Match Recap & Highlights: Portland Thorns vs Orlando Pride

What a rollercoaster of emotions the Thorns can make you feel.

On one hand, they can make you curse when you see them playing defense and pinning themselves in their own box for long stretches of the game. But on the other hand, they can put you on cloud nine by scoring bangers in the final third.

Kling's ceremony

As announced a few weeks ago, former USWNT fullback and club legend Meghan Klingenberg was going to be celebrated with a ceremony before the game.

Thorns legends such as Christine Sinclair and Becky Sauerbrunn attended, and Morgan Weaver was especially thrilled to see her former teammate honored.

In addition to Kling's ceremony, captain Sam Hiatt was honored for reaching 100 professional caps.

Lineup and pre-match

Regarding the match itself, the starting XI remained unchanged from the previous game. Maybe the fact that they won that game against Boston despite the defensive issues made the coach repeat the lineup.

In any case, the Thorns continued to display the same defensive vulnerabilities, but this time, the attack wasn't as sharp as in the previous match. Granted, Orlando was more disciplined and dominated the first half, as the Momentum graphic shows.

Portland was almost non-existent in the first half. However, despite that, Orlando couldn't break the deadlock.

And they paid for it.

Highlights

58' Deyna Castellanos scores!

Although it took some time for the Thorns to register a shot on target, the wait was worth it. Pietra Tordin absorbed the pressure and passed the ball to Castellanos, who took her shot and tallied an impossible goal.

63' Orlando equalizes

The lead didn't last long. Portland's defense was crumbling, and a ball went loose inside the box. However, Jessie Fleming cleared it. That was the writing on the wall. A few minutes later, the defense failed to clear the ball in time, and Jacqui Ovalle put it in the back of the net.

88' Substitution: Caiya Hanks enters for Pietra Tordin.

This was the first time the forward stepped on the pitch after her rookie season in 2025. An ACL injury had kept her off the pitch since mid-June of last year.

She didn't have many minutes to make an impact but she was going to take her chances.

90+6' Caiya Hanks scores the winning goal!

It has been a long time since someone scored such an emotional goal. Although the stakes were not that high, this tally meant so much not only for the player but also for the team.

Final: Portland 2, Orlando 1

Final thoughts

Maybe we didn't learn anything new from this match. The defense is still something to be concerned about, but the fact that the Thorns are getting their attacking pieces back little by little is comforting.

The team has fallen into this habit of relying on their scoring prowess more than on an elite defense, and so far it is working. No matter how low the xG for their goals is, Portland has enough elite finishers who can turn a low-scoring opportunity into a reality.

Sophia Wilson had a frustrating game, and maybe this was her first bad performance in a very long time.

Another anomaly is the high percentage in possession. Portland had 51% possession and they also beat the xG since this stat was low (0.66) for this match. The Pride had 49% possession and an xG of 1.47

Ultimately, Orlando should have won based solely on their xG and first-half performance. However, Portland keeps getting world-class finishers who keep beating the odds and make Providence Park a place where players who dare to dream can turn fairytales into a reality.