The Portland Thorns played well against their Northwest foe the OL Reign, but felll short by a 1-0 score. Rose Levelle had the lone goal for the visitors.
The Reign controlled the ball for much of the early part of the match, but eventually the Thorns started getting more possession, and in the 16th minute had the first good scoring chance of the match when Natalia Kuikka ran onto a long ball from Hina Sugita, but her shot was deflected then saved.
In the 38th minute, the Thorns had another great chance when after chasing down the ball near the corner, Kuikka nicely chipped the ball over her defender before blasting a shot that was just wide and into the side netting. The score would be 0-0 at the break.
In the 56th minute the Thorns would have a great chance to take the lead when Kuikka had a blast from near the top of the box that was just tipped over the crossbar by Reign goalkeeper Phallon Tullis-Joyce.
But in the 74th minute, the visitors would convert on what was really their only serious scoring threat of the night. Jessica Fishlock played a nice pass into the run of Rose Levelle, who was open in the box and finished easily past Abby Smith for the 1-0 Reign lead.
The Thorns controlled possession for the remainder of the match but could not find the equalizer, and the Reign held on for the 1-0 win.
Abby Smith recorded three saves for the Thorns, while Phallon Tullis-Joyce had two saves for the visitors.
CHALLENGE CUP RECAP | Thorns FC show fight but lose 1-0 to OL Reign | Thorns website
