As Portland Thorns head coach Rob Gale looked down his bench for a solution to the deficit his team faced Saturday afternoon in the National Women’s Soccer League semifinal against the Washington Spirit at Audi Field, there was one thing conspicuous in its absence: a quality forward to poach an equalizer.
“You saw how short of bodies we were at the end there,” Gale said after the season-ending, 2-0 defeat. “No forwards to throw on. We limped over the finish line. Kind of the story of the season.”
Gale added that forward Reilyn Turner came into the match “a little bit banged up” and grinded it out. Turner was not listed as questionable on the availability report by the Thorns.
It was a day that belonged to the Spirit from the start. The home side owned the midfield, particularly in the first half, and made NWSL Midfielder of the Year finalist Olivia Moultrie a virtual non-factor.
“They’re a really compact unit,” captain and midfielder Sam Coffey said after acknowledging that the better team won on the day. “They were really aggressive in midfield and definitely swarmed us on the ball, especially in some of that 10, inside-pocket space. Once we were able to keep the ball, it was hard to retain. That’s a testament to their pressure.”
Washington’s defense effectively kept the Thorns from playing their game for a majority of the match.
“We were probably a little nervy playing the ball forward compared to our last few games when we were bold and played into the pocket,” Gale added. “We erred on the cautious side [today]. That’s what I said at halftime. We could be braver, we can be bolder. And we were second half.”
After an uphill battle, the Thorns were finally knocking on the door as the clock hit 80 minutes, but a fatal mistake off their own attacking-third throw-in led to a backbreaking Croix Bethune goal that effectively put the match out of reach.
“It’s a tough one,” said goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold, who had kept clean sheets in the last two regular-season matches plus the quarterfinal win over the Wave.
The Thorns spent the entire season without star striker Sophia Wilson (nee Smith), who was on maternity leave. Morgan Weaver missed most of the season with a knee injury. Caiya Hanks looked like an answer to Portland’s attacking woes before her own injury called a premature halt to her rookie campaign in June.
“As a team, what we had to overcome and the adversity that we had to go through to get to this [point], I couldn’t be more proud,” an emotional Arnold said. “Personally, it’s probably been the toughest year of my career so far, so to get where we did with this team, it’s really special. But disappointing for sure to end like that.”
Gale gave a sarcastic “Thank you league,” for the noon ET kick that translated to 9 a.m. back home in Portland. And he hinted that the Thorns had run out of gas on semifinal weekend.
“We gave them as good a game as we could give them today. One game too many for us this season. But terrifically proud of all the group,” Gale said.
Coffey and Arnold disagreed with that assessment, though.
“I don’t think we ran out of gas,” Coffey said. “We were outplayed for sure. I think this team wanted to show up and win a semifinal game today and be in the final next weekend. And if there were games after that that we can win, we would find the energy and strength and willingness to keep going if that’s what it meant. If there’s one thing about this group, it’s that we’re really resilient.
“It’s not a slight to Rob, but I think that’s a bit of a copout. … I think we were just outplayed, and it’s absolutely going to be a big lesson going forward, continuing to play in big games. Going forward, we need to be more composed and be able to kind of ride the different elements of the game that presented themselves today.”
Though the end result was disappointing, getting as far as they did and keeping the game close as long as they did reflected the kind of resiliency they showed all season.
“No qualms about the effort,” Gale said. “All season long. The togetherness of the group. They left their bodies out in a line.”
