Match Preview: Portland Thorns FC vs. Racing Louisville FC
Providence Park | Portland, Oregon – Wednesday, September 21 at 10:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
In the Thorns’ 1-1 draw against Kansas City, Portland took 9 shots with both attackers Morgan Weaver and Sophia Smith attempting seven each. The last time a team had two different players with at least seven shots each was in July of 2021, when Ifeoma Onumonu and Midge Purce (Gotham) both took seven shots against the Spirit. Leading the team in scoring is the forward Smith, whose 11 goals have her tied for second in the league in that category. Behind her is an impressive trio of midfielder Hina Sugita (5), forward Christine Sinclair (5) and Weaver (4), to make up a quartet of players who have all hit the four-plus goals mark on the year.
In the 50th minute of Racing Louisville’s match against Orlando on Friday night, midfielder Shuang Wangprovided the assist on fellow midfielder Savannah DeMelo’s goal, marking Wang’s first goal contribution in the NWSL. In fact, Wang is the first Chinese player with a goal contribution in the history of the league. Though unable to find the back of the net in that game, Louisville is led by forward Nadia Nadim’s six goals, only one of which has come from the penalty spot. Nadim is just clear of DeMelo, who sits in second in team totals with four goals.
Match facts: Portland Thorns FC returns home on Wednesday as it faces Racing Louisville FC at Providence Park, still chasing the potential of a first-place finish in the Road to the Shield. Should the Thorns defeat Louisville by any score, they would go ahead of San Diego (34 points) with 35 points and all teams sitting on the same number of games played.
In Portland’s most recent home match, the Thorns fell, 2-0, to the Wave, their first time being shut out at home since May in a big title race match. Despite having scored 21 goals in nine games at home, the Thorns have been shut out three times at home with only Gotham FC (five) having been shut out at home more times this year.
Louisville’s away fortunes have not been well, though, with the club allowing five goals en route to a 5-1 defeat its last time away from home. Louisville has collected just eight points on the road this season (W1 D5 L3), second fewest in the league ahead of only the Washington Spirit (W0 D7 L2).
Portland has beaten Racing Louisville in all three meetings in league action and did not concede a goal in the matchup until July earlier this year. Since joining the league last season, Louisville is the only team that has yet to get a point against two different opponents that the team has played at least three times (NC Courage – L5).
