Finally! A road win!
Seemed like forever, didn’t it? And admittedly, the wild 3-4 game in BOSRhodeIsland wasn’t a masterpiece of soccering but, hey – points where you can steal ’em, and who doesn’t enjoy a Pietra Tordin hattie and a Macca Arnold-to-Tordin goalkeeper assist?
Our three punters – and the second half TPG is shaping up to be a three-horse-race – were a bit cautious about the Thorns chances on the road. Only Barcasiempre was willing to predict the road win. Barca and Dave got Wilson as a scorer, but only Ken guessed that Tordin would bag one (much less three…). Barca also got the “fun” points for a Double Bird and Sister tale.
So here’s where we stand after Matchday 19:
| Player | Latest Round | Cumulative Score |
| PTFC Dave | 1 | 14 |
| Ken | 1 | 9 |
| Barcasiempre | 6 | 10 |
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.
First yellow means just that: the player – the first player and only the first player – who receives a yellow. Not the first player on each team. If more than one player listed as “first yellow” all the punter’s predictions for that category will be voided.
Tomorrow the Orlando Pride visit for the two clubs’ first meeting of the season.
After doing the double in 2024 and a semifinal loss (to the eventual champions) in 2025 Orlando has had perhaps it’s toughest season under Seb Hines. Beginning with a home opening day loss to Seattle the Pride has spent the spring and summer bobbing above and (currently) below the red line.
What hasn’t helped is that all of Orlando’s units have been slipping backwards since the monster 2024 season. The defending, which was one of the stingiest in the league (20GA), dropped to third (27GA) in 2025 and is among the worst (29GA) this season.
But the scoring…oof. From 46GF in 2024 to 33GF in 2025 wasn’t great. But the Pride is sitting at 24GF this season, and 12 of those are by Barbara Banda who’s been playing for her country since mid-July during which her club has gone 1-0-4, 2GF, 10GA.
Currently Orlando is 11th of 16, 7-2-10, 24GF, 29GA, -5GD. The Thorns are clinging to 5th, 31pts, 9-4-6, 32GF, 28GA, $GD.
The good news for Orlando is that Zambia didn’t make the knockouts at WAFCON’26, so Banda is likely to be at least in the eighteen. The bad news is that 1) starting goalkeeper Anna Moorhouse is having and epically awful season…
..and, as Carlisle-sensei notes, 2) Orlando’s reserve keepers are:
“…McKinley Crone, Cara Martin, and Cosette Morché. Martin has zero minutes of NWSL match time, and Crone has just 130 minutes from two appearances last year. Morché is 6’2 and has some experience in Sweden and France’s Première Ligue, but hasn’t been a regular starter since 21/22 with Issy, a team that finished 11th in the division, conceded 57 goals and finished the season with a -38 goal differential.”
Oh. My.
Can one of the hottest attacks in the NWSL meeting one of the most porous defenses result in an epic home win?
- The Thorns Prediction Game: MD 20 – POR v ORL - August 14, 2026
- Thorns FC: Just Like Watching Brazil - August 11, 2026
- The Thorns Prediction Game: MD 19 BOS v POR - August 7, 2026
Thorns 3-0 Pride
Tordin (Wilson)
Wilson (Tordin)
Hanks (Weaver) (Welcome back!!!)
Yellow: Perry
Red: Banda – after a prior Yellow for diving, Banda gets a second Yellow (Red) for diving again late in the game. Weaver performs her now famous pantomime of diving to help convince the ref.