Seattle Reign FC and Portland Thorns FC met Saturday night for the first time in the regular 2016 season, playing to a 1-1 draw. They call it the Cascadia Clash–the two Northwestern cities have had a rivalry in soccer since before NWSL even. And “clash” was exactly the word for the match Saturday night.
4,631 fans flocked to Memorial Stadium for the clash. As always, the Riveters made the trip up to Seattle to boast their impressive support in the stands amongst the Reign fans. It’s important to note, Seattle’s players and fans have been mourning the loss of one of Reign’s biggest fans, Alice Shaw, Hope Solo’s grandmother. The team wore black armbands in her memory.
Right from the starting whistle, both teams put the pressure on. Both Laura Harvey’s Reign and Mark Parson’s Thorns have a possession-based game, and we saw plenty of attempts at playing through balls on the ground by both teams. Most of the play was focused in the middle of the pitch for much of the first half, possession switching back and forth. It was an exciting battle of wits and skill between Seattle and Portland, which is exactly what is to be expected from the Cascadia Clash. It did not disappoint.
Unfortunately for Seattle, Manon Melis was involved in what looked like a no-contact injury, twisting her knee and having to be subbed off of the pitch int he 4th minute, with first round draft pick Carson Pickett taking her place. Harvey switched Kiersten Dallstream to the right side to make use of Pickett’s strong left foot.
In spite of the unplanned substitution on Seattle’s end, both teams had quite a few chances, some closer than others. In the 5th minute, Portland received a free kick a few yards outside of Seattle’s box. Allie Long’s sweeping right footed delivery reached a Portland player, but Seattle cleared it away safely. In the 37th minute, the Reign’s Scottish international Rachel Corsie popped a ball over Portland’s backline. Racing onto it was the Reign forward Merritt Mathias. Thorns keeper Adrianna Franch was well off her line and intercepted the ball, stepping out of her box and having to play with her feet. Elli Reed’s follow up run stopped Franch’s attempts to play out of safety and gave Thorns fans quite the scare. But Portland came right back with a few tests on Reign keeper Hope Solo and her backline.
After going in at halftime with a scoreless game, Portland started the second half off with a bang. Nadia Nadim capitalized on Megan Morris’ lob in the 45th minute, beating Hope Solo and Reign defender Lauren Barnes after some miscommunication between the two. Nadim’s header popped right over Solo and bounced into the net, giving Portland the 1-0 lead.
Seattle began to pressure every single ball, swarming the Thorns players, causing turnovers, forcing errors. Carson Pickett played a bit higher in the second half, applying a lot of pressure on Thorns defender Katherine Reynolds, making a big difference in keeping the ball in Portland’s half. 3 minutes after Portland took the lead, Lauren Barnes delivered a critical corner into the box. Beverly Yanez headed the ball off the glove of keeper Franch, straight into the top corner of Portland’s net, equalizing the game at 1-1.
For the rest of the match, Seattle kept up the pressure, frustrating the Thorns, stifling their midfield and forwards. Canadian and Thorns legend, Christine Sinclair, was subbed on in the 15th minute for Santa Clara alum Mana Shim. Sinclair was out the first 4 weeks of the season with an achilles injury. But the Reign kept her from having an impact on the Thorns’ offense.
Other notable Thorns who are typically huge playmakers for their team were also stymied by Seattle’s incessant pressure. Most notably, the usually successful midfield duo of Lindsey Horan and Icelandic WNT player Dagny Brynjarsdöttir were largely silenced by Reign’s forwards and midfielders, save for Dagny’s 51st minute shot off a volley that sailed over the crossbar. Allie Long had a couple of great chances on goal with a header in the 68th minute that went just over the bar, and a free kick later that pinged off of that same bar.
Of course, this is the Cascadia Clash, and the rivalry made itself known right from the beginning of the match with the physical play. But a string of arguably questionable no-calls caused the last part of the second half to get chippy and almost even a little dangerous. Numerous Reign players ended up on the pitch after hard collisions, and two Thorns received yellow cards: Lindsey Horan for a professional foul on Kim Little to keep the Scottish international and 2014 season MVP from getting a breakaway in the 85th minute, and Megan Morris 4 minutes later for crashing into Elli Reed from behind to win a header. While Reign’s medical staff was quite busy in the second half, there was still evidence of good sportsmanship between the teams during and after the match.
Carson Pickett received the official nod for Player of the Match. Considering she was slotted into a role where we haven’t seen her for the Reign before this match, and the incredible work rate and fight she kept up for the rest of the match after being subbed in for Melis in the 4th minute, the rookie put on an impressive performance.
Honorable mention:
Kiersten Dallstream fought hard through the entire match, applying pressure as a forward that caused turnovers in Portland’s own half. She didn’t slow down for even a moment, despite playing all 90 plus minutes.
The moment she came onto the pitch for Dagny, Hayley Raso turned the tide of the match in Portland’s favor quite a few times. She was an impressive substitute for Coach Parsons.
Seattle Reign FC play at home again next week against the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, May 22 at 4pm PT.
Portland Thorns FC are up against Washington Spirit at Providence Park on Saturday May 21 at 7pm PT.
