NWSL Playoff Semifinals: Match Preview and Thread - Portland Thorns at Washington Spirit

After playing 120+ minutes each during the quarterfinals, the Thorns and the Spirit will face off at 9 a.m. at Audi Stadium in Washington, D.C.

If you thought last week's playoff matches were chaotic and stressful, buckle up for Saturday morning's matchup. It took the Washington Spirit 120 minutes plus penalty kicks to defeat their opponents, Racing Louisville. The Portland Thorns spent 92 minutes scoreless against San Diego before Reilyn Turner put away the game winning goal. Both teams have spent the week recovering and preparing for a must watch semifinal.

Spirit Storms Ahead

The Spirit is overwhelmingly being predicted to win this match against Portland likely due to their attacking prowess. Gift Monday is consistently finding ways into the box and creating scoring opportunities for her side. Currently sitting at 9 goals across all competitions, Monday often looks to score of off assists from Rosemonde Kouassi. These two will be the ones to watch up top along with Croix Bethune in the midfield. Bethune is a player who elevates the play of those around her. When she's on the ball, everything feels possible for this team.

And then there's the question on everyone's mind: will Trinity Rodman make an appearance? She was suited up against Louisville but didn't spend time warming up and didn't really look like there was a chance she was subbing on. She's questionable on the availability report for this weekend, so all eyes will be on her for sure. If Rodman does find her way on to the pitch, Portland must have a plan to adjust their back line. Something that Washington does extremely well is load their players into the box and play any form of scrappy football to find a way to get a shot off.

The Underdogs

For the Portland side, we're looking at a sparse bench with two questionable injuries for M.A. Vignola and Valerin Loboa. Vignola would be the biggest loss at this point since the Portland defense is going to need some fearlessness and smart aggression against their opponents. Although Hiatt, Torpey, Obaze, and Reyes have been holding it down, they'll need more than just McKenzie on the bench to provide depth. Against San Diego, we did see Daiane get more minutes, but we didn't see play from Perry, could she be an option later on in this semifinal, especially if they go into penalty kicks?

The Thorns' midfield is as strong as ever and we can't deny that the presence of Sam Coffey, Olivia Moultrie, and Jessie Fleming is what everyone is predicting a potential Portland win off of. If this team is going to come away with a W, it'll be attributed to the work rate of these three players. The only question is how much fatigue is too much fatigue, and if they do win, how are they going to recover for a final match?

Besides a goal scoring Reilyn Turner, the star of this Portland attack was Pietra Tordin. She came in at the 82nd minute and was a nonstop threat for the next 38 minutes of play. If the Thorns were going to clinch that quarterfinal, it was going to be because of a goal from Tordin. It's ironic that we're starting to see the connective tissue of the Thorn's attack really come together this late in the season. It's perfect timing if they plan to take the Spirit by surprise and come out with a strong and united attacking front.

The Keepers

Let's talk net defenders. Aubrey Kingsbury showed up big during the quarterfinal shootout and stopped two of the penalties to help her team into the semifinals. This season, she's had 8 clean sheets, although the last one was on October 15th. On the other end, Mackenzie Arnold has had 5 total clean sheets, but the last 3 games were consecutive clean sheets. Add this to the list of things the Thorns are bringing to the table late in the season. Although we haven't seen her face too many PKs in the NWSL, Arnold absolutely crushed it in the penalty kick shootout against France in the Women's World Cup quarterfinals while representing her home country, Australia. She has also stopped both attempts she's faced in NWSL play. Both goalkeepers are strong and will be prove to be hard to beat this game, and if we do make it to penalty kicks, I think the outcome will be unpredictable.

The Portland Thorns are coming off three consecutive shutouts and will likely need to be at their absolute best again, especially from Arnold and the backline.

Final Thoughts

If you're a Thorns fan, there is no way that you aren't watching the game without hopefulness, especially with team's resilience and grit. If anyone has the motivation to win this match, it's Portland. As the youngest team in the league and with the number of season ending injuries branding their identity at the beginning of the year, they were written off as just another team who wouldn't make the playoffs. And yet, thanks to the leadership on the team, the culture they've created, and their supporters, they've made it.

In the words of Sam Coffey, "Why the f*** not us?!"