Providence Park | Portland, Oregon – Friday, June 23 at 10:30 PM ET
Players to watch:
Portland forward Sophia Smith scored the opener in her team’s win on Sunday, her third straight regular season game with a goal. It is Smith’s third different streak of that length since the beginning of last season with no other NWSL player having more than one such streak in that time.
Washington forward Ashley Sanchez’s goal against Kansas City was the sixth scored from outside the box by the Spirit this season in all competitions, the most in NWSL. The Spirit have already doubled their total number of goals from outside the box from last season (3).
Match facts: Portland Thorns FC returns home for the first time in over a month to face the Washington Spirit on Friday night in a clash of teams near the top of the table. Portland is looking to build on a bounce back win against Chicago from last weekend, while Washington aims to extend their unbeaten run to five in the league with a positive result on the road. The Spirit sit in 1st place with 23 points from 12 games, with Portland just behind them in second with 22 points from the same amount of games played.
Dating back to last season, the Thorns are unbeaten in their last nine home games in all competitions (W7 D2), outscoring opponents, 25-7, in that span. The longest home unbeaten streak in team history (all competitions) is a streak of 10 games spanning the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
The Spirit rallied back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Current, 3-2, on Sunday. It was the first time Washington had ever won a match in which it trailed by multiple goals, having entered the match with 53 losses in 56 such games (D3, all competitions).
The Thorns are unbeaten all-time at home against the Spirit (W7 D5, including a forfeit win). That is the most home games without a loss in a single fixture in NWSL history (including playoffs) with the next most being eight by FC Kansas City against the Reign.
