Once again, it comes back around to Portland and North Carolina.
Thorns FC and the Courage have become two of the most successful clubs in the NWSL with the last three champions being one of the two teams – the Thorns won in 2017, lost to North Carolina in 2018 and the Courage won another title again last year.
By the classic luck of the draw, both teams opened preliminary round play in the NWSL Challenge Cup presented by P&G and Secret on CBS with the most-watched broadcast game in the league’s history.
Come Friday, both teams will face off, again, this time in the quarterfinals (9:30am PT, CBS All Access), having journeyed slightly different paths through Utah. The Courage cruised to four straight wins – scoring seven and conceding only once – to sit atop the standings while the Thorns went 0-1-3 and sit in eighth place.
But for Thorns forward Christine Sinclair, the team had a sense ahead of time that to get to where they wanted to go in Utah, seeing the Courage again was inevitable.
“We knew heading into this tournament that, chances are, if you wanted to win it, you would have to beat North Carolina so we’re going to try and do it right off the bat,” she said.
Thorns head coach Mark Parsons, having been a part of much of the two teams’ shared competition – going back to even when NC was known as the Western New York Flash – knows that the two teams’ familiarity runs deep.
“We have a lot of respect for Carolina,” he said. “Obviously, they’ve been very strong over the last couple of years. We know each other so well, both teams.
“We’re probably in a position that we know them a tiny bit better than they know us because of our change and our transition.”
That transition has been something that’s been present throughout the tournament. Portland brought in many new players this past offseason with U.S. international Becky Sauerbrunn being one of the best known. The top two NWSL College Draft picks in Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver are two more.
But injuries definitely have had an impact in Herriman for the Thorns. Sauerbrunn was only able to play one game before heading back to Portland with an injury. Smith hasn’t been available. Goalkeeper Adrianna Franch was injured before the tournament and never traveled to Utah. Defender Emily Menges and midfielder Lindsey Horan both missed a game.
The team has responded though with solid, if not progressive play. Goalkeeper Bella Bixby, with no NWSL starts to her name coming into the tournament, has played every minute of the Challenge Cup picking up two shutouts. Over 20 different players have seen time which has showcased the team’s depth and breadth of talent.
That one loss? It was against the Courage and only came because of a second half, stoppage-time goal from North Carolina. Moreover, Portland is the only team in the tournament to have scored against them. In 360 minutes of play, Portland has trailed for only six minutes in the entire Challenge Cup. So while the standings show one thing, it doesn’t mean anything is a given.
“[I’m] proud of [our] progress,” said Parsons of the team’s overall play. “What we’re doing in performance. What we’re doing in preparation. What we’re doing on the field. What we’re doing off the field.
"We know that we haven’t done enough and we have to show that now, not only in these days training because that’s where it starts, but also in this first knockout round.”
Defender Christen Westphal, another new Portland player who has been key on the wing in both getting forward and providing defense agrees with that assessment.
“I think the team has progressed every day but I think it’s been most significant with every performance in each game,” she said. “So I think it’s been really awesome to see us work on a piece and then be able to implement it and just know that, eventually, it’s all just going to come together gradually, but at a great pace and I think it’s going to be good on Friday.”
It is that strength of identity, that sense of "Thorns soccer," that Parsons is driving home to his players.
“For us, we know who we are, we know our strengths, we know what makes us as strong as we can be,” he said. “Showing our identity in this game, gives us the best chance to get the result that we want.”
