The Wait Is Over

NWSL 2022 Matchday Nineteen

Dalen Cuff: The Portland Thorns come into Toyota Park this afternoon seeking to stay in the Western Conference playoff race. The Red Stars, however, are focused on keeping their slim chances to win the Western Conference alive. Welcome to Lifetime's coverage of the NWSL. I'm Dalen Cuff. The penultimate match day of the regular season is upon us and there is still all to play for in the West, with five teams alive for the three playoff positions. Today's match here in Chicago pits the teams sitting 2nd and 4th in the standings. A win by the Red Stars would give them one of the remaining two spots, leaving the final berth to be contested between Vancouver, Portland, and Seattle. As for the Thorns, anything short of a win could see them eliminated by the end of today's slate. Upstairs to the pair who will call today's match, Jenn Hildreth and Kate Markgraf.

Jenn Hildreth: Thank you, Dalen. Chicago has shown the league why they were picked early on by many to be playing in the NWSL Final on their home field on October 15th, going 8-1-3 since their back-to-back losses to Seattle and North Carolina in May. Portland, on the other hand, has been inconsistent, pairing tremendous performances with dreadful ones.  Kate, how do the Thorns make today one of the up-notes in the season and not the end of the playoff chase?

Kate Markgraf: It starts with Nadia Nadim up front. Since sending Savannah Jordan to Washington in June, the Portland attack has been limited. The acquisition of Bryane Heberlein solidified a defense that had been a bit leaky in front of AD Franch. Look for Allie Long and Tobin Heath to take charge today against their opposite numbers from the Red Stars, Vanessa DiBernardo and Sarah Stratigakis. For the Red Stars, they need to keep feeding their two national-team front-runners, Steph McCaffrey and Sofia Huerta. Stratigakis and Kristie Mewis will be expected to get balls into positions where those two can score off them.

The Thorns kicked off to the north and were immediately stood up at the top of the center circle by Danielle Colaprico, whose outlet pass to Stratigakis was crossed to Huerta for a header that Heberlein got a touch to but was put into the path of McCaffrey for an easy finish just 26 seconds in. The Thorns chose not to adjust to the method of play that Chicago was employing. In the nineteenth minute, the Stratigakis-to-Huerta connection doubled the margin, which is where the match would end after the first 45 minutes.

With a 2-0 lead, Lisa Cole brought Jen Hoy on for Sofia Huerta, giving her a much-deserved rest. Mewis and DiBernardo teamed up on a goal in the 62nd minute. Hoy's corner kick eight minutes from time was nodded home by Katie Naughton to provide the final tally of the match. The Red Stars' 4-0 throttling of Portland secured them a spot in the post-season and put the Thorns' playoff hopes in the hands of the Philadelphia Spirit, who were playing Vancouver later on.

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At Jordan Field, the Breakers' match against Washington began with NWSL Commissioner Amanda Duffy presenting captain Julie King with the NWSL Shield, emblematic of the league's regular season championship. King requested her two deputies, Sam Mewis and Steph Labbe, come out and share in the accolades. As the three of them took a lap with the trophy near the stands, they came across the Naeher family (John, Donna Lynn, Amanda, and Abigail) sitting with Becky Sauerbrunn and Lori Lindsey. Amanda asked Julie if they would pose with the trophy for her, since she wanted to needle her twin about falling short of this accomplishment. Following the snapshot, Amanda told Julie that Alyssa had called her on Tuesday with details from the weekend in Kansas City and that she hoped to see her in Chicago in October. John gave Julie a small hug and said that he was glad to see her and Alyssa getting on again, albeit in a different way than they did as teammates. The Breakers' player leadership finished their trip and returned to their bench area. John Herdman was treating tonight's game as an opportunity to showcase his team's depth, therefore he sent out the following lineup: Proctor; Schiller, Santacaterina, Oyster, Stassi; Andrews (c); Elston, Troccoli, Parry; Bonavita, Rhodes.