The Portland Thorns tied the San Diego Wave in a 1-1 draw Friday night. The Thorns entered the match tied with San Diego for second place in the overall standings of the NWSL. With the draw, there’s now a three-way tie for first place in the NWSL between Portland, San Diego, and NJ/NY Gotham FC. This was also the second time San Diego and Portland had played this year. Their first meeting was back on April 19th, which resulted in a 1-0 victory for the Wave FC.
The match at Snapdragon Stadium started off well for Portland. Although there were no goals in the first half, the statistics were trending in Portland’s favor. The Thorns outshot the Wave 12 to four and had 7 corner kicks compared to the Wave’s 2. The Thorns were able to maintain possession for 56.5% of the half and were converting that time into quality chances.
However, it was San Diego scoring the first goal of the night. Madison Pogarch would dribble the ball across the midfield line, near the bench sidelines. She would then pass the ball inside to Jaedyn Shaw, who would turn infield. Shaw spotted Sofia Jakobsson on a run between defenders, and lead a pass to her at the top of the box. Jakobsson would catch up to the ball, but Portland goalkeeper Bella Bixby had come out of the net to contest the shot. Bixby would slide to make the save on Jakobsson chance, but the rebound would bounce right back to Jakobsson. Jakobsson, now past the goalkeeper, would find just enough space away from her defenders to fire the ball into the open net and give San Diego a 1-0 lead with 4:26 remaining in regulation.
The Thorns knew they were up against the clock, and were dialing up the pressure. A corner kick opportunity came at 89:15. Sam Coffey would take the kick, and send it to the opposite side of the Goal Area box. Reyna Reyes would have space and head the ball back toward the opposite post. Off a bounce, the ball would skip past goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan and tie the game at 1-1 with 38 seconds remaining in regulation. The goal was Reyes’s first in her NWSL career, and it would be enough to help secure Portland a draw and an extra point toward the overall standings.
The Thorns next game is a Challenge Cup match against Angel City FC on Wednesday, May 31. Kickoff at Providence Park is at 7:30 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 