The result has dogged the team since the final whistle, if not sooner. The moment the last goal went in midway through the second half, Portland Thorns FC immediately began ruing the result. It was game where they expected more; where the final result would magnify doubts; where they’d spend days stewing on the points that they’d lost.
No, that wasn’t the world after the Thorns’ last game against the North Carolina Courage, a 4-1 home loss that highlighted how much ground the NWSL’s defending champions had to make up on the pace-setters atop the circuit. Carolina was amazing that night.