PORTLAND, Ore. – On Thursday, Portland Thorns FC welcomed four of its U.S. Women's National Team players to training at Providence Park. After the session, three of those players – and their new coach – shared their thoughts on their first day of Thorns practice.
Thorns forward Lindsey Horan
On arriving in Portland and training with the Thorns…
Oh my gosh, it's amazing! I love Portland as a city and I've been here only a few times but it's just so cool to finally be here and be in training again and be back with a professional team after coming back from PSG and I'm so stoked to just start the season again. It's super exciting! I love it here.
On first training session…
Oh, it's awesome! I didn't really know what to expect at first because it's the first day and you don't really know many people, but it was really intense and jumping into a 6v6 or 7v7 like that, it's so nice when everyone's on the same page and everyone's trying to win and you have that intensity level. So really cool.
Thorns defender Meghan Klingenberg
On being in Portland…
It's amazing to be here. I think with the first day of practice, there's always nerves and excitement. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I”m looking forward to really getting down to business and training and seeing how good we can actually be because I think we have a lot of potential this year. Our goal is obviously to try and win the league and hopefully we can do that with the team that the organization has built and the coaching, so it should be a fun year. I'm really excited to get after it.
On her first impressions of the Thorns organization…
[When] I met Mark and Merritt and the organization, it was really exciting because I can see how much passion they have for the team and the organization [and] the city, so being a part of that is going to be really special.
Thorns defender Emily Sonnett
On finally arriving in Portland…
It feels good. I got here about two days ago, just finding myself around different food places, coffee shops, that's what I hear is pretty good over here. And just getting out here for the first day; it's been pretty good so far.
On her first day of training…
It was great getting out here and meeting everyone a couple days ago and finally getting on the field. It was a great first day of training….[I'm] just looking forward to working with these girls.
Head coach Mark Parsons
On having all the U.S. National Team players available in training…
Today was a good day because it was heavy. We wanted to get after it. We wanted to continue to improve our attacking organization and how we move the ball, but just compete as well and play and let the new guys who just turned up just get a feel of the ball.
On how the team looks so far…
It was exciting to see them moving and combining with the ball….I saw people excited to be in this group. Speaking to a couple of the players coming off the pitch at the end there – Lindsey and a few others – they couldn't believe that level. Lindsey's walking off and she just can't believe how things have gone today….Great. Positive. Excited….[but] we've got a long, long way to go.
