The Portland Thorns looked flat on a beautiful night at Providence Park, falling by a 2-0 score to the San Diego Wave. Kyra Carusa and Alex Morgan would have the goals for the Wave.
After the Wave had largely controlled play early in the match, a Thorns turnover in their own end of the field in the 20th minute, and Rachel Hill would cross to a wide-open Kyra Carusa, who one-timed a shot that was perfectly just inside the right post, with Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby not even moving on the play, and the Wave had a 1-0 lead.
Just a few minutes later the Thorns had a good chance of their own, with a low shot by Crystal Dunn being stopped by a kick save by Kailen Sheridan, and Hina Sugita‘s follow up chance on a mostly empty net was wide left.
In the 28th minute, San Diego’s Danielle Colaprico had a great shot from well outside the box only be denied by deflecting off the crossbar. In the 31st minute, another great chance by Hill was kept only by a great diving save by Bixby.
But in the 37th minute, a seemingly soft header by Alex Morgan on a long chip into the box somehow eluded Bixby, and the Wave lead was now 2-0. This would be the score at the break.
The Thorns looked sharper in the second half, but their chances were either deflected, or off target. Their best scoring chance of the half would come in the 81st minute when Olivia Moultrie had a great culing shot from just outside the box, but Sheridan got her hand on the shot and deflected it off the right post, and the chance was missed.
The Thorns would keep up the pressure for much of the remainder of the match, but never seriously threatened to score, and ended up at the short end of a 2-0 score.
