The Clackamas print., May 22, 2013, Page 8, Image 8

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Wednesday, May22,2013
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Thorns stab back at Sky Blue
AndrewMillbrooke
Sports Editor
The Portland Thoms returned
home to Jeld-Wen field last week
for the first time in a month. They
won on Sunday, but lost the previ­
ous ¡game against the same team
Thursday. During the away game,
the Thoms lost a hard fought
1-0 match to National Women’s
Soccer League leader Sky Blue
FC from New Jersey. The Thoms
rebounded on Sunday to defeat
Washington, 2-0, to remain in
second place behind Sky Blue in
the standings.
Although the Thoms lost the
match on Thursday, it was the
fans that were going crazy in
the stadium that got and kept
my attention. An announced
crowd of ll;055 came out on a
cloudy Thursday night, proving
that Portlanders are crazy soc­
cer nuts. The mass of people
jammed into the north end zone
seating were a standing, cheering,
clapping, flag waving, stomping
band of maniacs. Another 12,474
showed up on Sunday afternoon
to watch the Thoms 2-0 victory
over Washington.
“We want to do it for the fans,
especially at home,” said Portland
goalie Karina LeBlanc. “It’s such
an incredible environment here.
It’s the environment you dream
of as a kid.”
This throbbing, chanting mass
of humanity was noisy and loud
throughout the match, showing
energy and passion that some­
times was lacking by the players
on the field. Many of the play-
ers noticed the less than stel­
lar hustle and tired play on both
sides, because both teams were
playing the second match of back-
to-backs.
ÍÍ
Overall I think
yve’ve had a good
record so fa r and
a loss is a good
wake-up call. ”
Rachel Buehler
Defender
“I think we were entertain­
ing at times,” said LeBlanc. “It’s
tough when you have games
back-to-back, you can see you’re
a little bit tired in the legs. But we
just have to find a way through
those teams. They sat in, they did
it well and they were organized.”
Portland head coach Cindy
Parlow Cone was frustrated with
the first loss of the season, but
she gave credit to Sky Blue FC’s
talented lineup.
“Sky Blue FC is a very good
team,” said Parlow Cone. “They
have great players in every line
on the field from the front all the
way back to the back. They did
some great things tonight and
they scored a tremendous goal
on us; it doesn’t get much better
than that in terms of placement -*■
great finish by them. They played
tough defensively; they were a
tough block to break down.”
Sky Blue punched in a goal
in the 80th minute, after getting a
free kick off a Portland penalty.
The free kick landed at the top
of the box and Sky Blue’s Taylor
Lytle saw a brief opening, so she
drilled a shot into the left back
comer of the goal. The goal hap­
pened so quickly that LeBlanc
didn’t have a chance.
Portland’s players said that a
loss early in the season might be
a good thing, because they have
plenty of time to learn and grow
from this one.
“To lose at home, it stings
that much more, but it’s good
to have it early in the season,”
said LeBlanc, “There’s a lot of
things we’re going to learn from
it. Hopefully we can get the result
on Sunday.”
Defender Rachel Buehler
agreed that they could have
played harder and that the loss
Want to see the
Thorns play their
next home game
in the
Rose City?
The next game is
Saturday, June 1st-
Thoms
vs.
Chicago Red Stars,
2pm at Jeld-Wen
Field, Portland.
After being fouled fo r knocking down an opposing Sky Blue FC player, Portland Thorns member Alex Morgan assists
the player to her feet.
should motivate the Thoms to get
better.
“The last ten minutes we
played with a lot of urgency and
maybe we could have brought
that more in the game,” said
Buehler. “Overall I think we’ve
had a good record so far and
a loss is a good wake-up call.
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Mentally it is good to get after the
next game and focus our energy
on that, for sure.”
Coach Parlow Cone likes what
she sees out of her team, even in
a loss.
“I think we are coming togeth­
er all over the field,” said Parlow
Cone, “Obviously, we are disap­
pointed with the loss. But in terms
of continuing to grow as a team, I
think this was a good game for us
to continue to grow, to continue to
get better.”
Win or lose, the Thoms know
that they will have plenty o f fan
support when playing at home.
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