The Portland Thorns fell behind on three different occasions Saturday — including 32 seconds into the game — but rallied each time to earn a 3-3 draw against the host North Carolina Courage.
Former Courage star Crystal Dunn scored twice for Portland, while 17-year-old Olivia Moultrie fired in the game’s final goal in the 83rd minute to salvage a late draw for the second consecutive week. The Thorns also played to a 3-3 tie in their last game, at home against Angel City FC.
Portland (3-0-3, 12 points) conceded just two goals in its first four league games, but has now allowed six in the last two. The Thorns have scored 17 goals in their first six games — by far the most in the league. Portland maintained its spot at the top of the NWSL table, leading the Washington Spirit on goal differential.
“To find ourselves behind three times is hard to wrap your head around,” said Thorns coach Mike Norris. “To get the third goal at the end, I’m really happy and I thought we could’ve pushed for a winner.”
Norris said he thought his team “rebounded very well” from giving up an own goal before many of the 7,070 in attendance at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, had settled into their seats.
“I’m proud of the group,” he added. “I don’t want to be a team that’s conceding three goals, but I don’t think it was a poor defensive effort at all. Really proud of them to keep pushing through, and I thought we did enough to win the game.”
Dunn, who played college soccer at North Carolina as well as parts of three seasons with the Courage from 2018–20, said it was “nice to not get booed” at her former home stadium, chalking it up as a sign of respect despite being in a different uniform.
Her two goals on Saturday give her four for the season, tied with Sophia Smith for the team lead. She said that while the team is unbeaten through six games, they’re still finding their footing.
“It’s early and we aren’t perfect,” Dunn said. “We strive for that every game, but there are things we can clean up. I think the story tonight is that we found a way to come back. We’d love to not have to come from behind three times, but those are the growing pains early in the season.”
Moultrie’s equalizer was an audacious, curling strike from outside the penalty area that most young players wouldn’t dare attempt. But Moultrie, who debuted with the Thorns at 15, already has the confidence of a seasoned veteran.
“The resilience of this team is the biggest piece,” she said of her mindset on the goal. “We need that resilience as the defending champs, and that momentum is what I carried into that moment. I had some space and thought I would go for it.”
It’s the second consecutive game Moultrie made her mark as a second-half sub, after delivering a pinpoint ball for an assist on a Morgan Weaver goal last week.
“If you look at the impact she’s made the last two games as a younger player, she’s pushing and challenging for a start,” Norris said. “I couldn’t ask for any more of a player coming off the bench.”
North Carolina shocked the Thorns in the opening minute when Ryan Williams’ attempt at a cross deflected off the leg of Portland’s Emily Menges and looped high in the air toward the goal. Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby was caught off-guard and couldn’t keep the ball from falling into the net for an own goal.
After the Thorns built pressure over the following 20 minutes, Smith, the NWSL’s Player of the Month for April, slid a perfect pass to the edge of the six-yard box for a first-time shot by a wide-open Dunn into the net to tie the score in the 22nd minute.
But Portland once again found itself chasing the game four minutes later as the Courage’s Kerolin ripped a shot from 25 yards off the inside of the right post and in to give North Carolina a 2-1 advantage.
Smith tested Courage keeper Casey Murphy twice later in the half, but Murphy made tough saves that preserved her team’s advantage.
Christine Sinclair poked a cross from Smith just over the crossbar in the 38th minute for her best chance of the game. Despite a franchise-record 60 NWSL goals, Sinclair has never scored against North Carolina.
A highlight-reel team goal brought the Thorns level again in the 52nd minute, as they completed nine consecutive passes in an attack that led to a tap-in by Dunn for her second of the game. A backheel flick by Smith opened up Meghan Klingenberg in the penalty area to cut a pass back to Dunn sliding in at the goal line.
“We’re a team that’s at our best when we’re fluid and can break teams down and not be stagnant,” Dunn said of the teamwork that led to the goal. “Kling was about to shoot it and I yelled for her and she was able to find me.”
Bixby made her biggest save of the game in the 58th minute off a header from close range by former Thorn Tyler Lussi that she was able to deflect off the post and out for a corner kick.
North Carolina (2-3-1, 7 points) took a third lead in the 70th minute as substitute Victoria Pickett scored her first goal for the Courage after her recent acquisition from Gotham FC.
That set the stage for Moultrie to save the day with a curling left-footed shot from five yards beyond the penalty box that flew past Murphy’s fingertips and nestled inside the left post.
Portland took 19 shots in the match, with 10 being on goal. Murphy made seven saves for the Courage, while Bixby stopped three of the Courage’s five shots on frame.
The Thorns will look to extend their season-opening unbeaten streak to seven games on the road at Houston at 5:30 p.m Friday.
— Scott Sepich for The Oregonian/OregonLive
