Portland Thorns FC
2020 season
ChairmanMerritt Paulson
ManagerMark Parsons
StadiumProvidence Park
Portland, Oregon
2020 NWSL Challenge CupSemi-finals
2020 NWSL Fall SeriesChampions
Average home league attendance14,391
← 2019
2021 →

The 2020 Portland Thorns FC season was the team's and the league's eighth season of existence. The Thorns played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 12, 2020 the Thorns canceled their preseason tournament, scheduled for March 29-April 4.[1] On March 20, 2020, the NWSL postponed the start of the league's regular season indefinitely.[2]

Team

Coaching staff

Position Staff
Head Coach England Mark Parsons
Assistant Coach Rich Gunney
Assistant Coach Sophie Clough
Goalkeeper Coach Germany Nadine Angerer
Fitness Coach and Performance Specialist Tom Milroy
Head Athletic Trainer Pierre Soubrier
Athletic Trainer Bailey Torrez
Team Physician Breanne Brown, M.D.

Last updated: April 10, 2020
Source: https://www.timbers.com/club/front-office

Current squad

No. Nat. Name Date of birth (age) Since Previous team Notes[a]
Goalkeepers
24 United States Adrianna Franch (1990-11-02)November 2, 1990 (aged 29) 2016 Norway Avaldsnes IL FED
31 United States Bella Bixby (1995-11-25)November 25, 1995 (aged 24) 2018 United States Oregon State
33 United States Britt Eckerstrom (1993-05-28)May 28, 1993 (aged 26) 2017 United States Western New York Flash
Defenders
2 United States Katherine Reynolds (1987-09-14)September 14, 1987 (aged 32) 2016 United States Washington Spirit
4 United States Becky Sauerbrunn (1985-06-06)June 6, 1985 (aged 34) 2020 United States Utah Royals FC
5 United States Emily Menges (1992-07-28)July 28, 1992 (aged 27) 2014 United States Georgetown
15 United States Madison Pogarch (1997-11-05)November 5, 1997 (aged 22) 2019 United States Rutgers
20 United States Kelli Hubly (1994-08-09)August 9, 1994 (aged 25) 2017 United States DePaul
25 United States Meghan Klingenberg (1988-08-02)August 2, 1988 (aged 31) 2016 United States Houston Dash
35 United States Gabby Seiler (1994-09-14)September 14, 1994 (aged 25) 2018 United States Florida
18 United States Christen Westphal (1993-09-02)September 2, 1993 (aged 26) 2020 United States Reign FC
39 United States Meaghan Nally (1998-06-30)June 30, 1998 (aged 21) 2020 United States Georgetown
Midfielders
10 United States Lindsey Horan (1994-05-26)May 26, 1994 (aged 25) 2016 France Paris Saint-Germain FED
17 United States Tobin Heath (1988-05-29)May 29, 1988 (aged 31) 2013 France Paris Saint-Germain FED
30 United States Celeste Boureille (1994-04-20)April 20, 1994 (aged 25) 2016 United States California Golden Bears
36 United States Angela Salem (1988-07-24)July 24, 1988 (aged 31) 2018 United States Boston Breakers
11 Costa Rica Raquel Rodríguez (1993-10-28)October 28, 1993 (aged 26) 2020 United States Sky Blue FC INT
37 United States Emily Ogle (1996-08-05)August 5, 1996 (aged 23) 2019 United States Penn State
Forwards
9 United States Sophia Smith (2000-08-10)August 10, 2000 (aged 19) 2020 United States Stanford
12 Canada Christine Sinclair (1983-06-12)June 12, 1983 (aged 36) 2013 United States Western New York Flash FED
22 United States Morgan Weaver (1997-10-18)October 18, 1997 (aged 22) 2020 United States Washington State
34 United States Tyler Lussi (1995-01-26)January 26, 1995 (aged 25) 2017 United States Princeton
38 United States Simone Charley (1995-02-04)February 4, 1995 (aged 25) 2019 United States Vanderbilt
40 United States Marissa Everett (1997-08-29)August 29, 1997 (aged 22) 2019 United States Oregon
  1. ^ denotes a season-ending injury.

Competitions

Challenge Cup

Main article: 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup

Preliminary round

June 27 (27-06) 1 North Carolina Courage 2–1 Portland Thorns FC Herriman, Utah
 Report
Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
Note: Televised on CBS
July 1 (1-07) 2 Portland Thorns FC 0–0 Chicago Red Stars Herriman, Utah
 Report
Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium
Referee: Danielle Chesky
July 5 (5-07) 2 Portland Thorns FC 1–1 Washington Spirit Herriman, Utah
 Report
Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium
Referee: Karen Abt
July 13 (13-07) 4 OL Reign 0–0 Portland Thorns FC Herriman, Utah
Report Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium
Referee: Tori Penso
Standings
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
1 North Carolina Courage 4 4 0 0 7 1 +6 12
2 Washington Spirit 4 2 1 1 4 4 0 7
3 OL Reign 4 1 2 1 1 2 −1 5
4 Houston Dash 4 1 1 2 5 6 −1 4
5 Utah Royals FC (H) 4 1 1 2 4 5 −1 4
6 Chicago Red Stars 4 1 1 2 2 3 −1 4[a]
7 Sky Blue FC 4 1 1 2 2 3 −1 4[a]
8 Portland Thorns FC 4 0 3 1 2 3 −1 3
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(H) Host
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Chicago Red Stars won the tiebreaker against Sky Blue FC on fewer yellow cards (1 to 4).

Knockout round

July 17 (17-07) QF North Carolina Courage 0–1 Portland Thorns FC Herriman, Utah
 Report
Stadium: Zions Bank Stadium
Referee: Lukasz Szpala
July 22 (22-07) SF Houston Dash 1–0 Portland Thorns FC Sandy, Utah
 Report Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium
Referee: Tori Penso

2020 Fall Series

September 20 (20-09) 1 Portland Thorns FC 3–0 Utah Royals FC Portland, Oregon
 Report Stadium: Providence Park
Attendance: Closed
Referee: Adorae Monroy
September 30 (30-09) 2 Portland Thorns FC 4–1 OL Reign Portland, Oregon
 Report
Stadium: Providence Park
Attendance: Closed
Referee: Farhad Dadkho
October 3 (3-10) 3 Utah Royals FC 1–1 Portland Thorns FC Sandy, Utah
 Report
Stadium: Rio Tinto Stadium
Attendance: Closed
Referee: Karen Abt
October 10 (10-10) 4 OL Reign 1–2 Portland Thorns FC Tacoma, Washington
5 p.m. PDT
Report
Stadium: Cheney Stadium
Attendance: Closed

Standings

Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Portland Thorns FC (C) 4 3 1 0 10 3 +7 10 Community Shield
2 Houston Dash 4 3 0 1 12 7 +5 9 Runners-up
3 Washington Spirit 4 2 1 1 5 4 +1 7 Third place
4 Sky Blue FC 4 2 0 2 6 7 −1 6
5 North Carolina Courage 4 1 2 1 8 10 −2 5
6 Chicago Red Stars 4 1 1 2 7 7 0 4
7 OL Reign 4 1 1 2 6 8 −2 4
8 Orlando Pride 4 0 2 2 5 8 −3 2
9 Utah Royals FC 4 0 2 2 3 8 −5 2
Source: NWSL
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(C) Champions

Transactions

NWSL Draft

Main article: 2020 NWSL College Draft

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The 2020 NWSL College Draft was held on January 16, 2020.

R Pick Nat. Player Pos. College Status Ref.
1 1 United States Sophia Smith FW Stanford Allocated by the United States Soccer Federation in 2021. [3][4]
2 United States Morgan Weaver FW Washington State Signed to two-year contract with one-year option. [4]
3 25 United States Meaghan Nally DF Georgetown Signed to two-year contract with one-year option. [4]

Transfers out

Date Nat. Player Pos. Destination club Fee/notes Ref.
August 21, 2020 United States Celeste Boureille MF France FC Fleury 91 Short-term loan. [5][6][7]
September 9, 2020 United States Tobin Heath MF/FW England Manchester United W.F.C. Out of contract; Thorns retained NWSL playing rights. [5][8]
December 16, 2020 United States Emily Ogle MF United States Houston Dash Traded for the 7th- and 37th-overall picks in the 2021 NWSL Draft. [5][9]
United States Gabby Seiler MF
January 19, 2021 United States Britt Eckerstrom GK None Retired. [5][10]

Expansion Draft

Main article: 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft

The 2020 NWSL Expansion Draft was a special draft held on November 12, 2020, by the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) for Racing Louisville FC, an expansion team, to select players from existing teams in the league. The league allowed Louisville to select up to 18 players from lists of unprotected players provided by the existing nine NWSL teams.[11]

Protected players

Racing Louisville FC selected the playing rights of Tobin Heath, which the Thorns retained while she was playing for Manchester United W.F.C. in the Women's Super League.[8][11]

Protected Unprotected
Simone Charley Nadine Angerer
Crystal Dunn Bella Bixby
Lindsey Horan Celeste Boureille
Kelli Hubly Marian Dougherty
Meghan Klingenberg Britt Eckerstrom
Natalia Kuikka Marissa Everett
Emily Menges Adrianna Franch
Raquel Rodríguez Tobin Heath
Christine Sinclair Tyler Lussi
Sophia Smith Andressinha
Morgan Weaver Nikki Marshall
Meg Morris
Meaghan Nally
Emily Ogle
Madison Pogarch
Hayley Raso
Kat Reynolds
Angela Salem
Becky Sauerbrunn
Gabby Seiler
Kat Tarr
Rachel Van Hollebeke
Christen Westphal
Sandra Yu

References

  1. ^ Goldberg, Jamie (March 12, 2020). "Portland Thorns cancel preseason tournament amid coronavirus outbreak". Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  2. ^ Peterson, Anne M. (March 20, 2020). "NWSL season delayed; training moratorium extended". Associated Press. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
  3. ^ Herrera, Sandra (February 25, 2021). "NWSL allocated player list: Lynn Williams, Kristie Mewis and Jane Campbell return for 2021 season". CBS Sports. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Little, Grant (December 8, 2021). "Portland Thorns exercise 2022 contract options on six players". Stumptown Footy. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "2020-21 NWSL Transactions Tracker". The Equalizer. Retrieved August 7, 2020.
  6. ^ Little, Grant (August 21, 2020). "Midfielder Celeste Boureille Loaned to France for 2021 Season". Stumptown Footy. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  7. ^ "#D1Arkema - Les transferts actualisés : Michèle Akaba arrive à SOYAUX". actufoot. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Manchester United sign USWNT World Cup winners Tobin Heath, Christen Press". ESPN. September 9, 2020. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  9. ^ Swanson, Mike (December 16, 2020). "Portland Thorns trade Emily Ogle, Gabby Seiler to Houston Dash for two NWSL draft picks". The Oregonian. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  10. ^ Young, Ashley (January 19, 2021). "Thorns GK Britt Eckerstrom announces retirement". NBC Sports. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Creditor, Avi (November 12, 2020). "Racing Louisville Takes USWNT's Heath, Press to Headline NWSL Expansion Draft". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved August 7, 2022.

External links

See also

Categories