking a rocket shot to the ribs, being replaced by Van Wyk. The thorns had little time for pity as Weber pressed Williams, though she was able to gather the shot.
With the number of national team players the Thorns have certain games are always going to be struggles. Whilst Jill Ellis has confirmed that the US national team itself will follow FIFA Windows this NWSL season, the European players will miss at least four matches thanks to the Euros, which are held this year. Along with that there’s no guarantee Australia will respect the windows. There’s still uncertainty whether Dagny’s injury will allow her to play the beginning of the season, and while there’s no final answer on Kat Reynolds, her inclusion on the roster either means that there was some form of pressing personal issue or injury that kept her off the pitch. Caroline Flynn’s name was excluded from the latest copy of the Thorns preseason roster, implying that she might be an option the thorns decided not to take. Assuming Ashleigh Sykes isn’t yet taking a spot, the Thorns only have one roster spot to fill in a tournament where two or three trialists impressed.
A roster of 20 doesn’t leave much breathing room, especially when adjustments must be made for players who will miss part of the season. Certain players, perhaps, can be counted on to stick around in an amateur, unpaid position to be called upon when needed, however there’s still many important questions to be asked regardless of who Parsons picks. Though who he does select might help imply where his focuses lie this season, and what he seeks to improve the most.
Thorns: GK Eckerstrom, D Cox, D Sonnett, D Menges, D Johnson (Boon, 62), M Shim, M Hubly, M Boureille, F Herndon (Morris, 75), F Nadim (Fitzgerald, 66), F Weber
TOTAL SHOTS: 14; SHOTS ON GOAL: 4; FOULS: 16; OFFSIDES: 4; CORNER KICKS: 12; SAVES: 4
Dash: GK Williams, D Poliana (Van Wyk, 90), D Roccaro, D Privett, D Benites, M Brooks ©, M Andressa (Heap, 90), M O’Sullivan, F Ochs, F Daly, F Henderson (Falknor, 69)
TOTAL SHOTS: 8; SHOTS ON GOAL: 5; FOULS: 7; OFFSIDES: 2; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: 3
Portland Thorns
