Tobin Heath, Britt Eckerstorm Make Season Debut As Portland Thorns Tie Washington Spirit

Tobin Heath, Britt Eckerstorm Make Season Debut as Portland Thorns Draw 1-1 With Washington Spirit

Francisca Ordega put the visitors on the board in the 37th minute. However, right before the half ended, the Thorns were awarded a penalty kick by referee Matt Franz. The penalty kick came after Caprice Dydasco committed a foul in the box.

Christine Sinclair lined up her penalty kick past Spirit goalkeeper Aubrey Bledsoe.

The second half remained scoreless, but that’s where Heath saw her debut.

“I’m very happy to be playing and just want to continue,” Heath said after the match. “Continue to help the team and continue to grow along with this group. We’re getting a number of players back in as well. There’s going to be a number of changes, so I think the football is going to start looking a little bit different.”

Also making her Thorns debut was goalkeeper Britt Eckerstorm. The goalkeeper started in place of Adrianna Franch, who was listed as out with right knee pain.

“It was super fun and I thought we brought a ton of energy today,” Eckerstorm said. “It’s kind of unfortunate we ended up tying. I felt like we were really on the front foot, especially in the second half.”

“That energy is so contagious so I was having a blast back there.”

Three Takeaways

Ordega stealing some spotlight: Francisca Ordega is a solid forward. However, when she’s on a team with big names like Andi Sullivan, Mallory Pugh and Ashley Hatch, it can be easy to get lost. However, for the second week in a row, Ordega scored. She’s not getting lost anywhere on Jim Gabarra’s dept chart.

Parsons adds more depth: With the return of Tobin Heath and the soon-to-be arrival of Brazilian Andressinha, it’ll be interesting to see what lineup Thorns head coach Mark Parsons churns out. Too much depth normally isn’t a problem, but for Parsons it might be.

Portland still isn’t close to North Carolina: Despite the tie, the Thorns certainly could have used the full three points. Right now, the Thorns are in second place in the NWSL behind the North Carolina Courage. The Courage have 12 points while Portland has seven. In soccer, that’s a pretty big gap, especially with North Carolina facing Utah this weekend.