46' 1-1 Spencer dribbles to arc top right, shoots hard into Menges's hip at arc right. Orlando regroups in the back. 48' 1-1 Nadim turns and runs with ball through box top right to 15m, shoots quickly, Harris dives horizontal and blocks it over endline right. Offside, no shot no save. 50' 1-1 Heath cuts inward to 22m box left, rolls a pass down box left for Horan to 3m. Horan poor backpass to 14m arc left, directly to Kyle. 51' 1-1 Heath dribbles to 24m center, stutters a bit too much -- then steps on ball and falls over backward? Portland poke ball wide left to Klingenberg, she touches to a 1-v-1 at 10m box left -- does not drive endline. Meek backpass to Nadim at arc top wide left. Nadim bends a cross inswinging over the scrum to 7m 1/5 right, Long emerges behind everybody and sideheads down into back right low. Offside, no goal
54' 1-1 Orlando chip from ~25m box left to 7m left post, Betos hop-catches in front of Morgan. 55' 1-1 Betos almost caught dribbling at 6-center, turns and clears it over Spencer sliding up centerline. Portland control on the right. 56' 1-1 Sonnett dribbles up box right lane to midfield, chased by Morgan. Nadim cross from 5m wide right, out off Mônica.
57' 1-1 Portland right ck, to 6-right. High header flick drops to 9m 6-left, contested header driven rightward, poked out to 15m right post. Long runs on, shot blocked point-blank by Alleway. Horan serves from wide left to 6-center, Catley leads a scrum toward own goalline and dive-heads over her left shoulder and away Evans runs center-to-(her)-left, mistimes her jump and lands self on Heath's back, like Kemme Foul on Heath! Crowd boos at the replay. 58' 1-1 Portland subs in (1 of 3) #26 Mallory Weber for #6 Meleana Shim. 61' 1-1 Orlando subs in (1 of 3) #10 Lianne Sanderson for #14 Becky Edwards.
Steph Catley is having a monster game for the Pride. Has really been covering well defensively. Also, Spencer has been all over the place.
62' 1-1 Menges chases back to own box top center, Spencer darts in from arc left and pokes ball free. Ball rebounds back to 18m center, Edmonds shoots one-touch, Sonnett blocks! 63' 1-1 Orlando right ck, redirected to 4m 1/5 left. Kyle sneaks in, grasstop volley sails way high. 63' 1-1 Orlando cross from box left to 5m left post, Betos jumps between 2 and catches high.
64' 1-1 Long stutters at 24m mid-left, soft pass nutmegs Kyle, to Heath. Heath turns unmarked at arc top mid-left, creeps slowly, taps a pass down to 9m 6-left -- but angle too far for the run from box top right, Harris smothers. 65' 1-1 Evans slides into Horan's calves at arc top mid-left, both slide. Foul on -- Horan?! Free kick wasted, over 6-right foot. 66' 1-1 Orlando sieging with good possession. Nasty ninja chip over box top mid-right, intercepted by a leaping header. Portland hoof up wide right, Orlando clear. 67' 1-1 Edmonds takes Klingenberg 1-v-1 at box top right, drives down box right, reverses and comes back to 12m. Bumped down from behind, no call -- Evans runs on, takes ball to 12m. Cross, Klingenberg blocks it toward endline, Menges collects before it goes over. Wow, this pace. 68' 1-1 Orlando soft cross from box left to ~10m mid-left, one-touch shot goes way high. 68' 1-1 Heath cuts through box top left, cuts centerward but exposes ball too far in front, cleared. 69' 1-1 Horan turns in a seam at 23m mid-right, drives right foot shot to right post. Harris dives and blocks it wide right. 69' 1-1 Portland right ck, scuffed around, back to arc top. Long steps into it and shoots right instep low, pulls it way wide left.
70' 1-1 Nadim cuts through box left to 14m mid-left, shanks her shot wide right and bending wrong way. Is that physically possible? 71' 1-1 Orlando subs in (2 of 3) #17 Dani Weatherholt for #18 Madlyn Evans. 73' 1-1 Orlando left throw-in at 6m. Ball bounces up off Weber's flapping arm. 74' 1-1 Orlando fk at 3m wide left, to 6-top right post, headed away. Orlando circulate, but offside. 75' 1-1 Nadim fouled at 30m mid-left. Attendance 16k + epsilon! Portland fk to 6-top right, Horan slide-hooks a shot but gets no power, Harris gathers. 76' 1-1 Horan holds 1-v-2 at 6m box left, taps a pass between them to Klingenberg cutting to box top right. Klingenberg bends a cross to 6-right foot, just over Nadim's head.
78' 1-1 Orlando left ck, Sanderson high ball to 12m 6-right. Ball blocked to box top, rattles off heels to 9m 6-right. Alleway spins ccw, one-touch right roundhouse shot straight into Betos's mitts. 79' 1-1 Off the restart, Portland pass up wide right and _? gets free. Alleway flattens her at 15m box right. Yellow card on Alleway. 80' 1-1 Portland fk, several chances. Orlando clear and counter, Spencer collects through circle top. Pass down to box right foot, Weatherholt slides but can't keep it in? 81' 1-1 Sanderson holds at 22m mid-right, snipes a through-ball to 12m mid-right as Morgan splits the high line. In alone to 7m mid-right, one-touch right instep bend but Betos has near post sealed, off her left hand and over. 82' 1-1 Orlando right ck, bent to 5m 1/5 left, Betos catches high in traffic. Not enough deception on these cks.
82' 2-1 Off the restart, Long passes up wide right to Nadim across midfield. Nadim backpass to Long at circle top right, chip toward box top hits #21 Mônica's head. Pop-up drops over Heath's shoulder at 15m mid-right. She measures the drop, lifts waist-high right instep tap-down square to spot. Horan is wide-open thereat, does a spin-ccw to collect to 10m, left toe-poke beats Harris into back left low. 85' 2-1 Morgan shoots from ~arc left, Sonnett blocks it wide left. Betos dives into endzone, but can't save the corner. 86' 2-1 Orlando subs in (3 of 3) #8 Sarah Hagen for #23 Jasmyne Spencer. 87' 2-1 Orlando left ck, crazy bounces. Sonnett turns toward own goal at 6-top 3-left, tries a waist-high hacky-sack clear-or-touch -- muffs it under 1-v-2 pressure. Orlando possess, circulate to arc top box left. Cross over everybody, Orlando have 2-v-0 at right post. Bounce at 0.5m, Weatherholt slides and roundhouse-volley try misses. 88' 2-1 Portland subs in (2 of 3) #2 Katherine Reynolds for #9 Nadia Nadim.
89' 2-1 Yellow card on Klingenberg. 89' 2-1 Ball bounces around Orlando's box, back toward box top arc right. Brynjarsdóttir shoots just high over right 90 as Harris dove. 90' 2-1 Heath walks right touch tightrope, Kyle bumps her out at circle top. Foul, yellow card on Kyle. +3'.
90+1'? (of +3') 2-1 Portland subs in (3 of 3) #21 Hayley Raso for #7 Lindsey Horan. Welp, scratch that, Horan trots back into play, leaves Raso standing there Portland right ck or deep fk, promptly lose it over endline right. 90+3'? (of +3') 2-1 Long dribbles to arc top, taps or leaves it for Heath. Heath shoots one-touch, just wide left. 90+x'? (of +3') 2-1 Heath holds at left corner flag, wins a throw-in. Aha, it was an AR pilot error for wrong sub number 90+5'? (of +3') 2-1 Portland subs in (3 of 3) #21 Hayley Raso for #17 Tobin Heath. FT 2-1.
So of the four playoff teams from last year 3 lost and the fourth wasnt impressive. The league is officially a pick'em.
Fun stat of the weekend: The USWNT goalkeepers have allowed 58% of the goals this opening weekend. Naeher 3 Solo 2 Harris 2
That stat speaks volumes about how good the USWNT back line is. Those same goalkeepers struggle to stay in the game during NT matches.
Studs and Duds: Week 1 Boston: Stud- No one. Dud- McCall Zerboni and Angela Salem, with dishonorary mention to Libby Stout. All 3 were pretty poor. Chicago: Stud-I guess Christen Press for capitalizing on a bad turnover and scoring. Dud- Sam Johnson. Was directly responsible for all 3 Dash goals. Houston: Stud- Rachel Daly. Brilliant debut for the rookie. A goal and an assist, and just tormented the Red Stars backline. Dud- Whoever coughed up the ball when Press scored. I think it was Ellie Brush. Kansas City: Stud- Nicole Barnhart. The scoreline would have been much worse without her saves in the first half. Dud- Heather O'Reilly. If she keeps playing the way she did against WNY, she is not going to Rio. Jae Hinkle had O'Reilly locked in her pocket until she had to be subbed out. Orlando: Stud- Jasmyne Spencer. She was a livewire. So full of energy, even if it wasn't always used properly. Dud- I don't think Maddy Evans was a factor at all. I only noticed her when she got subbed out. Portland: Stud- Tobin Heath. When Portland stopped screwing around and got her the ball, she made things happen. Dud- If Allie Long wants to be in Rio, she needs to show consistency, and she was fairly quiet in this game. Not the performance needed to make her case. Seattle: Stud- Jess Fishlock was perhaps the only player that didn't suck. Dud- Awful game for Hope Solo. I lost count of how many times the Reign turned it over because of her terrible distribution. SkyBlue: Stud- Caroline Casey had a very shaky start, but after that near goal early on, she settled in and had a great performance. Honorable mention to Christy Holly for his starting XI and sub choices. Unlike his counterpart, he got it right. Dud- Raquel Rodriguez had an underwhelming debut. Maybe it's not fair, but I expected more from her. Washington: Stud- Cali Farquharson (yes, I had to look it up to make sure I got the spelling right) provided a nice spark off the bench. She was one of the best players on the field. Dud- Katie Stengel. She stuck out because of her lack of speed, and killed a number of promising opportunities for the Spirit. Western New York: Stud: Jae Hinkle made HAO look terrible. And save for one thing, Lynn Williams was an absolute beast! I don't think there was one part of the field that didn't get touched by her. Dud: That one thing that was not good by Williams? Her finishing. I want Riley to stick both her and McDonald in finishing practice this week, because it was TERRIBLE!