Match Forecast: OL Reign Ready for First Cascadia Clash of the Regular Season
OL Reign and Portland Thorns FC are meeting for the first time this regular season tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. The Reign will be looking to pick up their first win of the regular season against their fiercest rival.
WHEN AND WHERE: Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. PT on Friday, May 13 at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon
WHERE TO WATCH: The match will be available on CBS Sports Network in the U.S. and Twitch internationally
2022 REGULAR SEASON RECORDS AND STANDINGS (W-L-D): OL Reign: 0-1-1 (1 point), Portland Thorns FC 1-0-0 (3 points)
Key Points Ahead of the Match:
1. LAST MEETING – OL Reign and Portland Thorns FC met twice in the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup. The first meeting between the two teams was on March 18. Both teams were playing their first Challenge Cup match at Lumen Field in Seattle. In the 19th minute, OL Reign took the lead. The team worked the ball down the left side of the field past Portland’s defense before midfielder Angelina laid the ball off to defender Sofia Huerta, who fired a beautiful shot into the back of the net. However, in the 28th minute, Portland found an equalizer. Forward Sophia Smith sent a shot on frame and Tullis-Joyce came up big to make a save, but forward Christine Sinclair was there to follow up on the rebound and level the score.
The rivals met again on April 2 in another Challenge Cup group stage match. The teams were deadlocked for the majority of the game, before Rose Lavelle scored the game winner in the 74th minute of the match. OL Reign connected as a team to break Portland’s deep-sitting backline. Bethany Balcer, who came on as a sub, played to Fishlock. Fishlock hit a one-touch pass to Lavelle, who slotted the ball into the back of Portland’s net.
2. SCOUTING PORTLAND – In the Challenge Cup, Portland finished second place in the West Division, but did not advance to the semifinals. They put up a record of three wins, two losses and one draw. In the regular season, Portland has only played one game, compared to OL Reign’s two, and earned a 3-0 win against the Kansas City Current. Portland opened the scoring early, in the 8th minute and found another goal before halftime to go into the break with a 2-0 lead. They scored their third goal in the 51st minute to secure three points against Kansas City. Morgan Weaver, Christine Sinclair and Sophia Smith all contributed goals in the match.
3. BACK-TO-BACK GAMES – OL Reign has a congested schedule through the month of May, but that has not stopped the team from fully focusing on the rivalry match ahead.
“Coming back and then having a short turnaround again means that we have to switch our focus pretty quickly to Portland. We’ve played them a lot already so, we’re just preparing for them as we always do. Seattle vs. Portland is always a game that everyone sort of circles on their calendar. I think with them not having a game this weekend, we've just had to obviously recover, firstly,” said OL Reign head coach Laura Harvey.
4. RIVALS – Though OL Reign and Portland have already played twice this year in the Challenge Cup and came together in a preseason tournament, the rivalry is sure to make an intense game, despite the last time the two teams played.
“It’s not been something we can think about all the way like we normally do, because of our schedule, but I’m sure they’ve not been thinking about anything else. Whenever we play Portland, it just will always have some extra spice to it. I think even if we played each other 20 times in a season, it would always be the same. I don’t think it matters how many times we play each other, it’s always going to be there,” said Harvey.
MultiCare Injury Report:
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