Thorns FC: Impressed

Back in the first week of June the Thorns dropped a clanger at Bay FC, doing the usual Rob Gale “we were the better team!” putting-up-better-stats-but-dropping-points-because-stats-aren’t-soccer thing.

Then the club returned home last weekend to face a top-four club, Washington, lying seventh in the league and in danger of dropping below the red line with a loss.

Instead the coach set out what was arguably the most complete tactical plan of the season to date and the squad played an excellent, tight, disciplined match; pressed ferociously, kept their spacing and Washington locked down scoreless in front of them, and took advantage of some individual skill to nick a couple of goals.

Two-nil, and up to fifth on the table.

We’ll talk about the match in detail below, but I think I can’t do better than I did over at Stumptown in describing how the two back-to-back matches left me scratching my head about the head coach:

“So having handed out roses all around for this one…this is just one more entry in my “Ken, WTF?” File.
Over a space of two weeks he crafts this clever win…and a loss to Bay FC, a much worse team, that’s complete hack work.
…the fuck? What’s the deal with this guy? Bipolar? Half genius, half madman? What?”

I still have no idea.

We’re just going to have to let the season play out. But we’ll talk more about this one, and the season in general, in the comments.

Short Passes

The “possession” stat is interesting.

Per OPTA Washington had all the possession; 58%-42%, and outpassed the Thorns by something like 140% (432-306) although both clubs (as we’ll see) were fairly tidy on the ball, with completion in the 80% ranges.

But here’s Sofascore’s “momentum” plot:

The big green hilltop at the left was Portland all over Washington in the first quarter hour. The Thorns’ press was utterly brutal; Washington literally didn’t get the ball out of their own end – in possession, anyway – until the 16th minute when Hal Hirschfelt finally put a shot on frame (that went tamely to Bella Bixby).

Washington did work their way into the match; in particular the Thorns started giving them space after the break, and even moreso when Hina Sugita came off for Deyna Castellanos at 67′.

Even then, the Spirit had nearly nothing going forward. Here’s Chris Henderson’s xG plot:

Daaaamn. That’s flatlining like an ambulance arriving with a DOA.

Here’s Carlisle-sensei’s version:

That’s a better look for Washington, but take away two big chances – Gift Monday’s great run but weak, poor shot right at Bixby in the 23rd minute, and Makenna Morris ringing the crossbar in the 73rd – and Adrián González’ people were still looking at barely 1xG and probably much less in actual shooting.

Here’s the passing: first Portland:

The same oddball Ken-jam in the center circle, but in this case I think there’s a big element of “let’s clog the passing lanes and force everything wide” to it, and it worked like a mechanical ass-kicker, so…mmmokay. We’ll see if this keeps working.

Here’s Washington:

As with the Thorns Houston beatdown, it wasn’t just Washington finishing problems, it was Portland pressing to disrupt the Washington attack, and staying compact to deny the long ball, and then Bixby coming up big when the Spirit did get a decent look. Complete game, as we’ve mentioned.

Turnover and over.

Here’s how things are going;

Opponent (Result) – 2025	Turnovers
Kansas City – Away (L)	38
Angel City – Home (D)	38
North Carolina – Home (D)	32
Utah – Away (W)	25
Seattle – Away (L)	34
Gotham – Home (W)	26
Louisville – Home (D)	16
Orlando – Home (W)	18
San Diego – Away (D)	32
Houston – Away (W)	21
Bay FC – Away (L)	No data
Washington – Home (W)	16

Matched the lowest giveaway total of the season, Gotham here, and another top-four opponent win, so great. Only eight turnover in each half; terrific work, and you can say I said so. Washington was a wreck; 23 total, 17 of them in the first half, to go with the turnovers from the press just eating them up.

Olivia Moultrie was the Biggest (but not really “Big”) Loser with only three. Fleming coughed up two-and-a-half, nobody else more than two.

Weirdly, the only really dangerous giveaways were by the usually meticulous Hina-san; stripped in her defensive third in the 21st minute that forced a fierce defensive cover from Sam Hiatt and a strong take from Bixby, and then a poor pass that Courtney Brown turned into a dangerous 64th minute cross but found nobody in highlighter-yellow at the back post for a lucky Portland escape.

Press!

Eighth match tracking the effect of each side’s press. I counted either a 1) turnover (either from a tackle-for-loss or a mishit forced pass), or a 2) forced retreat or drop-pass that killed off a progressive action, as a pressing “win”. If two players were involved in a press each received a half mark (for attempts) and a half credit for successes.

Fierce from Portland from the opening whistle through to the tag-end of the second half. Relentless. Ruthless. Brilliant.

While Washington tried to match that effort it tanked after the half hour, largely because it wasn’t working; for a change the Thorns were well-shaped, moving to space and passing out of pressure. Reilyn Turner was huge, working smart hold-up play up top, as were Sugita and Sam Coffey pressing through the midfield. Turner was also huge forechecking, as we’ll see.

Match time	Spirit presses (wins)(%)	Thorns presses (wins)(%)
0-15′	9(5) (55%)	20(16) (80%)
15-30′	10(4) (40%)	6(5) (83.3%)
30-45+3′	6(2) (33.3%)	11(10) (90.9%)
First half	25(11) (44%)	37(31) (83.7%)
45-60′	2(1) (50%)	9(7) (77.7%)
60-75′	2(1) (500%)	12(9) (75%)
75-90+4′	2(2) (100%)	3(1) (33.3%)
Second half	6(4) (66.6%)	24(17) (70.8%)
Match Total	31(15) (48.3%)	61(48) (78.6%)

My thoughts:
1) Holy Fucking Hell.
2) The reality is that this match was won in the trenches, won by relentless, vicious, ruthless pressure.
3) This pressure resulted directly in the matchwinner but even more than that the pressure completely undid whatever the plan was that Washington had. As Carlisle-sensei said; they never found the answers.
4) Three monsters roamed the field; Olivia Moultrie (11.5 presses/9.5 wins), Jessie Fleming (9 presses/8 wins), and Sam Coffey (7.5 presses/6.5 wins). Reilyn Turner was perfect (4.5 attempts, 4.5 wins). Sugita was, too (3.5/3.5), and Kaitlyn Torpey had a fine match (3.5/2.5).
5) On the receiving end many of the same people were pressed by Washington, with varying success. Moultrie was dispossessed three time out of four (4/3), Hina-san lost three of five take-ons (5/3), but Coffey, Caiya Hanks, and Fleming all won 50% (4/2).
6) Trying to take on Reina Reyes, though? Like holding water; five attempts, no successes (5/0). Outstanding!

Here’s the running tally:

Match (Result)	Opponent Press (Success)	Thorns Press (Success)
Utah Away (W)	28/12 (42.8%)	27/15 (55.5%)
Seattle Away (L)	32/23 (71.8%)	21/15 (71.4%)
Gotham Home (W)	28/20 (71.4%)	19(15) (78.9%)
Louisville Home (D)	34/25 (73.5%)	14/8 (57.1%)
Orlando Home (W)	28/17 (60.7%)	43/24 (55.8%)
San Diego Away (D)	18/18 (100%)	100/36 (36%)
Houston Away (W)	27/17 (62.9%)	42/23 (54.7%)
Bay FC Away (L)	No data	No data
Washington Home (W)	31(15) (48.3%)	61(48) (78.6%)

Damn fine stuff, and we’ll keep tracking this.

Corner Kicks

Six. Two first half, four second, five long, one short.

Time	Taker	Short/Long?	Result
13′	Moultrie	Long	Onto Turner’s head, but headed well over (xG 0.14/PSxG 0.0)
27′	Moultrie	Long	Into the scrum; Hiatt took a swing that was blocked, recycled out to Fleming whose shot was ALSO blocked, and finally out to Turner whose shot wasn’t in the 97205 zip code.
57′	Moultrie	Long	Went to Hiatt but someone in black fouled, free kick Washington…
72′	Coffey	Long	Right to Aubrey Kingsbury for the easy take.
75′	Coffey	Long	Cleared, recycled, but came to nothing.
89′	Coffey	Short	Pure timewasting, and effective as such.

Between the Hiatt header and the attempts around the 57th minute corner the Thorns worked about 0.37xG out of these corners but got no goals, unsurprising since the post-shot xG was zero.

Not bad as ideas, but this club still lacks a real dead ball/corner kick assassin.

Player Ratings and Comments

Turner (67′ – +9/-1 : +2/-0 : +11/-1) Finished a well-worked team goal tidily, led the team in xG (0.7), third in post-shot xG (0.6), add in forechecking and holdup play and the real question is “Why would you start anyone not named Pietra Tordin over Turner, Ken?”

Tordin (23′ – +4/-0) This could just as easily go in the Fleming comment, but I’ll put it here for the pure delightful filthiness of the finish.

The play began in the 81st minute. Portland had just survived a late scare; Morris had nicked the ball off Sam Coffey and played a neat 1-2 with Monday to put Morris in on Bixby. Her diagonal shot was a rasper, but Bix got down well and palmed the ball around her post.

The Thorns turned the corner kick over, played out through Reyes to Fleming, who looked upfield and saw this:

Tordin had torched off the ‘burners with the Spirit centerbacks fixated on Fleming and, possibly, Mimi Alidou. Too bad for them; by the time they reacted Tordin was all over the lob.

Tordin, in turn, looked upfield to see Kingsbury well off her line and planted, expecting the direct run-and-take-on. Well, as the old knight guy says in Raider of the Lost Ark, Kingsbury chose…poorly.

Tordin – in full stride, mind you! – lofted the ball over Kingsbury’s head as if the Spirit keeper was cosplaying David Seaman for the Arse against Zaragoza, and, though Kingsbury came closer to saving it than Seaman did…

…the result was the same. Two-nil Portland, lights out, thanks for coming and don’t forget to tip your server.

That sort of makes me warm and happy all over.

Moultrie (67′ – +7/-5 : +3/-0 :+10/-5) There were several players who I’d consider a legitimate shout for Woman of the Match. Fleming, obviously. Sam Coffey’s PMR number is insane. In back both Reyes and Hiatt were utter beasts.

But remember how I said this one was won in the trenches? Well, there stepping into the melee off the firing step was young Livvy, trench knife and spiked club in hand.

That’s pretty awesome for a young player, even moreso for an attacking player that I kept constantly complaining about for jakin’ it on defense.

Still no. I still think Fleming (and Coffey) were the engine room of this match. But Moultrie had a hell of a great match, and I wanted to give her huge props for that.

Alidou (23′ – +4/-1) Good shift to see out the win.

Fleming (+9/-4 : +3/-1 : +12/-5) Definitely up there for WotM; two assists showcasing her skills (one a clever meg, the other a visionary long serve), busy, tough on the tackle, possibly her best match (outside threatening the goal directly) of the season.

Sofascore sure thought so (her 8.6 the highest rating of any player on the field).

Me? Well…let’s keep the discussion going.

Hanks (45′ – +9/-2) Until the injury her usual fast, dangerous self. The real question now is, how badly is she hurt? At the time it looked like a non-contact knee injury, and very painful. ACL? If so…shit.

Beating Washington is terrific; beating Washington but losing Hanks for any long period of time is…not so terrific.

Linnehan (45′ – +4/-0) This match drove home something about Linnehan that’s been stirring around the back of my mind for some time.

Immediately after the loss of Sophia Wilson, both during her 2024 injury and her maternity leave this season, I think the general consensus was “Help us, Peyton Linnehan! You’re our only hope!” because Linnehan seemed the most promising of the forwards-not-named-Wilson.

Now that we’ve gotten extended looks at some of her teammates? Not so much.

I’d put her behind Tordin, Turner, and Hanks on the depth chart. Decent, not a game-changer. Solid, the sort of player you put on after Hanks has put you up a goal or two to hold the lead and run out the clock.

There’s nothing wrong with that! She’s still a solid squad player. But it’s interesting to see how the emergence of the other forwards has changed our sense of the criticality of starting Linnehan.

Sugita (67′ – +6/-2 : +2/-1 : +8/-3) To get a better feel for how important Hina-san is to the Thorns look back up at the “momentum” graph. Her PMR doesn’t look huge. But look how things swing towards Washington when you put Castellanos on for Sugita and have to drop Fleming back into the Sugita DM slot.

That’s what she does. Seldom flashy (though she’s out breaking ankles much of the time…), not a big glittery “star” turn…just hard, grinding, good soccer work that helps tie the team together and disrupt the opponent.

That’s a gamer, and that’s Hina-san all over.

Castellanos (23′ – +3/-0) It’s troublesome that when describing a player’s shift as “not troubled” can be considered a sort of boost to their form. But Castellanos simply hasn’t really done any work to deserve a stronger accolade than that bare “mmmmkay” sort of brush-by. Unfortunate, because I don’t think she’s jakin’ it. But she’s struggled to make an impact this season and still hasn’t.

Coffey (+11/-0 : +12/-0 : +23/-0) Honestly, I’d pick Sam for WotM despite the lovely Fleming work; Coffey’s the midfield boss and was, and as her midfield ran the table so did her team.

It’s also a credit to her abilities that 11 of her 23 pluses are attacking; runs, passes, crosses, buildups.

Coffey is the Complete Machine, and I hope that when we look back on these bright, strong days of her youth and strength we remember her for the wonder she was, and is.

Torpey (78′ – +7/-0 : +7/-4 : +14/-4) I now think of the Australian as “Abell’s Rival”, like those high school manga where the cute girl is the deadly enemy of the smart girl or something. Every time her name appears in the XI our friend ABell4 goes utterly postal about how Torpey suuuuucks. And I admit, Torps has played some real stinkers.

But not last weekend. Marking, tacking, positioning,passing..? Oi! Oi! Oi! Well played, sheila!

McKenzie (12′ – no rating)

Hiatt (+9/-2 : +6/-0 : +15/-2) So my “rival” is Sam Hiatt; she scares me sometimes with the way she has positively Hublyesque brainfarts; missing marks, poorly timed tackles, lack of understanding of her teammates.

But like Torpey, there was none of that last weekend. Just rock-solid defending and excellent passing – best passing on the squad both in total numbers and completion accuracy. Terrific work.

Obaze (+4/-0 : +4/-2 : +8/-2) Not quite up in the same rarefied altitude as Hiatt or Reyes, but good enough and well-integrated in the overall excellent backline play.

Reyes (+7/-1 : +9/1/ +16/-2) I can’t say it better than my compa Richard Hamje did on the match thread at Stumptown: “My hot take: Reyna Reyes is the second-best player on the team after Coffey. Both sides of the ball, she hustles, has real quality on the ball, top tekkers, and fearless.”

Ayup.

Bixby (+1/-2 : +2/-0 : +3/-2) The minuses are for a poor pass and an admittedly poor move off her line in the 34th minute.

But the plusses are for fucking match-savers (or -winners, when you think about it); a huge full-stretch leaping palm-away of a looping Narumi shoss in the 77th minute, and the diving save in the 81st minute we’ve mentioned.

I know that a lot of fans really love Bix, and her story is totally heartwarming. But the metrics weren’t so warm and fuzzy; Arnold was simply the better technical keeper.

The last match run, however, has pulled Bixby’s “goals prevented” into positive values for the first time all season, so…

We’ll see what happens when Arnold comes off the DL.

Coach Ken: Well…like I said. I just dunno.

Up until now you could pick away at the “good” Ken matches. Poor opponent. Luck. Lingering tactical or roster or managment issues. And the poor matches were real dumpster-fire poor

But this?

This was stomp-down, flat-ass, pure-D, 14-karat solid fucking gold goddamn good.

The bottom line, too, is that Portland is now 2-1-1 against the top four.

Do I think that puts Rob Gale in the Soccer Hall of Fame?

Helllllllno. Dude has screwed the pooch way too many times.

But does that mean I now am paused, thoughtful, with the dagger still in my hand but no longer laid against the man’s neck. The turn of events seems to suggest something…well…something…

What something? I still dunno.

But this Thorns season sure has become interesting, hasn’t it.

By the way, I love this snapshot so much; the “rose ceremony” after the match, where it’s not just Bixby (rose for the clean sheet), Tordin, and Turner (roses for goals), but the whole backline, because damn if they didn’t lock down Washington like a big old chain and bind them tighter than a locked logging gate.

They all deserved all the roses.