Orlando, 14 October 2017 – The curse of the shield continues. The North Carolina Courage fell to the Portland Thorns 1-0 in the 2017 NWSL Final. The Courage’s game plan flew quickly out the window when they were forced to burn two substitutes on injured players early in the match. Portland took the lead in the second half on a Lindsey Horan goal and defended well to win their second NWSL Championship.
The first half was full of hard fouls and sparse on scoring chances. North Carolina had to burn two subs early for injuries resulting from crunching tackles. The first victim was North Carolina right back Taylor Smith. She was on the receiving end of a yellow-card-worthy foul from Tobin Heath in the second minute. The foul set the tone for the rest of the match. After coming off for evaluation, Smith returned only to take another hard hit and exit the match permanently in 12th minute with a shoulder injury. Mackenzy Donaik replaced her, moving Kristen Hamilton to right back.
The Courage almost took control of the game in the 14th minute. Portland goalkeeper, Adrianna Franch distributed the ball down the middle, directly to NC’s Sam Mewis near midfield. Seeing Franch well out from goal, Mewis took the opportunity and lobbed the ball toward the Thorns’ goal. Franch knew she was beat, but luck was on her side and Mewis’ shot rebounded off the crossbar. NC had one other good chance, but
Portland continued their physical play, giving no quarter to the Courage. Hamilton was the next casualty. Jess McDonald replaced Hamilton and moved Doniak back to right back in the 36th minute. When asked how the two injuries changed North Carolina’s game plan, coach Paul Riley said Taylor Smith was a key part of the game plan, citing her exemplary play in the semi-final. He was also was quick to praise both Hamilton and Doniak’s efforts at right back saying, “We played with three right backs. Two of them have never played right back in their entire lives. So that was difficult. … Plus the fact they’re playing against Tobin Heath too. It’s not like they’re playing against someone else. They did a great job keeping Tobin quiet. … I give them a lot of credit, to go and play right back when you’ve never played there, in the final.”
Late in the first half, the referee finally saw fit to open her book, issuing yellows to Thorns Heath and Hayley Raso for reckless tackles. The Courage did a great job sticking with their style, not retaliating, and keeping the temperature of the match low. The two injuries led to a lot of stoppage time at the end of the first half. The courage almost took advantage in the 47th minute, getting in behind Portland, but the Thorns defense held strong.
At the beginning of the second half, Portland won a free kick near midfield. Emily Sonnett lofted the ball all to way to a wide open Lindsey Horan at the far post. Horan fired the half-volley home to put the Thorns in the lead.
North Carolina pushed for the equalizer, but Portland’s defense came up with all the stops they needed. In the 58th minute, the Courage almost got in behind the Thorns’ back line, but Katherine Reynolds forced Lynn Williams to take a bad touch, sending the ball wide. Williams caught up with it, but Portland’s defense had recovered. Thorns’ goalkeeper AD Franch came up big in the 71st minute, coming well off her line to try to win the 50-50 ball against NC forward Jessica McDonald. Franch barely won the ball and McDonald headed it out of her hands. Portland almost put the final nail in the coffin on the ensuing free kick, playing a long ball into their attacking third. The NC defense thought goalkeeper Katelyn Rowland would have time to use her feet and played the ball back to her, but Nadia Nadim had other ideas. She pressured Rowland and won the ball, but could not keep control of it. Heath followed the play and fired the loose ball into Rowland, who was outside the penalty area. Heath appealed in vain for a handling call against Rowland as NC cleared the danger.
Perhaps the biggest Portland save came from Emily Menges in the 82nd minute. North Carolina played a long ball into the Thorns’ penalty area for Jess McDonald. She had Menges beat and just needed to face up to goal. Menges never quit. As McDonald squared up, Menges got back into position and blocked McDonald’s shot. Franch made two difficult saves in the early minutes of stoppage time, plucking difficult high shots from the air. Finally, in the dying minutes, the Thorns defense withstood a frenzy of attempts from the Courage, stopping everything before it could trouble their goalkeeper and holding on for the 1-0 victory.
Thorns’ coach Mark Parsons lauded his side’s defensive efforts when asked about the defensive play of Menges and Sonnet, “You have to look at the whole team and the work that everyone put in. … We really focused on second plays and wanting to not give them that bounce in our 18 and the whole team did that. Sonnet, Menges, and Kath [Reynolds] at some point today, they made a massive challenge. We work really hard to make sure they don’t have to make those challenges. That our shape is good and that it’s just a couple times they really broke us down and got in. We limited them to hardly any goal-scoring opportunities and the one that comes to mind is when MacDonald got the better of Menges first and Menges gets back and makes that challenge. Whoever’s been in our back line has been tremendous. Great mentality to protect this goal, protect this team. What AD Franch continues to do is astounding. We’re proud to be a great attacking team, didn’t get to show that as much today. Proud to be a very good, hard-working defensive team and it’s won us a championship.”
North Carolina Courage
Rowland; Hinkle, Erceg ©, Dahlkemper, Smith; O’Sullivan, Zerboni, S. Mewis, Hamilton; Williams, Hatch
Substitutes:
12’ Doniak in for Smith
39’ McDonald in for Hamilton
87’ Ochs in for O’Sullivan
Portland Thorns 4-3-3
Franch; Klinengberg, Menges, Sonnett, Reynolds; Horan, Sinclair ©, Henry; Heath, Raso, Sykes
Substitutes:
54’ Brynjarsdottir in for Sykes
69’ Nadim in for Raso
90+2; Long in for Henry
Misconduct:
41’ Yellow – Heath (POR)’
45+1’ Yellow – Raso (POR)
72’ Yellow – Brynjarsdottir (POR)
