Reilyn Turner and Pietra Tordin each scored goals and Jessie Fleming had two assists as the Portland Thorns handed the Washington Spirit its first road loss of the season, 2-0, on Sunday afternoon.
Bella Bixby made four saves en route to her second clean sheet of the season for the Thorns (5-3-4, 19 points), who moved into fifth place in the NWSL with the win. Portland remained unbeaten (3-0-3) at home and improved to 10-0-5 all-time in home matches against the Spirit.
Aubrey Kingsbury finished with four saves for fourth-place Washington (7-4-1, 22 points), which suffered its first loss in six away matches (5-1-0).
Portland dominated the first half of action finishing with a 12-5 edge in shot attempts. However, the Thorns didn’t find the back of the net until the 39th minute when Turner took a short pass from Fleming in the middle of the box and chipped a right-footed shot into the top right corner for her fourth goal of the season.
Washington nearly tied it in the 73rd minute when Makenna Morris blasted a right-footed shot from about 10 yards above the box that caromed off the crossbar.
Shortly after Bixby denied Morris’ right-footed shot with a diving stop by the far left post, Tordin fielded a long pass from Fleming and made it 2-0 in the 82nd minute, lofting a right-footed shot from outside the box over Kingsbury for her second goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
