2020 Portland Thorns FC season

The 2020 Portland Thorns FC season was the team's and the league's eighth 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. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 12, 2020 the Thorns canceled their preseason tournament, scheduled for March 29-April 4.^[1] On March 20, 2020, the NWSL postponed the start of the league's regular season indefinitely.^[2]

Portland Thorns FC

2020 season
Chairman	Merritt Paulson
Manager	Mark Parsons
Stadium	Providence Park Portland, Oregon
2020 NWSL Challenge Cup	Semi-finals
2020 NWSL Fall Series	Champions
Average home league attendance	14,391
Home colours Away colours
← 2019 2021 →

Team

Coaching staff

Position	Staff
Head Coach	Mark Parsons
Assistant Coach	Rich Gunney
Assistant Coach	Sophie Clough
Goalkeeper Coach	Nadine Angerer
Fitness Coach and Performance Specialist	Tom Milroy
Head Athletic Trainer	Pierre Soubrier
Athletic Trainer	Bailey Torrez
Team Physician	Breanne Brown, M.D.

Last updated: April 10, 2020
Source:

Current squad

No.	Nat.	Name	Date of birth (age)	Since	Previous team	Notes[a]
Goalkeepers
24		Adrianna Franch	(1990-11-02)November 2, 1990 (aged 29)	2016	Avaldsnes IL	FED
31		Bella Bixby	(1995-11-25)November 25, 1995 (aged 24)	2018	Oregon State
33		Britt Eckerstrom	(1993-05-28)May 28, 1993 (aged 26)	2017	Western New York Flash
Defenders
2		Katherine Reynolds	(1987-09-14)September 14, 1987 (aged 32)	2016	Washington Spirit
4		Becky Sauerbrunn	(1985-06-06)June 6, 1985 (aged 34)	2020	Utah Royals FC
5		Emily Menges	(1992-07-28)July 28, 1992 (aged 27)	2014	Georgetown
15		Madison Pogarch	(1997-11-05)November 5, 1997 (aged 22)	2019	Rutgers
20		Kelli Hubly	(1994-08-09)August 9, 1994 (aged 25)	2017	DePaul
25		Meghan Klingenberg	(1988-08-02)August 2, 1988 (aged 31)	2016	Houston Dash
35		Gabby Seiler	(1994-09-14)September 14, 1994 (aged 25)	2018	Florida
18		Christen Westphal	(1993-09-02)September 2, 1993 (aged 26)	2020	Reign FC
39		Meaghan Nally	(1998-06-30)June 30, 1998 (aged 21)	2020	Georgetown
Midfielders
10		Lindsey Horan	(1994-05-26)May 26, 1994 (aged 25)	2016	Paris Saint-Germain	FED
17		Tobin Heath	(1988-05-29)May 29, 1988 (aged 31)	2013	Paris Saint-Germain	FED
30		Celeste Boureille	(1994-04-20)April 20, 1994 (aged 25)	2016	California Golden Bears
36		Angela Salem	(1988-07-24)July 24, 1988 (aged 31)	2018	Boston Breakers
11		Raquel Rodríguez	(1993-10-28)October 28, 1993 (aged 26)	2020	Sky Blue FC	INT
37		Emily Ogle	(1996-08-05)August 5, 1996 (aged 23)	2019	Penn State
Forwards
9		Sophia Smith	(2000-08-10)August 10, 2000 (aged 19)	2020	Stanford
12		Christine Sinclair	(1983-06-12)June 12, 1983 (aged 36)	2013	Western New York Flash	FED
22		Morgan Weaver	(1997-10-18)October 18, 1997 (aged 22)	2020	Washington State
34		Tyler Lussi	(1995-01-26)January 26, 1995 (aged 25)	2017	Princeton
38		Simone Charley	(1995-02-04)February 4, 1995 (aged 25)	2019	Vanderbilt
40		Marissa Everett	(1997-08-29)August 29, 1997 (aged 22)	2019	Oregon

1. denotes a season-ending injury.

Competitions

Challenge Cup

Main article: 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup

Preliminary round

North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC

June 27 (27-06) 1	North Carolina Courage	2–1	Portland Thorns FC	Herriman, Utah
9:30 a.m.	Debinha 75' L. Williams 90+4'	Report	Charley 80'	Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Note: Televised on CBS

Portland Thorns FC v Chicago Red Stars

July 1 (1-07) 2	Portland Thorns FC	0–0	Chicago Red Stars	Herriman, Utah
9:30 a.m.	Lussi  80'	Report	Doniak  49'	Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium Referee: Danielle Chesky

Portland Thorns FC v Washington Spirit

July 5 (5-07) 2	Portland Thorns FC	1–1	Washington Spirit	Herriman, Utah
7:00 p.m.	Horan 69'	Report	Staab 77'	Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium Referee: Karen Abt

OL Reign v Portland Thorns FC

July 13 (13-07) 4	OL Reign	0–0	Portland Thorns FC	Herriman, Utah
9:30 a.m.		Report		Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium Referee: Tori Penso

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	North Carolina Courage	4	4	0	0	7	1	+6	12
2	Washington Spirit	4	2	1	1	4	4	0	7
3	OL Reign	4	1	2	1	1	2	−1	5
4	Houston Dash	4	1	1	2	5	6	−1	4
5	Utah Royals FC (H)	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	4
6	Chicago Red Stars	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4[a]
7	Sky Blue FC	4	1	1	2	2	3	−1	4[a]
8	Portland Thorns FC	4	0	3	1	2	3	−1	3

Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host
Notes:

1. Chicago Red Stars won the tiebreaker against Sky Blue FC on fewer yellow cards (1 to 4).

Knockout round

North Carolina Courage v Portland Thorns FC

July 17 (17-07) QF	North Carolina Courage	0–1	Portland Thorns FC	Herriman, Utah
9:30 a.m.	Debinha  52' O'Sullivan  90+4'	Report	Weaver 68'	Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium Referee: Lukasz Szpala

Houston Dash v Portland Thorns FC

July 22 (22-07) SF	Houston Dash	1–0	Portland Thorns FC	Sandy, Utah
9:30 a.m.	Daly 69'  90'	Report		Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Referee: Tori Penso

2020 Fall Series

Portland Thorns FC v Utah Royals FC

September 20 (20-09) 1	Portland Thorns FC	3–0	Utah Royals FC	Portland, Oregon
12:00 p.m.	Charley 35' Smith 72' Horan 81' Pogarch  88' Klingenberg  90+5'	Report		Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: Closed Referee: Adorae Monroy

Portland Thorns FC v OL Reign

September 30 (30-09) 2	Portland Thorns FC	4–1	OL Reign	Portland, Oregon
7:00 p.m.	Klingenberg  35' Sinclair 40' 45+5' (Pen.) 74' Rodríguez 57'	Report	Balcer 70'	Stadium: Providence Park Attendance: Closed Referee: Farhad Dadkho

Utah Royals FC v Portland Thorns FC

October 3 (3-10) 3	Utah Royals FC	1–1	Portland Thorns FC	Sandy, Utah
7:00 p.m.	Rodriguez 9'	Report	Sinclair 59'	Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium Attendance: Closed Referee: Karen Abt

OL Reign v Portland Thorns FC

October 10 (10-10) 4	OL Reign	1–2	Portland Thorns FC	Tacoma, Washington
5 p.m. PDT	Brooks 46'	Report	Sinclair 43' (Pen.) 73' (Pen.)	Stadium: Cheney Stadium Attendance: Closed Referee: Laura Rodriguez

Standings

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Portland Thorns FC (C)	4	3	1	0	10	3	+7	10	Community Shield
2	Houston Dash	4	3	0	1	12	7	+5	9	Runners-up
3	Washington Spirit	4	2	1	1	5	4	+1	7	Third place
4	Sky Blue FC	4	2	0	2	6	7	−1	6
5	North Carolina Courage	4	1	2	1	8	10	−2	5
6	Chicago Red Stars	4	1	1	2	7	7	0	4
7	OL Reign	4	1	1	2	6	8	−2	4
8	Orlando Pride	4	0	2	2	5	8	−3	2
9	Utah Royals FC	4	0	2	2	3	8	−5	2

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

Transactions

NWSL Draft

Main article: 2020 NWSL College Draft

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2020 NWSL College Draft was held on January 16, 2020.

R	Pick	Nat.	Player	Pos.	College	Status	Ref.
1	1		Sophia Smith	FW	Stanford	Allocated by the United States Soccer Federation in 2021.	[3][4]
	2		Morgan Weaver	FW	Washington State	Signed to two-year contract with one-year option.	[4]
3	25		Meaghan Nally	DF	Georgetown	Signed to two-year contract with one-year option.	[4]

Transfers out

Date	Nat.	Player	Pos.	Destination club	Fee/notes	Ref.
August 21, 2020		Celeste Boureille	MF	FC Fleury 91	Short-term loan.	[5][6][7]
September 9, 2020		Tobin Heath	MF/FW	Manchester United W.F.C.	Out of contract; Thorns retained NWSL playing rights.	[5][8]
December 16, 2020		Emily Ogle	MF	Houston Dash	Traded for the 7th- and 37th-overall picks in the 2021 NWSL Draft.	[5][9]
		Gabby Seiler	MF
January 19, 2021		Britt Eckerstrom	GK	None	Retired.	[5][10]

Expansion Draft

Main article: 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft

The 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft was a special draft held on November 12, 2020, by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for Racing Louisville FC, an expansion team, to select players from existing teams in the league. The league allowed Louisville to select up to 18 players from lists of unprotected players provided by the existing nine NWSL teams.^[11]

Protected players

Racing Louisville FC selected the playing rights of Tobin Heath, which the Thorns retained while she was playing for Manchester United W.F.C. in the Women's Super League.^[8][11]

Protected	Unprotected
Simone Charley	Nadine Angerer
Crystal Dunn	Bella Bixby
Lindsey Horan	Celeste Boureille
Kelli Hubly	Marian Dougherty
Meghan Klingenberg	Britt Eckerstrom
Natalia Kuikka	Marissa Everett
Emily Menges	Adrianna Franch
Raquel Rodríguez	Tobin Heath
Christine Sinclair	Tyler Lussi
Sophia Smith	Andressinha
Morgan Weaver	Nikki Marshall
	Meg Morris
	Meaghan Nally
	Emily Ogle
	Madison Pogarch
	Hayley Raso
	Kat Reynolds
	Angela Salem
	Becky Sauerbrunn
	Gabby Seiler
	Kat Tarr
	Rachel Van Hollebeke
	Christen Westphal
	Sandra Yu

• Bold indicates players selected in the Expansion Draft^[11]
• Blue highlights indicate United States federation players
• Italics indicate players who are not under contract but whose NWSL playing rights remain with the team