It didn’t start well, with the Portland Thorns conceding a goal early in first game after their initial World Cup departures, but head coach Mark Parsons couldn’t have asked for more from the response he saw. Taking control of Saturday’s match in Orlando after Toni Pressley’s 10th-minute opener, Portland claimed their second victory of the season, leveraging goals from Dagny Brynjarsdóttir, Andressinha and Caitlin Foord to claim a weather-prolonged, 3-1 victory at Orlando City Stadium.
It was the game most would have expected from two teams on different courses, the Thorns having yet to lose a game this season while Orlando’s only escaped the loss column once.