{"id":22273,"date":"2019-04-16T10:05:30","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T14:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonsoccer.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=22273"},"modified":"2019-04-16T10:05:30","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T14:05:30","slug":"portland-thorns-route-orlando-pride-in-first-of-many-on-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/2019\/04\/16\/portland-thorns-route-orlando-pride-in-first-of-many-on-the-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Thorns route Orlando Pride in first of many on the road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Orlando, Florida (April 16, 2019) \u2014<\/strong> With the construction of new seats and upgrades to Providence Park, the Portland Thorns FC will be on the road for their first six NWSL matches.<\/p>\n<p>Portland&#8217;s first of six road games started on Sunday with a trip to Orlando, Florida. The Thorns opened up their NWSL season against the Orlando Pride, in front of 7,189 fans. Meanwhile, the Pride begin their season with a new head coach in Marc Skinner.<\/p>\n<h1><strong>Portland Thorns route Orlando Pride in first of many on the road<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p>The Thorns came crashing into Orlando City Stadium looking for an opening weekend win. They found that with a 2-0 victory. Caitlin Foord and Tobin Heath connected throughout the whole match, as they each had a goal and an assist.<\/p>\n<p>Foord found the back of Ashlyn Harris&#8217; net first, in the 45th minute. Tobin Heath and Christine Sinclair tallied assists on the goal. However, in the 49th minute, Heath found the back of the net on a back-heel goal, assisted by Foord.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, the Pride had minimal chances at home. Out of 15 total shots, only two found themselves on target to threaten Thorns goalkeeper Adrianna Franch. Marta and Alex Morgan registered the two chances on goal.<\/p>\n<p>After the match, Skinner simply mentioned that it wasn&#8217;t good enough from the Pride.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had a better second half, still not good enough,&#8221; Skinner said. &#8220;That\u2019s nothing against players, that\u2019s nothing personal, that\u2019s nothing me telling that the players aren\u2019t good enough, that\u2019s me saying as a team, as a collective, we were not good enough in that game and it\u2019s the reason we lost. It\u2019s just as simple as that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, defender Carson Pickett said that opening up against Portland was tough.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that going forward if we can play on of the best teams to begin with we know the areas we need to work on,&#8221; Pickett said. &#8220;We didn&#8217;t deserve that game, there\u2019s a lot of things that we can do better, but it\u2019s all about moving forward now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Seems only fair that <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaitlinFoord?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CaitlinFoord<\/a> repay the favor to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TobinHeath?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TobinHeath<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>0-2 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ORLvPOR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ORLvPOR<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YahooSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@YahooSports<\/a> | \ud83d\udcbb <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Odrr3iENtU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Odrr3iENtU<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/EXVjJBa46x\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/EXVjJBa46x<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; National Women\u2019s Soccer League (@NWSL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NWSL\/status\/1117554233769902080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Three Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Pride have a good understanding:\u00a0<\/strong>After the match, Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris went on a no-holds barred analysis of the match. Harris said that the team needs to do better for their coach, fans and city \u2014 but especially their coach, due to the sacrifices he made coming to Orlando. The fact that the players actually want to do well for the man in charge is a good understanding of a solid relationship between the players and technical staff.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Shots need to be threatening:<\/strong>\u00a0Adrianna Franch is a really good goalkeeper. Not much is getting past her. However, Stephanie\u00a0Labb\u00e9 is a whole different kind of goalkeeper and on a bit of a higher level. When facing\u00a0Labb\u00e9 and the North Carolina Courage, you can&#8217;t have 15 shots and only two of them register on goal. The Pride need to be a better finishing team in the final third.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Portland&#8217;s road trip:<\/strong> Unlike their brother club, the Portland Timbers, the Thorns don&#8217;t really have a long stretch on the road. Six games might seem like a lot, but in comparison, the Timbers are on the road for their first 12 matches of the season. The Thorns are hoping for a better start to their season, as the Timbers have one draw and five-straight losses.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ORLPride?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ORLPride<\/a> goalkeeper <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ashlyn_Harris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Ashlyn_Harris<\/a> did not hold back with this honest assessment of her team&#39;s play in the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NWSL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@NWSL<\/a> opener.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FOX35?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#FOX35<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wII6jwZhvh\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/wII6jwZhvh<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Adam Shadoff (@AdamShadoff) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AdamShadoff\/status\/1117584978261442560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 15, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>What&#8217;s Next?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>For the Pride:<\/strong> It&#8217;s a quick turnaround for Orlando and a trip to Cary, North Carolina. The Pride will face the reigning NWSL champions, the North Carolina Courage, on Wednesday. The match will begin at 7 p.m. ET.<\/li>\n<li><strong>For the Thorns:<\/strong> Another road trip finds the Portland Thorns in the Midwest. Portland will take on the Chicago Red Stars at SeatGeek Stadium on Saturday. The match will begin at 3:30 p.m. ET.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As for the Pride&#8217;s quick turnaround, Harris said that the Pride have nowhere to go but up.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think that when a few of our players get healthy, we had a few missing pieces and credit to people stepping up last minute, but it has to get better, it will get better,&#8221; Harris said. &#8220;Whether it\u2019s two days, whether it\u2019s 24 hours, we need to self reflect and we need to be better and my hope is that we come out. What a better way to bounce back? I hate waiting when I feel the way I feel right now, to have to wait another week to play a game is really difficult, so to be able to let that out in two days, that\u2019s good for us.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CaitlinFoord?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@CaitlinFoord<\/a> finds her first. <\/p>\n<p>A cheeky assist from <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TobinHeath?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@TobinHeath<\/a>, too, and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ThornsFC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@ThornsFC<\/a> are on the board just before halftime. <\/p>\n<p>0-1 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ORLvPOR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#ORLvPOR<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/YahooSports?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@YahooSports<\/a> | \ud83d\udcbb <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Odrr3iENtU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/Odrr3iENtU<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/z1U6d6KxQd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/z1U6d6KxQd<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; National Women\u2019s Soccer League (@NWSL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NWSL\/status\/1117548320421969920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 14, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"0Sp7KgK7TT5Eec7UDoMU7g\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1015628564\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'0Sp7KgK7TT5Eec7UDoMU7g',sig:'P2Ie0zR3LdP0vuFKRiTllep2b6PLNxZnVh1XuVJPKx8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1015628564',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Portland Thorns kicked off a six-game road trip with a 2-0 victory down south against the Orlando Pride. Caitlin Foord and Tobin Heaeth had connection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2497,"featured_media":22277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,353,2905,2906],"tags":[1819,1798,2926,1796,2756,172,1749,379,1801],"class_list":["post-22273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-nwsl","category-orlando-pride","category-portland-thorns-fc","tag-adrianna-franch","tag-ashlyn-harris","tag-caitlin-foord","tag-carson-pickett","tag-marc-skinner","tag-nwsl","tag-orlando-pride","tag-portland-thorns","tag-tobin-heath"],"modified_by":"Rachael Kriger, Senior Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2497"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/soccer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}