On a beautiful Friday in Portland, the Portland Thorns could never find the net and a single Reign FC goal by Celia Jiménez would hold up for a 1-0 win in front of a crowd 19,116 at Providence Park.
Neither team would theaten early, but the home side had the first good scoring chance in the 38th minute when Gabby Seiler ran a give and go with Christine Sinclair, taking a hard low shot from just outside the Reign box that slipped just wide left.
Just before the half, the Thorns nearly took the lead when Ellie Carpenter‘s pass was directed towards goal by Caitlin Foord, with Reign goalkeeper Casey Murphy making a spectacular one-handed save while leaning in the wrong direction. The Thorns would have a few more good chances before the half, with a shot by Carpenter being blocked, and shots by Saidler and Elizabeth Ball going just over the crossbar, and the score was 0-0 at the half.
In the 55th minute, the visitors would get their first good scoring chance of the night, and they would make it pay off when the Thorns could not clear a free kick into the box. It fell to Celia Jiménez whose initial shot was blocked, but she fired in the rebound from 20 yards out to put the Reign up 1-0.
The best chance the Thorns had to level the score would be in the 86th minute when a long throw from Carpenter was headed into the middle of the box by Sinclair, with Midge Purce blasting a shot from 8 yards out that was just over the crossbar. It would be the last good scoring chance and the Reign held on for the 1-0 victory.
Britt Eckerstrom recorded two saves for the Thorns while Casey Murphy had a single save for the Reign.
Thorns Match Report | Video Highlights
