Portland Thorns Return from Summer Break with a Dominant 4-0 Victory Over Racing Louisville.

After more than a month break away from the league, the Thorns returned Sunday afternoon with an electric 4-0 victory over Racing Louisville. This win extends the Thorns' unbeaten streak to 11 games at home.

Louisville’s most prominent player, Emma Sears, notably requested a trade earlier this month after signing a 3 year contract with the club at the end of last year. Racing Louisville has only won 2 games this season, one of them being against the Thorns in a 3-1 battle in May. 

With redemption on their minds, the Thorns came out in full force. In the 7th minute, Jayden Perry received a yellow card right outside of the box to allow a dangerous Louisville free kick attempt by Katie O’Kane. By mere inches, O’Kane hit the crossbar, sending the ball back into play. 

In the 11th minute, Reilyn Turner was fouled near the midfield, leading to a free kick by Olivia Moultrie. Without touching the ground once, Sam Hiatt kicked the ball up, which then met Pietra Tordin’s head popping the ball up into perfect position for Jayden Perry to seal the lead for the Thorns with a header to the left corner of the net. 

In the 35th minute, Moultrie passed the ball to Pietra, who was being swarmed by defenders, yet still managed to get a shot off through a narrow window into the right side of the net. 

In the 40th minute, the Thorns were awarded a throw-in, which Moultrie hammered directly to Sophia Wilson, who popped up a perfect ball across the field to a lone Reilyn Turner who sealed the 3-0 lead against her former club going into halftime. 

Louisville came out of the break with renewed energy and finished the match with more total shots than Portland, but the Thorns stayed organized defensively and refused to allow those opportunities to spark any damage.

In the 81st minute, Sophia Wilson had a stylish back-kick pass to Pietra Tordin during a duel breakaway attack down the side of the pitch. This alleviated defensive pressure on Sophia, who placed herself perfectly on the goal line, offering a lifeline for Tordin, who was swarmed by Louisville players. Tordin passed the ball back to Sophia, where she shot a blistering goal into the left side of the net. 

The legendary attacker brought the score to 4-0. Tordin finished the afternoon with one goal and two assists, continuing what’s quickly becoming one of the league’s best breakout performances. She now leads the NWSL in assists, while Wilson added a goal and an assist of her own and scored her 50th regular-season goal.