Thorns stun Courage with 1-0 tourney quarterfinal win

Portland Thorns upended all predictions for the NWSL Challenge Cup on Friday, knocking the powerhouse North Carolina Courage out of the tournament with a 1-0 quarterfinal victory.

The Courage hadn’t lost a match in almost a full calendar year, with their last defeat coming against the Chicago Red Stars on July 21, 2019. North Carolina entered the tournament as a ruthless and dominant side, scoring seven goals during four wins to clinch the top seed after the opening round of play.

Against Portland, that energy didn’t dim. North Carolina dominated possession, slashing through the Portland box and firing 21 shots by the end of the match. Coach Paul Riley expressed his frustration at the lack of finishing from the Courage, particularly off the team’s 11 corner-kick opportunities.

“If you’ve got 20 shots, you’ve got to win the game,” Riley said. “We haven’t had a day like this in awhile.”

The Thorns’ first-string goalkeeper — World Cup champion Adrianna Franch — was sidelined for the tournament with a knee injury. Back-up keeper Bella Bixby locked down four impressive appearances in the preliminary round, only to suffer an injury that kept her out of the knockoutround lineup.

The quarterfinal match came down to Britt Eckerstrom, with Portland’s goalsey keeping coach Nadine Angerer listed on the roster as a backup goalkeeper.

Eckerstrom hadn’t started a match since May 2019. Against the reigning back-to-back NWSL champions, she made eight saves to knock North Carolina out of the tournament and notch the Thorns’ first win of the year. Her performance marked the first time the Courage were shut out since May 2019.

“I think it just speaks volumes to our training environment,” Eckerstrom said. “I think we all work really hard to make sure that we’re prepared when the opportunity comes. We had that belief that we know every game we’re going to get better and better and we were just waiting for it to click and today we put it in the back of the net.”

The Thorns have battled injuries at every position — most notably, defender Becky Sauerbrunn was hurt in the first match.

Throughout the rivalry match Friday, Portland continued to lose its most valuable weapons as star LindThe Horan was forced to sub out early in the second half due to an injury.

Horan serves as the engine for the Portland midfield, and her high-flying header against Washington secured the team’s only tournament points — a draw in the preliminary round.

Rookie Morgan Weaver and Costa Rican midfielder Raquel Rodríguez stepped up in Horan’s absence. Although Portland struggled to build long periods of attacking possession, the Thorns were able to open up the Courage defense in transition.

In the 68th minute, Rodríguez found an opening and sliced a pass across the box for Weaver, who muscled down a defender and netted the game-winning goal.

“Our team really believes in each other,” Portland coach Mark Parsons said. “We’ve had curveballs after curveballs, setbacks after setbacks. The power of the group is our strength. The togetherness of our group is our strength. There’s always going to be a group, there’s always going to be next player, next person to step up.”

After the final whistle, Weaver celebrated on the slide of the playground at the corner of the pitch.

Knockout rounds of tournaments can deliver unpredictable results and surprise early exits. The NWSL Challenge Cup will now embrace that chaos as play continues without the tournament favorite.