The Portland Thorns got first half goals from Hina Sugita and Morgan Weaver, which was enough to secure a 2-0 win over the OL Reign on Saturday night at Providence Park.
In the first half hour, both teams had moderately good chances, but it didn’t pay off for either team until the 30th minute, off a Thorns free kick, Raquel Rodríguez redirected the ball across the goal mouth, and Hina Sugita was there to finish from close-in, and the Thorns had a 1-0 lead.
In the 35th minute Morgan Weaver had an open look inside the Reign box, but her shot was off the crossbar, and a rebound chance by Rodríguez was cleared off the line by a Reign defender.
But off the ensuing corner kick, the Thorns would double the lead when the ball was crossed into the box and a Reign header ended up going to Weaver who was open near the far post, and she one-timed the shot past Claudia Dickey, and the Thorns lead was now 2-0, which would be the score at the break.
The Reign would control possession for much of the second half, but would never seriously threaten to score, and the Thorns would seal a 2-0 win.
