The Portland Thorns play the Washington Spirit on Sunday at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. This match feels relatively meaningless, because in the Spirit’s last game they drew, which eliminated the Thorns from playoff contention. The poses questions for the Thorns, given the changes that will probably come down this offseason due to the poor season, with a loaded roster of players such as Alex Morgan and Christine Sinclair. This is the first time in Thorns history that they have missed out on the postseason. This season the Spirit have 29 points and an 8-5-5 record (W-L-D). Meanwhile, the Thorns have a 6-8-4 (W-L-D) record with 22 points. This is Portland’s last game at Providence Park for the season. This season at Providence Park the Thorns are 5-2-2, which is good for the 2nd best home record in the NWSL.
The last time these two teams squared off was May, when the Thorns fell on the road at Maryland Soccerplex to the Spirit by a score of 2-1. Earlier that month the Thorns had to pull of a miracle comeback at home to end the match in a 2-2 draw. The player to watch for this matchup for the Spirit is Krystal Dunn, who has two goals in the two previous matchups against the Thorns. The Spirit will need to key onto Alex Morgan, who has to step up as one of the Thorns' best players with Christine Sinclair out with an ankle injury.
Meanwhile, the Thorns will need good performances from legendary German goalie Nadine Angerer and Rachel Van Hollebeke, who announced her retirement this past week to go to medical school. Angerer played in her last World Cup this past year in Canada and lost to the United States in the semifinal. In 2013 Angerer was named FIFA Women's World Player of the Year. Van Hollebeke is a two time Olympic gold medalist, winning gold with the US in 2008 and 2012. In her US career she has played 113 games. While playing for the Thorns, she was named to the all 2nd team NWSL.
If McCall Zerboni starts for the Thorns tonight she will make her 60th NWSL appearance with the Thorns, joining Allie Long and Kat Williamson as the only current Thorns to have 60 career NWSL starts. Allie Long is part of another potential milestone in this game; if Alex Morgan gets an assist tonight she will tie Long for the most assists in Thorns history.
After this game the Spirit play the NWSL Shield winning Seattle Reign FC next weekend in their final game of the regular season. Next Friday the Thorns go to Sahlen Stadium to play the Western New York Flash in their final game of the 2015 NWSL season.