Tobin Heath and Christine Sinclair celebrate a goal against Chicago (photo by Diego Diaz).
With Storm Large singing the anthem and the Girl Scouts on colors, there was something quintessentially Portland about the first home game in what felt like ages. 18,631 would be there to watch what turned out to be a fast, often aggressively physical game, where the teams had to share the points.
Action started immediately when Ertz put her arm around Raso and pulled her to the ground in the fourth, but the free kick, too far to set up an assist, bounced harmlessly into Naeher arms. Kerr’s first real shot went up and over the bar in the 7th, off a ball which should have been a Chicago throw in. As it was, the Red Stars managed to dispossess Meghan Klingenberg. The referee would make up for that missed call later by calling a ball which might well have been out on Short, a Chicago goal kick.
A potentially nasty tackle on Horan lead to another free kick in the 19th, and whilst Horan’s header was on target, Naeher gathered. Close miss from Di Bernardo in the 22nd when she put it just out of Franch’s reach and just over the cross bar. Just a little while later, Franch misjudged a ball from Kerr and botched a smother. Luckily, Kerr didn’t realize until after Kling had got the ball out of the Thorns’ box.
Portland’sAna-Maria Crnogorčević shoulder checked Julie Ertz, giving the red stars a free kick in the 26th, but the resulting attempt would go wide. Ertz would put another just over the bar in the 31st and the Thorns’ cross at the opposite end would be gathered less than a minute later.
Short took Heath down to a chorus of boos in the 32nd, but the referee was not swayed and play continued. In the melee of a Chicago corner in the 34th, Horan was taken down, seemingly by an elbow to the back of the head. Chippy play continued as Short grabbed Heath’s arm, challenging for the ball. The contact was all that was needed for Heath to go to ground and win another free kick. Nothing would come of that either.
Kerr opened the scoring in the 44th when the Thorns let her get away by herself, and Sonnett misjudged
which way she was going.
Sam Kerr of the Red Stars rising above Emily Sonnett of the Thorns (photo by Dante’y Buitureida).
The Thorns came out swinging in the second half, but the first goal of the half would also go to Kerr. Horan would be taken down again in the 50th and the free kick from Heath would result in nothing. Horan was then felled like a tree by Stanton, but the referee did not even blink and the game continued. Shortly after, in the 57th, Gilliland was brought down, this time a kick awarded.
By the sheer force of frustration, Heath put in Portland’s first goal, heading it home in the 60th. Chicago’s coaching staff took umbrage with this, as they felt Naeher had been fouled, or that it was a handball. It was not quite clear.
Sonnett took out Kerr, much in a manner Stanton had earlier, but the referee decided that third time was a charm and gave out the first yellow of the match. With that somebody on the Chicago bench threw a water bottle.
Sinclair scored to even the match in the 69th minute and the crowd went wild. From there, the game became increasingly choppy, the referees showing inconsistent interest in actually controlling the match. Rosie White was subbed in and less than a minute later had a yellow for what was a fairly light touch on Andressinha, comparative to some of the uncalled moments of the game.
And with that, yet again, the ultimate story of the game would come down to the referees. Parsons danced around it, but it was clear that he felt the refereeing was inconsistent, both between teams and between the halves. Samantha Kerr, likewise, was angry with the referees, as she felt it was only thanks to
them Portland remained in the game. The sideline referee watched more than one ball fully
cross the line without calling it.
While the story of this season should be North Carolina’s consistently stand out play or any MVP or golden boot winner, it once again remains the inconsistent and poor quality of the officiating.
For match photo gallery click here.
