The Thorns remained perfect in home openers and undefeated against the Orlando Pride this weekend, notching a 2-1 win over the Pride for the third year running. Just like the last two home openers against the team she-who-shall-not-be-named left Portland for, this one was at times nervy, and however much Mark Parsons wanted to deflect the issue in the post-game presser—which was a lot—Portland’s defense still needs work. Here are some of my takeaways from the game:
A rose to whatever Tom Sermanni was thinking.
The Pride boss made the unexpected move of deploying a new formation against the Thorns on Sunday, using three center backs in Toni Pressley, Shelina Zadorsky, and Ali Krieger, with Carson Pickett and Kristen Edmonds as left and right wingbacks.