In a game played in sweltering Houston heat, the Portland Thorns came up with three goals and three points against the Houston Dash on an impressive performance defined by periods of midfield dominance and mistakes from both sides.
The Thorns welcomed back Adrianna Franch, Emily Sonnett and Tobin Heath into the starting lineup, while Celeste Boureille took the place of Lindsay Horan who was suspended for yellow card accumulation. The Dash threw all three of their new signings directly into the starting lineup: Sofia Huerta started in midfield despite all of the noise about her having to move clubs in order to play at fullback, Taylor Comeau started at right back and Claire Polkinghorne started at the base of midfield despite normally being a centerback.