By Marilia Macedo
Weaver and Rapinoe secured a point each.
The Cascadia Derby played between Portland Thorns and OL Reign at Providence Park, which happened this Wednesday (13), gave one point each, and secured, for now, the first spot in the season for Portland. Weaver scored for the home team and Rapinoe for the visitors – that remains in second place.
The heated match started with an early goal when Morgan Weaver, assisted by Sophia Smith, opened the scoring for the Thorns, 1-0.
On the other side, the Reign had difficult times, struggling and trying to find the equalizer a few times, especially with Eugénie Le Sommer and Rose Lavelle – unsuccessfully.
Although the visitors had the possession, the players led by coach Mark Parsons had the control and the chance to score more, but the keeper Sarah Bouhaddi kept the danger out.
After the break, the coach Laura Harvey changed her pieces, choosing Angelina to replace Quinn – who was not having a good performance on the field. Then, the replacement gave the team more mobility, and the squad started to create more. However, it was not enough to tie as the players made wrong decisions to find the best way to reach the goals.
In the end, with five minutes left, when everything seemed hopeless, the equalizer finally came with a penalty kick. Megan Rapinoe – who also joined the team during the second half – took the ball and tied the game, 1-1.
The OL Reign travels home to play against the Washington Spirit on October 16th at 10 p.m. ET, while Portland will face the Dash on October 17th at 7 p.m. ET.