Every year brings new feelings about how 2016 ended for Portland Thorns FC. In the winter that followed, the disappointment of that ending was still acute, though the title that came in 2017 briefly cast that disappointment as a stepping stone. After the 2018 season, the slim loss to the Western New York Flash two years before felt even more harsh, while now, that 4-3 playoff defeat at Providence Park feels almost lazy in how it perfectly foreshadowed what the Flash would become.
It would be nice, though, if time doesn’t brush over that year’s slim margins. As evidence, consider the result from September 11, 2016 two weeks before the playoffs and the match featured for this Sunday's PTFC: From the Archives, presented by Providence Health & Services (Webstream at ThornsFC.