Providence Park | Portland, Oregon – Sunday, August 20 at 10:30 PM ET
Players to watch:
Of the five players with the most shots attempted in NWSL competitions this season, three belong to the Portland Thorns. Forward Sophia Smith leads all players with 77 shots, while fellow attacker Morgan Weaveris third with 64, and midfielder Olivia Moultrie’s 47 shots tie her for fourth most in all competitions.
Despite quite a stretch since their last three regular season contests, forward Tyler Lussi had scored in two of the previous three games the Courage played, both of which were also wins. However, it is forward Brittany Ratcliffe who stepped up most in North Carolina’s Challenge Cup conquests, with her three goals putting her tied for second in the competition.
Match facts: Regular season play resumes for the first time in over a month as Portland Thorns FC hosts the North Carolina Courage at Providence Park on Sunday night in the last of six games across the league this weekend. Portland is currently in 2nd placed with 25 points from 15 games played, while North Carolina are just ahead in 1st place with 26 points from 15 games played.
Portland played to a scoreless draw with OL Reign in its Challenge Cup finale, its most recent match in all competitions. The Thorns had conceded at least once in eight consecutive games prior to the draw, tied for the second-longest streak of conceding goals in team history with the only longer streak coming in June-July 2014 (10).
In all NWSL competitions this season, North Carolina is the only team with a passing accuracy of at least 80.0% (81.6%). The Courage have completed 8756 passes in 2023 with only one other NWSL team having even attempted that many (Portland, 9219 attempts).
The Thorns are Courage played to a 3-3 draw in May after also playing to a 3-3 draw in Portland last season, the most recent matches proving to be high scoring affairs. Only one other NWSL fixture has seen multiple draws with at least six goals scored, and there’s a common theme–Portland against Chicago in 2013 and 2019.
