Spotty Reign Nixed by Bixby and Thorns
OL Reign lose 2-0 to Portland Thorns
The OL Reign started their match on June 3, 2023 in third place in the National Women’s Soccer League, just behind the Portland Thorns, which just so happened to be the team they were playing on that day. The Thorns, powered by forwards Crystal Dunn and Sophia Smith, finished just a point behind the Reign in the standings in 2022 and had so far kept pace with the Reign. The Reign, meanwhile, had followed up their NWSL Shield in 2022 with a solid run to begin 2023, standing among the best teams in the league, but they played their game against Portland without midfielder Jess Fishlock, who, according to Coach Laura Harvey, recently suffered an unspecified injury.
The game started off slow, but quickly heated up after the twelve-minute mark, as the Reign had two opportunities to score but failed to capitalize on them. Soon after, in the 17th minute, Sophia Smith buttressed an already-impressive scoring resume with a fifth goal to the season, a shot to the right side of the net that missed Phallon Tullis-Joyce grasp.
Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
The Reign and Thorns then traded opportunities, neither able to capitalize for the remainder of the half. A Megan Rapinoe corner that was booted high as it was retrieved in front of the goal was followed by a Thorns corner that Tullis-Joyce snuffed out. Then came a drive by the Reign that was kicked wide, next another Thorns corner that led to some shuffling around the Reign’s end of the field until Tullis-Joyce prevented any further damage with a diving stop.
To close out the half, the Reign attempted several times to break the Thorns defenses with attacks by the duo of Elyse Bennett and Megan Rapinoe, but each time the attack either fell short or ended in an errant shot.
Coming out of the half, the Reign attacked. A 52nd-minute drive, again by Bennett and Rapinoe, failed to make it past the defense. In the 56th minute, Rapinoe got a clear shot on the goal, but Thorns goalie Bella Bixby gobbled it up. Bixby also batted away a Rapinoe corner in the 61st minute, after which the Reign got the ball to Jordyn Huitema in front of the goal, only for Huitema to kick it slightly wide. On this play, Bixby suffered an injury which required a couple minutes of attention by the Thorns’ trainer staff, but she stayed in the game. Bixby then dispelled lingering injury concerns by making a diving catch on a header in the 65th minute.
However, following this, the Reign died down, and spent the next twenty minutes largely fending off attacks by Portland that went nowhere. That is, until the 87th minute, when Thorns forward Christine Sinclair found the net to make it 2-0 Thorns. Despite a stoppage time drive that Bixby again defeated, the score would remain that way for the rest of the game.
Coach Harvey attributed the loss to a failure to capitalize on opportunities.
“We had chances, we had moments, where we could have taken advantage of things, and we didn’t, and they did,” she said. “Especially, in games like this, where it’s a rivalry game between two top teams fighting it out, it can be the smallest of margins.”
Elyse Bennett noted that the players are looking forward after the loss and not dwelling on their failures.
“I feel like this game is over and we can only focus on what’s ahead,” she said. “So, it’s unfortunate that we lose this one, especially when it’s a rivalry and it’s a big game for us, just like any game in the league, but I feel like it’s one game and we’ve got plenty more to go in the rest of the season. So, we’re on to the next.”
The Reign play their next game against the Kansas City Current on June 10th at Lumen Field.
Cascadia FC's Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
