The last Cascadia Clásico of the year goes to the Thorns!

It took some years but the Thorns finally did it again. On Saturday night, Portland beat its hated rival at home again after being unable to do so for the regular season since September 7, 2018. That is a long time and for some reason, Laura Harvey had Mark Parsons's number when he was the Thorns coach. I guess those two just knew each other very well.

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The Reign is not going through its best moment. With this loss, they now have four losses in its five last games and have fallen to the fifth position in the table. On the other hand, the Thorns are back at the top of the table thanks to these three points and to KC (Baby!) who beat San Diego. Kansas’ midfielder Lo’eau Labonta wasn’t messing around when she said "Even if we don't make playoffs, we're gonna try to ruin other people’s chances," and Portland is surely grateful for it.

After the Thorns ruined OL Reign’s party at their house back in June, they surely wanted some payback but Portland said “Not today, Satan” and shut them down in just forty-five minutes. Hina Sugita first, and then Morgan Weaver scored the goals that sent the 25,218 fans packed at Providence Park into pure madness!

Other notable points:

• Becky Sauerbrunn is back! The center-back started for the first time since April 22 and played 45 minutes where she made 37 passes, had 91.9% passing accuracy, and also registered two tackles.
• Crystal Dunn made her first start since returning from the World Cup.
• No other team in the NWSL has more than three 40-goal seasons. Portland is also the first team in the league to record back-to-back seasons with 40+ goals.
• Weaver also became just the fourth player to register at least 15 goals and 10 assists in their Portland career along with Christine Sinclair, Allie Long and Alex Morgan.

In the middle of the party that was happening at Providence Park, all the fans present witnessed a bittersweet moment. In the 84’ Megan Rapinoe was subbed off and that marked the end of an era. The Reign OG announced her retirement back in July and so this was most likely her last match in Portland - unless, of course, something wacky happens in the playoff.

Morgan Weaver, you are already a Portland icon

Weaver has been with the Thorns for three years now but you could tell since the very beginning she understood what rivalries are all about. We know and can clearly see that Christine Sinclair and Meghan Klingenberg definitely hate Seattle with a passion but if there’s someone else who hates it with her guts that is Morgan Weaver.

The winger is also known as the Queen of Cellys and her celebration on Saturday night, after scoring Portland’s second goal, said it all. At half-time, she said regarding it: “This is Portland. This is our home.” And after the game, she explained her celebration a little further: "I love Portland, I love being here, and I love being on this team. So I just had to let them know that Portland is where it’s at.”

Morgan Weaver is a fan favorite and is on her way to becoming a Portland legend for sure if she’s not already one.

Relationship fixed?

After September 2021 the relationship between the club and the fans changed drastically (if you don’t know why, please read here) and has been damaged ever since. We could see that in many aspects but maybe one of the most notorious was the attendance at Providence Park.

The Thorns were used to sell out stadiums every season but for three years that stopped being the case. Even in 2022, the biggest attendance was 19.127 fans on September 25th which was unusual for this club. Nonetheless, after two years it seems like the relationship between the team and the fans is fixed.

While we await to know who the new Thorns’ owners are going to be - which hopefully will be before the end of the year - it is nice to see how the fans are supporting the team in full force again.

Tight table

The Thorns are back on top but any points they might lose in the last three games of the season could potentially mean the loss of the Shield. The remainder of their calendar won’t be easy. They’re playing no.2 and no.3 in the table and will finish playing away from home against a renovated Angel City.

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