70' 1-1 Jenkins is down with right leg cramp at circle top left touch. Stoppage, as Jiménez Delgado stretches her out. Injuries update: Spencer is on bench with full leg brace + crutches, Oyster got taken to locker room in wheelchair 73' 1-1 Jenkins drives down to 2m mid-left, cross blocked back. Groom taps back to Kellond-Knight at 12m 6-left, her shot blocked by a defender's body, over endline left. 74' 1-1 Andrews left ck, high to 6m center. Groom sneaks in behind somebody, lunge-heads but pops it way over bar. 74' 1-1 Houston subs in: - (1 of 3) #9 Hayley Hanson for #14 Nichelle Prince - (2 of 3) #12 Veronica Latsko for #9 Kealia Ohai.
76' 1-1 Houston longball to arc top left, Daly jump-heads backward into Huerta's stride. Huerta veers to arc right, shoots right instep on the run, off right post 3/4 high, bounces rightward. Sofia Huerta might've damaged that post. #HOUvSEA | #NWSL | 💻 @YahooSports: https://t.co/YE3dOb142N pic.twitter.com/p1iynnQ31T— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 14, 2019 78' 1-1 Houston poke a pass toward Daly at 18m mid-left. McNabb clatters into Daly's planted feet, Daly gets flattened down -- and foot gets trapped? Ball squirts down mid-left, Schmidt breaks through alone and creeps to 4m 4-left -- but closes down her own window? Hard left foot shot into Betos's chest, ball bounces away and Barnes(?) spin-volleys clear. Daly stays down, holding ankle, play continues. Seattle laboriously work to midfield wide left, then finally play into far touch. Stoppage, trainer, Daly limps into end zone, pulls down sock and shows a livid purple bruise high above right ankle.
82' 1-1 Jenkins cuts in through box left to 9m mid-left, ground cross to 10m center, Long one-touch left foot shot skims just over bar and Campbell's fingertips. 83' 1-1 Daly returns: purple (vs.) Reign 86' 1-1 Reign FC subs in (3 of 3) NRI #24 Bethany Balcer for #11 Darian Jenkins. NAIA to NWSL
89' 1-1 Daly works down box right, gets closed down 1-v-2, backpasses to arc top box right. Comeau chips to 8m center, ball squirts through a 2-v-3 jumping scrum and bounces to 4m 1/4 left. Latsko emerges from the scrum first, Betos slides out horizontally at 4m, Latsko stretches left roundhouse and shoots into Betos's thighs. Ball sits at 4m center, Latsko lunges at it, Nielsen swings right foot to clear but blasts it off Latsko's chest goalward, off McNabb's chest in the way, finally volleyed rightward by Barnes(?). Team defense. Wow. #HOUvSEA | #NWSL | 💻 @YahooSports: https://t.co/YE3dOb142N pic.twitter.com/YECvWbEyxg— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 15, 2019 90+2' (of +3') 1-1 Brooks backpass to Campbell at own 6-top left, J.Taylor veers to press. Campbell seems to not acquire Taylor , clangs ball into wheelhouse and steps back to set up a long kick -- then steps forward as Taylor collects ball centerward, Taylor sprawls down, Polkinghorne clears. Foul, tripping, pk. 90+4' (of +3') 1-1 J.Taylor pk, right instep to 1/4 right low hard, Campbell dives and double-blocks ball down into turf. All chase the high bounce, Groom hops but underruns ball, heads a bloop way upward, and it lands on the roof 1/4 left. Wild ending...Jodie Taylor with a chance to win it from the spot, but @JANE_CAMPBELL1 comes up huge! pic.twitter.com/ZrP0SY00ox— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) April 15, 2019 FT 1-1.
Hey, a team from Ecotopia won! The other team from Ecotopia tied away, which isn't so bad, except that wow, for a while their defenders seemed intent on passing the ball to the other team just outside the box they were defending.
Klingenberg getting called out for that dirty foul on Morgan on twitter. 1117539547703721984 is not a valid tweet id Actually wasn’t even called a foul by the ref Ekatarina. @NWSL if we hold players to a high standard let’s do the same for referees. https://t.co/CocOMLXsaZ— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) April 15, 2019
Wasn't able to watch live. We need more west coast games that start at 7 PM Pacific... Orlando has had the same general roster issues since their expansion: no midfield and a mediocre (at best) defense. Why they continue to think all they need to win is to have the best offense in the world is baffling.
Lol so I promised to watch the game here but thought the Reign game was on saturday. Anyway I did watch the game on sunday and now that I'm a little less angry I'll probably have detailed impressions in the Reign chat.
Back from my trip to the Orlando game. I attended this match in between two excursions yesterday into Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom park, through which I suppose I indirectly supported the Pride. It struck me that Orlando spent much of the first half on the back foot [and in their own half] hoping to score on a breakaway play, and relying on Harris's heroics to keep the Thorns from finding the back of the net. Given the way Portland seemed to dominate the match, the fact that these some of these stats such as possession didn't end up more lopsided in their favor surprises me. Granted, I wasn't the only one to notice amazing effort from players like Sonnett to keep Orlando out of the match after the Thorns took the lead. I was a little disappointed in Portland that they seemed too quick to resort to physicality in several instances. That can come back to bite them in a game without such a decidedly non-interventionist ref on the field. Anyway, I had no problem with witnessing a Tobin Heath goal in person on my end of the field for the second time in as many matches. Visiting The Happiest Place on Earth and my own personal Happy Place in the same day? Not too shabby...
I agree with all the criticism against Orlando. On the other hand, if I remember well, Morgan hit the woodwork twice in this first game, so, on top of the general poor performance, they were also slightly unlucky...
And Portland bungled a couple shots that should've gone in, so they were slightly unlucky too... (And that's not even mentioning the incredible saves Harris made)
Let's acknowledge Bethany Balcer who played four minutes for the Reign in the first match of the season. Balcer was not drafted and played her college ball at the nationally-known soccer powerhouse of Spring Arbor University which enrolls 1,380 students. Spring Arbor University is in the metropolis of Spring Arbor, Michigan, population 2,881. So far as I can tell, Balcer is the only undrafted rookie to appear in a match so far this year. Go Bethany!
I agree, Orlando is not as bad as some people seem to be saying. Especially in the latter part of the game, Marta and Morgan were serious threats. Orlando looks like they'll be able to score some goals this year. Their defense is the issue, the Thorns could have had three or four more goals.