Last Sunday’s 0-2 win in Houston put the Thorns into the quarterfinals.
The win also broke hard for our punters, who all had the visitors taking all three points. Everyone picked Sophia Wilson to score (and both Barcasiempre and Ken had Wilson potting both the Thorns’ goals, tho no one anticipated Wilson with one, let alone two, penalty attempts and one PK goal).
Several picked Jayden “Diego Chara” Perry as the first yellow card of the match, and Ken nicked a couple of points predicting that Arnold and the backline would keep the sheet clean. PTFC Dave and Irene split the fun points.
Here’s where we stand after the end of the regular season:
| Player | Latest Round | Cumulative Score |
| PTFC Dave | 6 | 47 |
| Ken | 7 | 44 |
| Barcasiempre | 6 | 35 |
| Mi-So-Thorny | 0 | 4 |
| Irene | 6 | 16 |
| Pmagnanifit | 3 | 3 |
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.
This Sunday the Thorns travel to Washington D.C. to meet the Spirit in the first round of the knockouts.
It feels like a generation ago that this match was Portland’s 2026 Opening Day win. Certainly the team waiting at Audi Field on Sunday will not be the handless mob the Thorns stuffed 0-1 back in March.
That said, Washington has been showing some vulnerability, both at home and in recent results.
The Spirit is only 8-1-6 at Audi (9-3-3 on the road). And here’s Washington over the final five games of the season:
9/26 – lost 0-1 to Angel City at home
10/4 – won 2-3 in Houston (and needed a late goal from Clara Luvanga to nick the points)
10/17 – beat Gotham 1-nil at home
10/25 – lost 2-1 at Kansas City
11/1 – beat Chicago 2-nil at home
So no, this Spirit isn’t the clusterfuck that went down so tamely on Matchday 1. But it also isn’t the monster that it has been in previous seasons, including the club that thrashed Portland in last season’s semifinal and has been Championship runners-up the previous two seasons. This is a beatable Washington side; the real question is whether Portland is a side which can beat them.
The Thorns…well, I’ll be straight up with you; it’s going to depend on which Thorns show up in Washington, and Portland’s recent form doesn’t help me much. Here’s our past five matches:
9/26 – drew 1-1 against Houston here
10/3 – lost 2-4 to Boston here
10/18 – drew 2-2 at Bay FC
10/23 – beat North Carolina 1-nil here
11/1 – beat Houston 0-2 in Houston
Are the Carolina and Houston away wins a real uptick in form? Or are they noise instead of signal, a solid performance but against a Carolina having a bad day and a Houston that is fundamentally a bad team? Is Portland somewhere between the hot mess that lost to Boston at home and the club that confidently choked a clean sheet out of high-scoring Carolina?
There’s enough uncertainty there, and in Washington’s recent form, to make a confident prediction difficult but, hey, that’s why we play, right?
Last meeting: September 6, 2026, Providence Park, Portland OR, 1-2 Washington win
- The Thorns Prediction Game – WAS v POR Quarterfinal - November 6, 2026
- Thorns FC: Doing business without the thrills - November 5, 2026
- The Thorns Prediction Game: MD 30 – HOU v POR - October 29, 2026
