How about that for a nine-point week?
By the end of last Sunday evening the Thorns had run of wins over Angel City away, San Diego here, and finally Chicago away and sat top of table, three points clear of the surprising Utah Royals.
The Chicago game was perhaps the least-fraught, most-expected result. The Red Stars suck, and to have whipped them 0-2 was about as surprising as the sun rising in the East.
(Aside, the ridiculous commie-baiting name change foisted on poor Chicago by their nitwit owners couldn’t have come at a less opportune time. Few teams in soccer history look less like “stars” than this shambolic shitshow. As a long-time MLS watcher I was forcibly reminded of the equally-awful, equally ridiculous “New York/New Jersey MetroStars”, a club which no one outside the paid sporting press called that idiotic nickname.)
Maybe it was soccer-fatigue from three games in a week, but only two of our punters showed up to predict the match. But they made up in quality what we lacked in quantity. Both Ken and Barcasiempre got the result and the Thorns clean sheet. They both picked Moultrie as one scorer and Barca got Turner, as well. I nicked a point for calling no yellow cards.
Here’s the league table before Matchday 9:
| Player | Latest Round | Cumulative Score |
| PTFC Dave | 0 | 37 |
| Ken | 6 | 27 |
| Barcasiempre | 8 | 23 |
| DanXP2 | 0 | 4 |
| Daniel Stratton | 0 | 6 |
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.
This Friday the Thorns are on the road again, headed for Louisville and one of the only two teams in the league worse than the appalling Red Stars; Racing.
Fifteenth of 16, 1-1-5 (4pts), 10GF, 14GA, The Whiskey Chicks have two players with multiple (okay, two) goals; Taylor Flint and Lauren Milliet. Emma Sears, who was supposed to be their danger woman, is in what airline pilots term a “controlled flight into terrain”, meaning “crashing and burning”.
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