2018 Portland Thorns FC season

The 2018 Portland Thorns FC season was the team's sixth season of existence. The Thorns played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. The Thorns entered the season as defending NWSL Champions.

Portland Thorns FC

2018 season
President	Merritt Paulson
Head coach	Mark Parsons
Stadium	Providence Park Portland, Oregon (Capacity: 21,144)
National Women's Soccer League	2nd
NWSL Playoffs	Final (eliminated by North Carolina Courage)
Top goalscorer	Lindsey Horan (13 goals)
Highest home attendance	21,144 (Sept. 7 vs. Seattle reign FC)
Lowest home attendance	14,485 (Apr. 20 vs. Washington Spirit)
Average home league attendance	16,959
Biggest win	4–0 (Jul. 6 vs. Utah Royals FC)
Biggest defeat	1–4 (May 30 vs. North Carolina Courage)
Home colors Away colors
← 2017 2019 →

Season review

Off-season

On September 21, 2017, Raso signed a loan with Brisbane Roar for the 2017–18 W-League season.^[1]

on September 24, 2017, the club announced that midfielder Amandine Henry and forward Nadia Nadim will not be returning to the Portland Thorns in 2018 season. The moves were made for financial reasons, NWSL has a strict salary cap of $315,000 for each team and the Thorns could not compete with the offers made by Lyon and Manchester City.^[2]

In October 2017, Boureille was loaned to Brisbane Roar for the 2017–18 W-League season.^[3]

On October 24, 2017, it was announced that Sonnett signed a loan with Sydney FC for the 2017–18 W-League season.^[4]

On January 11, 2018, the club acquired the rights to Australian forward Caitlin Foord and a 2020 conditional natural second-round draft pick from the Seattle Reign in exchange for Allie Long.^[5]

On January 12, 2018, Portland acquired Brazilian midfielder Andressinha from the Houston Dash in exchange for forward Savannah Jordan.^[6]

On January 17, 2018, Portland Thorns FC selected midfielders Sandra Yu and Gabby Seiler and goalkeeper Bella Geist from the 2018 NWSL College Draft.^[7]

On February 15, 2018, Ashleigh Sykes announced her retirement from professional soccer.^[8]

Competitions

  Win   Tie   Loss

Preseason

Thorns Spring Invitational presented by Tillamook Yogurt

Portland Thorns FC v Chicago Red Stars

Mar 11, Sun 1	Portland Thorns FC	0–1	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
5 PM PT		Report	Gilliland 62' (Nagasato)	Stadium: Merlo Field Attendance: 3,822

Portland Thorns FC v U.S. U-23s WNT

Mar 14, Wed 2	Portland Thorns FC	2–2	U.S. U-23s WNT	Portland, Oregon
7:30 PM PT	Onumonu 19' (Horan) Weber 34' (Klingenberg)	Report	Macario 58', 90' (Weaver)	Stadium: Merlo Field Attendance: 2,217

Portland Thorns FC v Houston Dash

Mar 17, Sat 3	Portland Thorns FC	0–0	Houston Dash	Portland, Oregon
7:30 PM PT		Report		Stadium: Merlo Field Attendance: 3,119

Regular season

North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC

Mar 24, Sat 1	North Carolina Courage	1–0	Portland Thorns FC	Cary, North Carolina
12:30 (PST)	Hinkle  51' Debinha 70' (O'Sullivan)	Report	Sonnett  33' Horan  35'	Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 4,210 Referee: Ramy Touchan
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Chicago Red Stars v Portland Thorns FC

Mar 31, Sat 2	Chicago Red Stars	2–3	Portland Thorns FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
17:15 (PST)	Mautz 31' (Huerta), 67' (Huerta) Colaprico  64'	Report	Horan 9' Sinclair 40', 65' (PK) Boureille  58'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 13,678 Referee: Greg Dopka

Portland Thorns FC v Orlando Pride

Apr 15, Sun 3	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Orlando Pride	Portland, Oregon
15:00 (PST)	Horan 28' (Sinclair) Sinclair 39' (Horan)	Report	Ubogagu 20' (Nairn) Pressley  85'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 16,466 Referee: Farhad Dadkho

Portland Thorns FC v Washington Spirit

Apr 20, Fri 4	Portland Thorns FC	1–1	Washington Spirit	Portland, Oregon
19:30 (PST)	Sonnett  39' Sinclair 45+2' (PK) Horan  88'	Report	Ordega 37' Bledsoe  86'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 14,485 Referee: Matt Franz

Utah Royals FC v Portland Thorns FC

Apr 28, Sat 5	Utah Royals FC	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	Sandy, Utah
18:00 (PST)	Rodriguez 53' Jónsdóttir  49' Scott  85'	Report	Purce  36' Heath 67' (Sinclair)	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: 8,446 Referee: Katja Koroleva

Portland Thorns FC v Seattle Reign FC

May 5, Sat 6	Portland Thorns FC	2–3	Seattle Reign FC	Portland, Oregon
12:30 (PST)	Sonnett 61' Horan 70' (Klingenberg)	Report	Long  31' Yanez 36' (Kawasumi) Taylor 64' (PK) Utsugi 75' (Catley) Kleiner  87'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 16,054 Referee: Karen Abt
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Houston Dash v Portland Thorns FC

May 9, Wed 7	Houston Dash	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	Houston, Texas
17:00 (PST)	Simon 57' (Latsko) Van Wyk  90+1'	Report	Crnogorčević 25' (Sinclair)	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 2,668 Referee: Luis Guardia

Portland Thorns FC v Orlando Pride

May 12, Sat 8	Portland Thorns FC	1–2	Orlando Pride	Portland, Oregon
12:30 (PST)	Sinclair 23' (Heath)  76' Andressinha  65'	Report	Morgan 11' Nairn 21' Pickett  64' Watherholt  83'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 17,115 Referee: Rosendo Mendoza
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Washington Spirit v Portland Thorns FC

May 19, Sat 9	Washington Spirit	0–1	Portland Thorns FC	Boyds, Maryland
16:00 (PST)		Report	Carpenter 68' (Crnogorčević) Horan  84'	Stadium: Maryland SoccerPlex Attendance: 3,284 Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr.

Portland Thorns FC v Utah Royals FC

May 25, Fri 10	Portland Thorns FC	2–0	Utah Royals FC	Portland, Oregon
19:30 (PST)	Sinclair 18' (Heath) Horan 39' (Klingenberg)  67'	Report	Corsie  69' Jónsdóttir  83'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 15,113 Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Portland Thorns FC v North Carolina Courage

May 30, Wed 11	Portland Thorns FC	1–4	North Carolina Courage	Portland, Oregon
19:30 (PST)	Sinclair  38' Klingenberg  70' Reynolds 89'	Report	Williams 31' (PK), 62' (Mewis) Debinha 58' (Dunn) Mewis 64' (Zerboni) Mathias  79' Hamilton  88'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 15,018 Referee: Joseph Dickerson

Chicago Red Stars v Portland Thorns FC

Jun 16, Sat 12	Chicago Red Stars	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	Bridgeview, Illinois
17:00 (PST)	Nagasato 43' Stanton  62'	Report	Hubly  42' Horan 48'  54' Lussi  71'	Stadium: Toyota Park Attendance: 4,093 Referee: Danielle Chesky
Note: Televised on ESPNews.

Houston Dash v Portland Thorns FC

Jun 22, Fri 13	Houston Dash	1–3	Portland Thorns FC	Houston, Texas
17:30 (PST)	Huerta 12' Simon  85'	Report	Heath 9' (Sinclair) Crnogorčević 33' Sinclair 83' (Lussi)	Stadium: BBVA Compass Stadium Attendance: 3,480 Referee: Jasmine Peralta

Portland Thorns FC v Sky Blue FC

Jun 27, Wed 14	Portland Thorns FC	1–1	Sky Blue FC	Portland, Oregon
19:30 (PST)	Horan 45' (Sinclair) Salem  90+2'	Report	Beckie  41' Lloyd 77' (PK) Freeman  90+3'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 18,237 Referee: Katja Koroleva

Seattle Reign FC v Portland Thorns FC

Jun 30, Sat 15	Seattle Reign FC	1–0	Portland Thorns FC	Seattle, Washington
19:00 (PST)	Barnes  35' Taylor 89'	Report	Klingenberg  14'	Stadium: Memorial Stadium Attendance: 4,781 Referee: Christina Unkel

Portland Thorns FC v Utah Royals FC

Jul 6, Fri 16	Portland Thorns FC	4–0	Utah Royals FC	Portland, Oregon
20:00 (PST)	Heath 2' (Crnogorčević) Horan 32' (Heath) Crnogorčević 34' Lussi 62' (Horan)	Report	Johnson  31' Matheson  45'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 17,930 Referee: Farhad Dadkho

Portland Thorns FC v Houston Dash

Jul 15, Sun 17	Portland Thorns FC	3–1	Houston Dash	Portland, Oregon
20:00 (PST)	Horan 16' (Sonnett) 31' Crnogorčević 48' (Raso)	Report	Ohai 37'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 15,327 Referee: Eric Tattersall

Sky Blue FC v Portland Thorns FC

Jul 21, Sat 18	Sky Blue FC	1–2	Portland Thorns FC	Piscataway, New Jersey
16:00 (PST)	Dorsey 27' (McCaskill)	Report	Raso 4' (Sinclair) Crnogorčević 7' Sinclair  80'	Stadium: Yurcak Field Attendance: 2,338 Referee: Reyna Fonseca

North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC

Aug 5, Sun 19	North Carolina Courage	2–1	Portland Thorns FC	Cary, North Carolina
15:00 (PST)	Williams 37' (McDonald) 45'	Report	Sonett  45+3' Horan 49' (Heath) Foord  85'	Stadium: WakeMed Soccer Park Attendance: 5,379 Referee: Michael Radchuk

Orlando Pride v Portland Thorns FC

Aug 11, Sat 20	Orlando Pride	0–2	Portland Thorns FC	Orlando, Florida
16:30 (PST)	Marta  73'	Report	Sinclair  27' Horan 47' (Heath) Raso 53' (Crnogorčević)	Stadium: Orlando City Stadium Attendance: 6,102 Referee: Katja Koroleva

Portland Thorns FC v Chicago Red Stars

Aug 18, Sat 21	Portland Thorns FC	2–2	Chicago Red Stars	Portland, Oregon
19:30 (PST)	Heath 60' Sonnett  67' Sinclair 69' (Heath)	Report	Kerr 44' (Nagasato), 49' (DiBernardo) White  81'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 18,631 Referee: Guido Gonzales
Note: Televised on ESPNews.

Portland Thorns FC v Sky Blue FC

Aug 22, Wed 22	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Sky Blue FC	Portland, Oregon
20:00 (PST)	Sinclair 13' (pen.) Heath 54'	Report	Tiernan  41' McCaskill  67' Johnson  75' Killion 85' Hoy  88'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 17,986 Referee: Mark Allatin

Washington Spirit v Portland Thorns FC

Aug 25, Sat 23	Washington Spirit	0–1	Portland Thorns FC	Washington, D.C.
17:00 (PST)	Church  40'	Report	Heath 15' (Raso)	Stadium: Audi Field Attendance: 7,976 Referee: Katja Koroleva
Note: Televised on ESPNews.

Portland Thorns FC v Seattle Reign FC

Sep 7, Fri 24	Portland Thorns FC	3–1	Seattle Reign FC	Portland, Oregon
19:00 (PST)	Horan 30' 82' (Heath) Heath 49' Sonnett  60'	Report	Fishlock 4' (Addo) Addo  62' Catley  87'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 21,144 Referee: Tim Ford
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Postseason

Portland Thorns FC v Seattle Reign FC

Sep 15, Sat Semifinal	Portland Thorns FC	2–1	Seattle Reign FC	Portland, Oregon
12:00 (PST)	Sonnett  27' Heath 43' (Horan) Menges  50' Horan 77' (Sinclair)	Report	Spencer 29' Fishlock  40' Rapinoe  54' Long  60'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 14,179 Referee: Ramy Touchan
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC

Sep 22, Sat Final	North Carolina Courage	3–0	Portland Thorns FC	Portland, Oregon
13:30 (PST)	Debinha 13' McDonald 40' (Hinkle), 64' (Mathias)  65' O'Sullivan  42'	Report		Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: 21,144 Referee: Guido Gonzales Jr. Assistant referees: Brooke Mayo, Adrienne McDonald Fourth official: Karen Abt
Note: Televised on Lifetime.

Regular-season standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	North Carolina Courage (C)	24	17	6	1	53	17	+36	57	NWSL Shield
2	Portland Thorns FC	24	12	6	6	40	28	+12	42	NWSL Playoffs
3	Seattle Reign FC	24	11	8	5	27	19	+8	41
4	Chicago Red Stars	24	9	10	5	38	28	+10	37
5	Utah Royals FC	24	9	8	7	22	23	−1	35
6	Houston Dash	24	9	5	10	35	39	−4	32
7	Orlando Pride	24	8	6	10	30	37	−7	30
8	Washington Spirit	24	2	5	17	12	35	−23	11
9	Sky Blue FC	24	1	6	17	21	52	−31	9

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Results by round

Matchday	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Stadium	A	A	H	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	H	A	H	H	A	A	A	H	H	A	H
Result	L	W	W	D	D	L	D	L	W	W	L	D	W	D	L	W	W	W	L	W	D	W	W	W
Position[a]	9	4	3	3	3	4	4	5	3	4	4	5	4	4	6	5	5	3	4	3	3	3	3	2

Updated to match(es) played on September 7, 2018. Source: Schedule
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Club

Executive staff

Owner and Chief Executive Officer	Merritt Paulson
President of Business	Mike Golub
GM/President of Soccer	Gavin Wilkinson

Updated to match played August 3, 2018
Source: Portland Timbers

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Mark Parsons
Assistant Coach	Rich Gunney
Assistant Coach/Equipment Manager	Sophie Clough
Assistant Coach/Community Youth Development Coach	Carly Copplestone
Goalkeeping Coach	Nadine Angerer
Fitness Coach	Garga Caserta
Athletic Trainer	Bailey Torrez
Team Physician	Breanne Brown

Last updated: August 3, 2018
Source: Portland Timbers

Squad information

First team squad

Last updated: March 27, 2018^[9]

No.	Name	Nationality	Positions	Date of birth (age)	Signed from	Year with club (year signed)
Goalkeepers
24	Adrianna Franch		GK	(1990-11-12) November 12, 1990 (age 34)	Avaldsnes IL	3 (2016)
33	Britt Eckerstrom		GK	(1993-05-28) May 28, 1993 (age 32)	North Carolina Courage	2 (2017)
Defenders
2	Katherine Reynolds		RB/CB	(1987-09-14) September 14, 1987 (age 37)	Washington Spirit	3 (2016)
4	Emily Menges		CB	(1992-07-28) July 28, 1992 (age 33)	2014 NWSL College Draft	5 (2014)
16	Emily Sonnett (FP)		CB	(1993-11-25) November 25, 1993 (age 31)	2016 NWSL College Draft	3 (2016)
25	Meghan Klingenberg		LB/LM	(1988-08-02) August 2, 1988 (age 36)	Houston Dash	3 (2016)
32	Meg Morris		LB / FW	(1992-05-11) May 11, 1992 (age 33)	Sky Blue FC	3 (2016)
27	Elizabeth Ball		CB/RB	(1995-10-20) October 20, 1995 (age 29)		1 (2018)
15	Ellie Carpenter		CB	(2000-04-28) April 28, 2000 (age 25)	Canberra United	1 (2018)
20	Kelli Hubly		CB	(1994-08-09) August 9, 1994 (age 30)		2 (2017)
Midfielders
10	Lindsey Horan (FP)		CM	(1994-05-26) May 26, 1994 (age 31)	Paris Saint-Germain	3 (2016)
8	Andressa Cavalari		CAM	(1995-05-01) May 1, 1995 (age 30)	Houston Dash	1 (2018)
17	Tobin Heath (FP)		LW	(1988-05-29) May 29, 1988 (age 37)	Paris Saint-Germain	6 (2013)
30	Celeste Boureille		MF	(1994-04-20) April 20, 1994 (age 31)	UMF Selfoss	3 (2016)
36	Angela Salem		MF	(1988-07-24) July 24, 1988 (age 37)	Boston Breakers	1 (2018)
Forwards
9	Caitlin Foord		CF / LW	(1994-11-11) November 11, 1994 (age 30)	Sydney FC	1 (2018)
12	Christine Sinclair		CF/CAM	(1983-06-12) June 12, 1983 (age 42)	Western New York Flash	6 (2013)
22	Ifeoma Onumonu		FW	(1994-02-25) February 25, 1994 (age 31)	Boston Breakers	1 (2018)
21	Hayley Raso		FW/ RW / RM	(1994-09-05) September 5, 1994 (age 30)	Washington Spirit	3 (2016)
26	Mallory Weber		FW / RW	(1994-04-04) April 4, 1994 (age 31)	2016 NWSL College Draft	3 (2016)
34	Tyler Lussi		FW	(1995-01-26) January 26, 1995 (age 30)	2017 NWSL College Draft	2 (2017)
23	Margaret Purce		FW/RM	(1995-09-18) September 18, 1995 (age 29)	Boston Breakers	1 (2018)
7	Ana-Maria Crnogorčević		FW	(1990-10-03) October 3, 1990 (age 34)	FFC Frankfurt	1 (2018)

• (FP) = Federation player
• (Loan) = on loan

Honors and awards

NWSL Season Awards

See also: NWSL awards

• Most Valuable Player: Lindsey Horan^[10]
• Defender of the Year: Emily Sonnett (finalist)^[10]
• Coach of the Year: Mark Parsons (finalist)^[10]
• Goalkeeper of the Year: Adrianna Franch (finalist)^[10]
• Best XI: Adrianna Franch, Emily Sonnett, Lindsey Horan, Tobin Heath^[11]
• Second XI: Emily Menges, Christine Sinclair^[11]

NWSL Team of the Month

Month	Goalkeeper	Defenders	Midfielders	Forwards	Ref.
March		Emily Sonnett	Lindsey Horan		[12]
April		Emily Sonnett			[13]
May			Lindsey Horan	Christine Sinclair	[14]
June			Lindsey Horan	Christine Sinclair	[15]
July	Adrianna Franch		Lindsey Horan		[16]
August			Lindsey Horan	Tobin Heath	[17]

NWSL Player of the Month

Month	Result	Player	Ref.
July	Won	Lindsey Horan	[18]

NWSL Weekly Awards

NWSL Player of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref
14	Won	Adrianna Franch	[19]
20	Won	Adrianna Franch	[20]
24	Won	Lindsey Horan	[21]

NWSL Goal of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
2	Won	Lindsey Horan	[22]
3	Won	Lindsey Horan	[23]
5	Won	Tobin Heath	[24]
8	Nominated	Ellie Carpenter	[25]
9	Nominated	Christine Sinclair	[26]
10	Won	Katherine Reynolds	[27]
11/12	Nominated	Lindsey Horan	[28]
13	Nominated	Christine Sinclair	[29]
15	Nominated	Tobin Heath	[30]
16	Nominated	Lindsey Horan	[31]
17	Nominated	Hayley Raso	[32]
19	Nominated	Lindsey Horan	[33]
20	Won	Hayley Raso	[34]
21	Nominated	Christine Sinclair	[35]
22	Won	Tobin Heath	[36]
24	Won	Lindsey Horan	[37]

NWSL Save of the Week

Week	Result	Player	Ref.
1	Won	Adrianna Franch	[38]
2	Nominated	Adrianna Franch	[39]
9	Nominated	Meghan Klingenberg	[40]
11/12	Won	Britt Eckerstrom	[41]
13	Nominated	Adrianna Franch	[42]
14	Won	Adrianna Franch	[43]
15	Won	Adrianna Franch	[44]
17	Nominated	Britt Eckerstrom	[45]
19	Nominated	Adrianna Franch	[46]
20	Won	Adrianna Franch	[47]
21	Nominated	Adrianna Franch	[48]

See also

• 2018 National Women's Soccer League season

Notes

1. POR's position at the end of the matchweek, not their match.