Portland Thorns pull out 2-1 win on road at Washington Spirit, sit alone atop NWSL standings

On a soggy Wednesday night time that was outlined by excellent play from each goalkeepers till the ultimate moments, the Portland Thorns beat the Washington Spirit 2-1 because of a pair of late targets from Christine Sinclair and Morgan Weaver in Leesburg, Virginia.

The Thorns (7-1-7, 28 factors) lengthen their unbeaten streak to 11 video games with the victory and sit alone atop the NWSL standings.

“Simply actually proud,” Thorns coach Rhian Wilkinson stated. “We talked about coming again to who we’re and our identification. We noticed that all through the sport. I assumed Bella (Bixby) had some implausible saves that saved us in it. Washington is a extremely good group. I’ve stated from the start that the standings don’t replicate the expertise on this league.”

After an hourlong rain delay, star ahead Sophia Smith was a late scratch from the sport on her twenty second birthday. Wilkinson stated Smith felt “tight” earlier than the sport and was held out for precautionary causes.

In questionable situations in Leesburg — practically an hour drive west of D.C. — each groups acquired off to gradual begins offensively and performed at a measured tempo. As the sphere started to dry, although, the offense heated up considerably.

Trinity Rodman and Ashley Hatch proved a harmful mixture on the assault for Washington, holding the Portland again line on its toes and ensuring Bixby stayed busy.

A mix of Marissa Everett (filling in for Smith), Hina Sugita and Yazmeen Ryan on the ahead spots was deadly for the Thorns all through the primary half. All three gamers had probabilities at aim that had been both saved by Aubrey Kingsbury or simply missed the body.

After the Thorns created a flurry of probabilities, Bixby was pressured into the hero position twice within the thirty third and fortieth minutes, making large saves on pictures from Andi Sullivan and Ashley Sanchez. The try from Sanchez got here in a one-on-one setting as Bixby was pressured to hurry to the highest of the field and crowd Sanchez earlier than making the save.

Each groups, by some means, had been scoreless on the half with 10 pictures apiece — lots of them critical probabilities at aim.

Portland continued its onslaught of makes an attempt into the second half, with the primary coming off the foot of Ryan within the fiftieth minute on a set piece that bounced off the crossbar.

After an harm scare for defender Becky Sauerbrunn in a non-contact scenario, she stayed within the match as Portland introduced on Tegan McGrady and Janine Beckie as substitutes within the sixtieth and sixty fifth minutes. Beckie instantly made a distinction with a shot that pressured a save by Kingsbury.

Washington had one other near-score within the seventieth minute, when Hatch’s header took a bounce off the crossbar.

Inexplicably, given all the good pictures on body all through the night time, the primary aim got here on a freak play within the 76th minute. In a scrum in entrance of aim, Bixby snagged a shot out of the air, however her momentum brought about her to stumble backwards and the ball crossed the road whereas nonetheless in her palms for an personal aim.

Washington led 1-0, a bonus it didn’t maintain onto for lengthy.

Sinclair scored the equalizer within the 84th minute, tapping in a shot from Kelli Hubly that bounced off the crossbar and down. After the aim, Sinclair tossed the ball within the air in elation.

“It’s identical to we drew up in apply,” Sinclair stated with amusing. “Simply kidding. Clearly, Kelli has been large for us, and for her to get a foot on that and the strike she did, it was only a tap-in for me. Set items typically is one thing, attacking-wise, we’ve actually been specializing in this 12 months.”

And Portland wasn’t achieved celebrating.

Two minutes into an eight-minute stoppage time interval, substitute Weaver knifed by the Washington protection and fired the ball into the again of the online along with her left foot.

“After Sincy’s aim, all of us checked out one another and stated, ‘We’re not going to lose this recreation. We’re going to maintain preventing.’” Weaver stated. “Janine (Beckie) was the one which stated that. All of us acquired that in our heads. We weren’t going to return out with the tie. We had been going to return out with that win.”

The Thorns led 2-1 and held onto three factors regardless of the Spirit’s finest efforts, which included a breakaway try by Rodman that was saved by Bixby within the last moments.

Subsequent up: The Thorns play the opener of the Girls’s Worldwide Champions Cup in Portland in opposition to C.F. Monterrey of Mexico. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. Aug. 17 at Windfall Park, with the winner set to tackle the winner of Olympique Lyonnais vs. Chelsea within the championship match Aug. 20.

— Ryan Clarke, rclarke@oregonian.com