The Portland Thorns stunned the North Carolina Courage in Friday morning’s NWSL Challenge Cup quarterfinal to the tune of a 1-0 victory, courtesy of a 68th minute goal from rookie Morgan Weaver. The number one seed Courage had been dominant in the preliminary round, winning all four of their matches while the Thorns took a much different route to end up as the winless bottom seed.
Had the Thorns crashed out in the first knockout game, there still would have been plenty of reasons to feel good about this tournament. This was, after all, a highly favored Courage team playing with most of their regulars against a Portland team lacking some of their usual star power and moving toward a “back to basics” approach in their tactics per Head Coach Mark Parsons.
Up to this point in the tournament, Portland fans were delighted to see Bella Bixby’s breakout goalkeeping performances, Rocky Rodriquez adding some muscle to a previously anemic midfield, and another lethal Lindsey Horan header. I don’t think a lot of people in Portland would have been upset had that been all they got out of this tournament, especially with so much emphasis from the front office on long-term development in 2020 and beyond.
To no one’s surprise, this Thorns squad wanted more, and they got it.
Getting her first start of the tournament, Britt Eckerstrom put on a goalkeeping clinic from start to finish to secure the win for Portland. Thorns GK coach and two-time World Cup champion, Nadine Angerer came out of retirement to serve as Britt’s emergency backup due to Bella Bixby’s last-minute injury prior to kickoff. Eckerstrom made eight saves against a relentless North Carolina attack, none more impressive than her leaping one-handed save to deny Debinha’s free kick attempt from just outside of the penalty area in the 79th minute.
In her post-game interview, Eckerstrom described what it took for the Thorns to overcome so much to beat North Carolina:
“It was going to take a team performance and that’s what happened. We all had a role to play and we all played those really well today and got the goal that we’ve been missing.”
Portland’s Morgan Weaver was the benefactor of some terrific build-up play from Rocky Rodriguez to put Portland ahead in the 68th minute. This was Weaver’s first professional goal, though Weaver is no stranger to scoring in high-stakes tournaments, having lead a Washington State team to surprising post-season success prior to arriving in the Rose City.
An exuberant Mark Parsons summed up the team’s performance and mindset after the final whistle:
“Feeling freaking proud. Not obviously our best performance in what we’re trying to do, but the heart, the character, the spirit, the togetherness, the mentality was out of the world and I think we’ve had this feeling for a long time… and the belief hasn’t dampened, it’s actually gotten stronger which is unique and says a lot about our group.”
Portland will move on to the semifinal round against the winner of the Utah/Houston match on Wednesday, July 22nd at 9:30 am Pacific time on CBS All Access.
