Portland Thorns FC Quotes
Portland Thorns FC head coach Paul Riley:
On his general reaction to the game...
“You’re home, so when you play at home you try and get three points. We keep giving teams 2-0 head starts, but fought back again. We showed some great character. Obviously the penalty would have won the game for us. I’ve got to compliment the players out there. I thought they dug in, and we didn’t have a great first 20 minutes, let’s be fair. They knocked a goal down. We talked a little at halftime, made a couple little adjustments, and I thought the midfield got on the ball a bit more in the second half. Mana [Shim] got in the game, Allie [Long] started to get into the game – first half we just couldn’t find her. We were just kicking balls, and I think we settled in, in the second half. I don’t know if it was the changes, a couple changes, with the young ones coming in, but you know, I think we self-destructed almost in the first half – two poor giveaways for the two goals. With all due respect to Emily [Menges], how [Washington Spirit forward] Crystal Dunn’s not on the plane to Canada after seeing that display is beyond me. But I thought Emily did a pretty good job on her, to be honest with you. They played together in club from New York, so they’re used to playing against each other, but I thought Emily did a decent job on her. But Crystal was a headache all night – shutting down the distribution, too, I don’t think we did a terrific job at it either. The back three held in there. You know, Rachel [Van Hollebeke] she had not a great start for her, and then she settled in, too. All credit to the players, to be honest, they settled in, they showed some character. We’ve come back twice now from 2-0, and we just don’t want to make too much of a habit of it.”
On the reason behind the team’s slow starts:
“The goals were just giveaways. When you’re passing the ball around the back, any type of mistake, technical mistake, you’re going to pay for it, and we paid for it on both occasions. You know, those things could happen in the 80th minute. I think they just happened to happen early in the game. We actually talked about, before we played them, about how crucial the first 10 minutes were in terms of pinning Washington in, and making it difficult for them. You know, they’re coming into our stadium – 14, 15 thousand there – let’s put them under pressure, let’s see what they’re made of, and it turned out the opposite way. They picked it off almost from the kickoff, knocked the ball behind us, and when we got stuck, they didn’t allow us to play out. We didn’t do a good job of playing out. But the work ethic was good. Our pressure wasn’t great tonight, too. We were just a little bit off. It looked like we were just a little bit off. I don’t know if it was because we lost a little bit of rhythm not playing last week. We had a game off. Sometimes when you win games, and you keep playing, and you’re coming back from Chicago – we were in a pretty good rhythm at the time, so I don’t know if the week off hurt us.”
On the play from Thorns FC midfielders Mana Shim and Allie Long so far this season, as well as the other attacking players:
“They’ve [Shim and Long] both been really good for us. They’re both, obviously, really important for us, especially in the final third. They’ve been getting all the points for us basically. I’ve got to give Sarah [Jackson] credit tonight. Obviously it was her first game at the professional level, and I thought she handled herself really well – hit the shot that I think Mana got on the rebound for the first goal. I thought she held up the ball up pretty well. It’s not really her cup of tea, holding the ball up. She’s more of a Jodie Taylor-type, you know, a center forward that likes to go in behind and cause trouble. I thought she did well in her first game. I said to Mana and Allie, you know, they’d been playing with her in most of the preseason, so it wasn’t like we just brought somebody in and threw a shirt on her. She’d been playing with them most of the preseason, so they’d played a lot of games together. I thought they found each other well. I thought, second half, Mana really got into the game, and she provided the goal for Allie, and there were another couple of beautiful balls that she played through – one to Taylor [Comeau], one through to I think Kendall [Johnson]. For that 20 minutes around when we got the second goal and we got the penalty, it felt like we could go on and win the game. The penalty took a little bit out of us, I think, and then we were obviously forced into a change in the back. Give Alyssa Kleiner all the credit in the world, coming on and playing against Crystal Dunn for a few minutes before we could got Emily [Menges] over there. It’s not an easy matchup, again, for Alyssa, but she did well coming in. Kelsey [Haycook] came in up front, too. So hats off to those guys in their first performance.”
On the health of defender Rachel Van Hollebeke:
“I have no idea. I think she was just starting to get a cramp. You know, obviously, she’s coming back from a hamstring issue, so she was starting to feel a cramp. If I had Crystal Dunn running at me for five minutes, I’d probably get a cramp, or [Washington Spirit forward Francisca] Ordega. The two of them can run, and they put a lot of pressure on you, and [Washington spirit midfielder Christine] Nairn was spraying the ball around. I think we didn’t do a great job of closing Nairn down tonight. I thought she was very good tonight, and caused us a lot of problems. And [Washington Spirit midfielder] Joanna Lohman did well in the midfield, [Washington Spirit midfielder] Tori Huster did well in the midfield – I thought they were good tonight.”
On how the absence of the National Team players affected the teams:
“They’re only missing [Ali] Krieger, that’s it. She hasn’t played. She got a concussion quite a while back. They’re a pretty settled team, I think, at this point. They don’t really have a lot going out. For us, a little bit different obviously, missing up front. Ayo [Añonma] comes in on Monday, so that will be a huge plus for us. Just give us another weapon up front. The problem is, when you’ve only got two forwards and one of them is playing, you’ve got another youngster on the bench with no experience. So having Ayo will give us another player and give us some bite coming off the bench, which obviously you need that late in the game if you’re chasing, especially at home. I wouldn’t say it [not having the National Team players] affected us really. I think Jacko [Sarah Jackson] was pretty seamless tonight. We’ve had a different forward in every game – we had Alex [Morgan] for one, then we had Jodie [Taylor] for one, we had Sinc [Christine Sinclair] for one, and then we had Jacko for one. So we’re sharing the load. Ayo could be the next one. We could end up five in five, depending obviously on what her fitness is like coming in. Jacko had a good game in all fairness to her. It’s up to Jacko to keep her spot. She’ll be working out Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday to make sure she’s in the lineup.”
On the play of amateur midfielder Taylor Comeau:
“I think Taylor did well. The most crucial thing for these players is the first time they get the ball in the game and what happens. Her first couple touches were good. She knocked a lovely ball in I think maybe two minutes into the game, and all of a sudden, I think she just went ‘whew’ and settled in. I think maybe the 55 minutes in Chicago probably helped her, too. She got the pace of the game. I thought she did well. The only other issue is, too, when you’ve not played a lot at this level, is you just run. You find yourself just running everywhere and all of a sudden after like 50 minutes, you start looking around and go, ‘oh my word, I’m a little bit more tired than I usually am playing in college.’ I think there wasn’t much left in the tank with Taylor, but she did a great job. I was proud of her tonight. It’s not an easy position, the wing position of a back three, you got to get around, you got to get forward. The expectations are always difficult, but I thought she handled herself well, and Kendall [Johnson], too, on the other side. I thought the two of them did well tonight.”
On if the result bodes well how the summer is going to go without the National Team players…
“Ya, I think, obviously, Ayo [Anonma] makes it stronger, coming in, we pick her up on the way in. Nadine [Angerer] leaves. Michelle [Betos] has been magnificent for us so I don’t think we’ll miss a beat in that. It’s just a matter of if Ayo comes in where does Sarah [Jackson] go, maybe she can play another place and we can shift Sinead [Farrelly] outside or we can do a couple of different things, obviously, I have to have a look at Rachel [Van Hollebeke] too. Most of these players have been here, you know, the core group that’s played just about every game. We lost Tobin [Heath] on the right hand side, Alex [Morgan] played one, [Christine Sinclair] only played one game, the other Canadians played half of a game and a quarter of a game. Steph Catley is not here so from that perspective we’ve almost been riding this group. You know Kat [Williamson] and Emily [Menges] and the box four and Michelle, obviously in goal, and Allie [Long] and Kendell [Johnson] on the left hand side I think they’ve been pretty well part of what we’ve done from day one and the process of planning for the season. I’m pretty happy with the young ones. It gives a little bit more depth. We settled a couple of players to go in that are good players like [Alyssa Kleiner] is a really good player and Sarah [Jackson] has come on for us too. When they get an opportunity they can rise to the occasion. I think in the next four or five games they’re going to get opportunities to perform. Just have to train at the top level and make sure they’re ready to go.”
Portland Thorns FC Midfielder Mana Shim:
On her goal on Saturday…
“Actually it was kind of messy. I know Allie [Long] played a ball into Sarah [Jackson] and Sarah put it up and the goalkeeper saved it and I was just there for the tap in.”
On what’s working well for her so far this season…
“I think that I’m getting ball higher up the field and I just feel very comfortable with the players around me. It’s great to get on the board and it’s important as an attacking mid to get goals and assists. I’m happy about that but ultimately we’re just creating a lot of opportunities.”
On if the team always feels they can come back from a deficit…
“This year I think so, definitely. We definitely trust in what we are doing and we’re confident in each other. It’s tough to go down that early especially because I think we gave them that second one. We made a couple of mistakes but our goal is to be able to fight back and continue to play the way we want to play and I think we did that.”
On if the team was rusty after the bye week…
“I don’t know if it was rust as much as that happens in some games. I give credit to the other team. I think the Spirit came out and they played well in the first half and were on top of us. In the second half Paul tweaked some things and I think we were much better. It was just one of those, timing was a little off and that happens and it’s kind of what are you going to do when that happens and I think we responded well.”
On the amateur players performances…
“I think they actually did very well for us today. I think Taylor [Comeau] and Sarah Jackson stood out for us. [Alyssa] Kleiner came in on a tough spot late in the game and she was just huge. I think they actually did really, really well. It was kind of the core group, that midfield, we were getting played around and we take responsibility for that. I think if you ask any of the four of us we really didn’t put a great performance out today. I think we turned it around but we have a much higher standard for ourselves and I think we can do better.”
Portland Thorns FC Defender Kat Williamson:
On the defensive perspective giving up two early goals for second game in a row…
“I mean obviously Washington came in with a game plan and that was to put us under pressure and press high. I think second half adjustments we corrected that but it was unfortunate turnovers and it happens in the game. I think this is the first team that we faced that put us under pressure, high, hard and I think it was something we needed to experience. Something we can hopefully learn from and move forward from.”
On if it’s concerning giving up two early goals in back to back games…
”I think the positive to take out of it is that we battled back. Obviously you don’t want two goals scored on you within minutes. That’s not what you want but I think there are positives to take out of that and the second half we didn’t let any in so I think that was a positive as well. It’s just adjusting to it and hopefully dealing with high pressure better next time.”
On if the team was rusty after the bye week…
“Well we actually scrimmaged a boys team over the weekend, the bye weekend so I don’t know if it’s so much rust. I think, again, Washington came out with a game plan and they did well with that the first half, for sure. I think we weren’t quite ready for it but, again, we made the adjustments that we needed to.”
On what it means for the team having Rachel Van Hollebeke through the World Cup break…
“I mean Rachel is a leader. She really helps us out back there. She’s a strong defender, super tough. I mean it’s great for us to have her throughout the whole season. We’re really fortunate with that.”
On if there will be team consistency with players leaving for the World Cup…
“I think regardless of the World Cup, players change and it’s just something we’re going to have to adjust to and get used to. Hopefully these next seven or eight games we’ll have some consistency in there. I know [goalkeeper] Michelle Betos was great for us that first game and she’s always come ready to play. I’m excited for these next games and hopefully we can adjust and fix the things that we need to.”
Notes:
- Midfielder Allie Long earned her 46th career start for Thorns FC, moving into a tie for first place with Nikki Marshall for all-time career starts.
- Defender Emily Menges played all 90 minutes, while making her 12th consecutive start, dating back to the 2014 campaign.
- Long tallied her 16th career goal moving into a tie for first-place on Portland’s all-time goal-scoring list with forward Christine Sinclair.
- Midfielder Mana Shim has scored in back-to-back games, while two of her three goals this season have come at home.
- Long surpassed forward Alex Morgan in career points for Thorns FC and now sits atop the career list with 38 points.
- Portland improved to 4-0-2 all-time against Washington and 2-0-1 overall against the Spirit at Providence Park. Thorns FC have outscored Washington 15-5 in the all-time series.
- Defender Alyssa Kleiner and forward Kelsey Haycook both made their debuts for Thorns FC.
- Forward Sarah Jacskon earned her first start for Portland, while midfielder Taylor Comeau started her second consecutive match.
- Defender Emily Menges and midfielders Sinead Farrelly and McCall Zerboni are the only three Thorns FC players to play all 360 minutes in the team’s first four matches this season.
- Portland is unbeaten in its last eight matches at home (6-0-2), outscoring its opponents 24-9, while also scoring two or more goals in five of those eight matches.
- Long has tallied at least one point in four straight matches, tied for the longest streak in Thorns FC history. This marks the fifth time a player has registered at least one point in four consecutive games.
