The Portland Thorns couldn’t shake their poor late season form in the NWSL playoffs and got their reward by being sent out at the semifinals by the Chicago Red Stars, a team that hadn’t beaten them outright since 2013. Portland pressured the ball through much of the second half and kept the ball in Chicago’s half for a large part of the game but their scoring woes continued as they couldn’t find the net even with five players on the back line to close the game out. It took the Thorns 15 minutes to settle the play down and start to play their game, and that turned out to be too long for a Chicago team eager to correct a historically imbalanced record.
Portland Thorns exit the playoffs to the Chicago Red Stars, 1-0
