Heading into the 2026 season, the Portland Thorns were shorthanded at goalkeeper with Mackenzie Arnold off on international duty with the Matildas for the AFC Women's Asian Cup and Bella Bixby was placed on the SEI list after suffering a knee injury in preseason.
Simply put, the team were in a conundrum at the position.
Who was left? Morgan Messner.
"It's the life of a goalkeeper," said Messner. "Sometimes you expect to come in as a three and then something crazy happens or injuries happen. Obviously, so gutted for Bella, but you process those emotions and then the next day you're like, 'wait a second, ok, I have an opportunity in front of me.' I think as a competitor you prepare yourself to fight for that spot at some point."
There were talks around whether or not the club needed to go out and get a new keeper for the start of the season, but the club believed and trusted what they had in Morgan Messner.
"We don't need to go and look for a new first goalkeeper," said Robert Vilahamn. "We have one who's good with her feet, she's [an] upcoming goalkeeper. We needed one more to compete, bringing in Mackenzie Wood, but we felt like she's going to have her chance to play now."
The backing of her teammates, coaches, and the front office made this a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Messner.
"It meant so much," said Messner. "Robert [Vilahamn] flew in and went through the effort of meeting all of us individually. I just felt a lot of sincerity in the fact that he trusted me."
Even though Arnold was away on international duty, they would still text constantly. Meanwhile, Bixby shared how much belief and how deserving Messner was of the honor.
Messner had only featured in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup with San Diego Wave in 2024. Three years after the conclusion of her college career with Boston University and Penn State University, she would finally earn a professional regular season start.
That decision by the club would be rewarded immediately as Morgan Messner has taken the league by storm. In the opener, she helped secure the 1-0 upset road win versus Washington Spirit, becoming only the third goalkeeper in club history (Bella Bixby and Nadine Angerer) to earn a clean sheet in their regular season debut.
“It has been a dream, but it's not just me, the backline, the whole team for that matter, has been playing incredibly," said Messner. "I think we defensively have been really hard to break down and so it's kudos to them, like, I really didn't face super dangerous shots at Spirit. So grateful for the girls in front of me.”
How did she follow that match one performance up? With another clean sheet and 2-0 win in the home opener against Cascadia rivals the Seattle Reign.
“Leading into this last game, oh my gosh, I get to play at Providence Park in front of these fans against Seattle. It was kind of insane, just like the culmination of all the days of my career leading up to this point. I was pretty speechless afterwards. I'm not going to lie, the crowd was insane.”
“Obviously it was a very exciting game to be a part of, but yeah, ‘she's our keeper chants,’ just like everything, all the energy from them. I'm so grateful for the fans that we have and to get to be a part of it and actually out on the pitch was sick.”
The impressive part? The team played down a player for over 80 minutes and down two players for over 30 minutes. They did it all in front of a home opener record of 21,321 fans.
"She took it really well and now has two really good games," said Vilahamn. "Not just playing, but handling the game so well. She's managing the game, a few long goal kicks, play out from the back, go pick the crosses. Extremely impressed with what she's doing right now."
Morgan Messner is making club history in her first opportunity as a starter. She is the first GK to earn two consecutive shutout wins to start a regular season campaign. What she's done in her first two regular season starts? Historic.
Although she is taking it day by day, it's a dream that she has worked for her entire life. And the club's faith in her has been rewarded and more.
"My phone's been blowing up. Lots of friends, family, and friends around the league are just excited for me because they knew that I've been waiting for this moment."
"It's been a long time coming."
