Match Recap and Highlights: Portland Thorns vs Seattle Reign

Home openers are always special. Just the fact of having another season with the Thorns at Providence Park is something to celebrate. Did Portland give another reason to celebrate for the 21,321 fans at the stadium?

Yes, they did. But after some intense "NWSL After Dark" drama.

Lineups

Coach Robert Vilahamn decided to go with the same starting XI as last week. After all, you don't mess with the team that got the win on the road against one of the league favorites, right?

Tifo

Although other NWSL teams presented tifos last season and they were good, there's nothing like those made by The Riveters.

Not only was the tifo great, but also Portland Thorns' legend Christine Sinclair was in the house, gracing everyone at the stadium with her presence.

Recap & Highlights

Holy smokes, Portland! The Thorns always find a way, we know that, but this time, they made it harder on themselves and they took it to a whole other level.

8' Cassandra Bogere is shown a yellow card

9' Bogere is shown a second yellow and is sent off

Why? Because the Thorns had to play with 10 women from minute 9. What happened? Norwegian international Cassandra Bogere received a yellow card in the 8' and then another one minute later.

Call it a professional foul or whatever, but the lack of judgment left the team in shambles for a moment. Moreover, nobody on and off the field could believe what was going on.

What looked like a doomed match for the home team ended up turning out quite well for them. It was NWSL after dark in its finest but the Thorns learned Defense Against the Dark Arts, just like the people calling the game said.

28' Pietra Tordin opens the tab for Portland!

Not only did Olivia Moultrie assist Pietra Tordin in Portland's first goal but she also initiated the play that led to the team's second tally.

ONE. GOAL. BEYOND.

36' Reilyn Turner doubles the lead!

After facing some criticism for the quiet game she had against Washington, Reilyn Turner managed to pass her defender to score her first goal of the season.

TWO. GOALS. BEYOND.

Seattle looked as if they were the ones playing with 10 women while Portland was in the driver's seat.

And in only 45 minutes, Tordin managed to score one goal and register one assist. Not too shabby for the 21-year-old.

HALFTIME: Thorns 2, Seattle 0

57' Reyna Reyes is sent off

Everything seemed under control until the 52' when Reyna Reyes pulled Madison Curry's hair seemingly without violent intention, but after VAR reviewing, she was sent off.

That wasn't enough in the discipline department for the referee because only seconds after Marie Müller (welcome back, by the way!) was subbed in, she received a yellow card and was sent to the sideline to get subbed again.

58' Marie Müller and Sopia Wilson were subbed in. They're back! Turner and Tordin were subbed out.

66' Jayden Perry enters for Mimi Alidou

Of course, knowing that Portland was playing with only nine players, Seattle settled in near the Thorns' box.

Big props to Morgan Messner and the entire defense department, who responded well when called upon.

FULL TIME: Thorns 2, Seattle 0

What a game from the Thorns! Right when you thought they were going to be doomed for being two players down, they not only scored twice but also don't give the Reign a chance.

Pietra Tordin went back to the form we saw from her last season and not only did she score but also made an assist. Olivia Moultrie was another highlight for the team in the forward line, along with Turner, who also went back to being the same player we saw last year.

Regarding defense, again, there was nothing too flashy from goalkeeper Morgan Messner but that was most likely due to her great positioning rather than anything else. She made catches, interceptions and saves look easy, all due to good positioning.

There were some moments of miscommunication, though. Nonetheless, Portland didn't suffer because of that.

At the end of the match, these were some of the stats.

However, numbers don't show the grit these players demonstrated in this match. They defended their home, played defense as if their lives depended on it and stunned their fierce rivals, and gave them no chance to come back from a 0-2 deficit.

Give them their roses!