Seattle Reign FC 1
Portland Thorns FC 0
NWSL Regular Season
Seattle, WA – Memorial Stadium
June 30, 2018
The Cascadia rivalry has been going in soccer circles since the mid 70s. The NWSL version has grabbed hold and carried it forward along with the MLS teams. Saturday, June 30th saw the first of a doubleheader day with Seattle hosting both matches of the Seattle Portland rivalry with an afternoon evening slate of games in different stadiums cross town.
The two sides had already played a wide open 3-2 thriller in Portland this season in early May, with Seattle coming out on top.
The first half was a fairly rugged affair, with a 13th minute yellow to Meghan Klingenberg for a foul on Allie Long. Neither side found the going easy in any third of the close confines of Memorial Stadium pitch. ESPY nominees Megan Rapinoe and Jodie Taylor both had good looks at goal, with Taylor notably turning a left foot volley just wide in the 10th minute.
After going nearly 12 matches to start the season without conceding a first half goal, Seattle bounced back in this match taking the Thorns goalless into the break after having conceded two last week at home versus the Courage but restarting that streak midweek at Utah.
In a statistically unlikely happenstance, Portland had its own ESPY nominee in goal with Adrianna Franch being up to the task of holding Seattle’s offense scoreless at the break. Portland had a few chances too, with Seattle being fortunate the Thorns could not convert a far post header in the 29th. But, nil-nil at the interval it was.
The second half became even more physical, with several stoppages for players on the pitch. Despite that, the only cautions were in the first half split one a piece.
Seattle had played four goalless draws in recent weeks, including 2 of the previous 3 matches home matches. The defense clearly continues to be solid, but the offense has not been finding the net despite seemingly having numerous opportunities. One has to wonder as to when the floodgates might break on Seattle’s offense.
Jodie Taylor’s 90th minute winner seemed like a relief as much as a winner for the Reign and its crowd. A third goalless draw in four home matches suddenly was in the past. For Seattle that meant grabbing all three points from another club in the fight for position in the top four and a playoff home game. For Portland, it was brutally dropping what looked like a hard earned point and watching the rival grab three.
The afternoon MLS match was not short on drama as the two sides exchanged goals back and forth in the second half to a 3-2 Timbers victory. Thorns supporters filled a big section much as the Timbers Army had done earlier in the day cross town.
The notion of the match being played as a Century Link Field doubleheader was on the minds of many fans, wondering what an NWSL potential record breaking crowd could have been given the 47K there at the earlier match and 4781 cross town, but the logistics of such an endeavor were apparently too much of an obstacle. Even so, that feels like a huge missed opportunity for the franchise and the league.
photos by Vanya Tucherov
Match Report
Match: Seattle Reign FC vs. Portland Thorns FC
Date: June 30, 2018
Venue: UW Medicine Pitch at Memorial Stadium, Seattle, WA
Kickoff: 7:00 p.m. PT
Attendance: 4,781
Weather: 62 degrees, cloudy
Goals by Half 1 2 Total
SEA 0 1 1
POR 0 0 0
Scoring Summary
SEA – Taylor, 89’
Misconduct Summary
POR – Klingenberg, 14’
SEA – Barnes, 35’
Seattle Reign FC
Total shots: 18
Shots on goal: 9
Crosses: 19
Total Passes: 459
Passing Accuracy: 74.1%
Possession: 58.5%
Saves: 0
Yellow cards: 1
Fouls: 12
Corner kicks: 7
Offsides: 2
Portland Thorns FC
Total shots: 10
Shots on goal: 0
Crosses: 14
Total Passes: 322
Passing Accuracy: 60.2%
Possession: 41.5%
Saves: 8
Yellow cards: 1
Fouls: 6
Corner kicks: 0
Offsides: 1
Seattle Reign FC
Lydia Williams, Steph Catley, Megan Oyster, Lauren Barnes, Theresa Nielsen, Rumi Utsugi, Beverly Yanez, Allie Long, Megan Rapinoe, Jodie Taylor (Alyssa Kleiner, 90 + 3’), Elizabeth Addo (Jasmyne Spencer, 89’)
Substitutes Not Used: Morgan Andrews, Michelle Betos, Nahomi Kawasumi, Adriana Leon, Kristen McNabb
Portland Thorns FC
Adrianna Franch, Meghan Klingenberg, Emily Sonnett, Katherine Reynolds, Celeste Boureille, Ellie Carpenter, Lindsey Horan, Andressinha (Midge Purce, 73’), Christine Sinclair, Ana Marie Crnogorcevic, Hayley Raso (Mallory Weber, 62’)
Substitutes Not Used: Britt Eckerstrom, Kelli Hubly, Tyler Lussi, Ifeoma Onumonu, Angela Salem
Referee: Christina Unkel
Assistant Referees: Jeremy Weed, Diego Blas
4th Official: Cephas Quartson
Seattle Reign
