Turns out everyone had fun last Saturday; I learned a lot of iaido, the Thorns laid a whippin’ on Kansas City, and us fans caught our breath back after worrying about the loss in San Diego.
The short turnaround caught not only the players on the hop; only three punters got their projections in, and all three split the points exactly, getting the result and Moultrie as one of the scorers (tho nobody guessed she’d get the goal from the spot). Nobody got fun points even though everyone had a pretty good story.
Here’s the league table before Matchday 5:
| Player | Latest Round | Cumulative Score |
| PTFC Dave | 4 | 22 |
| Ken | 4 | 14 |
| DanXP2 | 0 | 4 |
| Barcasiempre | 0 | 3 |
| Daniel Stratton | 4 | 5 |
How all this works:
Before the upcoming Thorns match add a comment to this post. As your first line, put your predicted result, for example 1-3 Thorns.
In the body of your comment, start with the goals and assists, like so:
Wilson (Fleming)
Reyes (Free kick)
Moultrie (Unassisted)
Rodman (PK)
Next, name the first yellow card recipient: Sophia Wilson
Then a red card. (NOTE: no points awarded for correctly calling a red-card-free match, so take a guess.) Trinity Rodman for mimicking mooning the referee after getting an undeserved yellow.
Make your fun prediction,and give a “thumbs up” to anybody else’s prediction that tickles your fancy: “Ryan gets the start against her former club. She gets through 70 minutes without fouling her former teammates until she can’t take it anymore. She pushes over Perry, gives Muller a wedgie, gives Arnold a noogie, then flips off the Riveters and runs out of Providence Park, never to be seen again. The ref issues a red card, which she later contests, and loses.” (h/t to ABell4)
Scoring:
· Correct score: 5 points
· Correct result (draw/win/loss): 3 points
· Each clean sheet: 2 points
· Each goal-scorer: 1 point
· Each FK/PK/assist/lack of assist: 1 point
· Goal/assist bonus: 1 point
· Player with the first yellow card of the match: 1 point
· A player with a red card: 1 point
· Most liked/most outrageously accurate prediction: 2 points
Some ground rules and explanations/clarifications (the fine print):
Comments must be posted before kickoff, but you can edit or amend an earlier prediction right up to the starting whistle.
Keep your scoreline predictions realistic. No crazy scores just to pad out your odds of getting goals and assists.
The goal/assist bonus is an additional point if you predict the correct scorer and assistant on the same goal, for example, you say Castellanos scores from a Moultrie assist and that is exactly what happens.
Be clear whether you think a goal will be unassisted, assisted, or from a PK/FK. Unassisted = no assist, run of play; Assisted = player who got the assist; PK/FK = dead ball, not in run of play. FK includes olimpicos from corners. No entry means unassisted.
So, this Saturday.
Cary.
Carolina away is always one of those things that make me nervous. Regardless of the quality of the hosts the Thorns always seem to struggle there.
This season the Damned Courage are kinda meh; 11th out of 16, 1-1-1 (4 points), 3GF, 4GA but with a game in hand. As the standings show, scoring has been a Damned problem; two of their three came in their home opener against Racing – Ashley Sanchez with a brace – then a scoreless draw at Gotham. Last weekend Matsukubo scored the only Carolina goal in a 1-3 home thrashing to Bay FC.
Although I really don’t think last season has any predictive value, given the dramatic changes here, in 2025 the Damned and Portland were utterly sterile; 1-1 in Cary, 0-0 here.
The availability report hasn’t been updated, but Reyes’ suspension has been served so if there are no lingering knocks and no one has asked to be excused the Thorns should have a full side.
- The Thorns Prediction Game: MD 6 ACFC v POR - April 21, 2026
- Thorns FC: The Curse of Cary - April 8, 2026
- The Thorns Prediction Game: MD 5 NCC v POR - April 3, 2026
Portland 4-1
Wilson – Moultrie
Wilson – Fleming
Wilson – Tordin
Sanchez -Matsukobo
Padelski -Bogere
Yellow Card Bogere
Wilson gets a Hat Trick in 60 minutes of play from the left, right and center.
I think this is realistic, Soph will get a hat trick this season, but possibly optimistic this early in the year.
Going optimistic here:
1-3 Thorns
Sanchez (Matsukuba)
Tordin (Moultrie)
Wilson (Tordin)
Turner (Fleming)
Yellow: Bogere
Red: Lussi
Tyler Lussi, getting into the spirit of recent WoSo around the world, gives a tug on Reyna Reyes’s hair. The ref misses it but VAR does not.
Also I tried to vote for Daniel Stratton’s story last week of parachuting Currents, but couldn’t get the WordPress login to work and was unable to vote. But if I had been able to he would have had 2 votes and won a point there….
Continuing the optimism…
Thorns 2-1 Courage
Wilson (Moultrie)
Turner (Tordin)
Manaka (Sanchez)
Yellow: Betfort
Red: Borgere
Sheridan, the kindest person in the NWSL, rescues a racoon that wanders onto the pitch. The racoon joins Sheridan in goal. VAR declares the Courage have too many on the pitch and yellow cards the bench.
Travel and quick turnaround between games this is the first time our coach has a week to prepare this team for an opponent. We can see how much of anything has changed. 3-0.
Wilson
Moultrie Set piece
Tordin (Moultrie) Corner
Yellow Bogere
Red Sheridan
For Wilson’s first goal back the entire team does a choreographed dance of holding a baby in their arms and rocking it back and forth finished with two players getting on their knees and mimicking polishing her boots.