# 2018 Portland Thorns FC season

The 2018 Portland Thorns FC season was the team's sixth season of existence. The Thorns played in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top division of women's soccer in the United States. The Thorns entered the season as defending NWSL Champions.

## Season review
### Off-season

On September 21, 2017, Raso signed a loan with Brisbane Roar for the 2017–18 W-League season.
on September 24, 2017, the club announced that midfielder Amandine Henry and forward Nadia Nadim will not be returning to the Portland Thorns in 2018 season. The moves were made for financial reasons, NWSL has a strict salary cap of $315,000 for each team and the Thorns could not compete with the offers made by Lyon and Manchester City.
In October 2017, Boureille was loaned to Brisbane Roar for the 2017–18 W-League season.
On October 24, 2017, it was announced that Sonnett signed a loan with Sydney FC for the 2017–18 W-League season.
On January 11, 2018, the club acquired the rights to Australian forward Caitlin Foord and a 2020 conditional natural second-round draft pick from the Seattle Reign in exchange for Allie Long.
On January 12, 2018, Portland acquired Brazilian midfielder Andressinha from the Houston Dash in exchange for forward Savannah Jordan.
On January 17, 2018, Portland Thorns FC selected midfielders Sandra Yu and Gabby Seiler and goalkeeper Bella Geist from the 2018 NWSL College Draft.
On February 15, 2018, Ashleigh Sykes announced her retirement from professional soccer.

## Competitions

Win  Tie  Loss

### Preseason

Thorns Spring Invitational presented by Tillamook Yogurt

### Postseason
#### Regular-season standings

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | |
| 1 | North Carolina Courage (C) | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 53 | 17 | +36 | 57 | NWSL Shield |
| 2 | Portland Thorns FC | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 40 | 28 | +12 | 42 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 3 | Seattle Reign FC | 24 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 41 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 4 | Chicago Red Stars | 24 | 9 | 10 | 5 | 38 | 28 | +10 | 37 | NWSL Playoffs |
| 5 | Utah Royals FC | 24 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 22 | 23 | −1 | 35 | |
| 6 | Houston Dash | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 35 | 39 | −4 | 32 | |
| 7 | Orlando Pride | 24 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 30 | 37 | −7 | 30 | |
| 8 | Washington Spirit | 24 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 12 | 35 | −23 | 11 | |
| 9 | Sky Blue FC | 24 | 1 | 6 | 17 | 21 | 52 | −31 | 9 | |

#### Results by round

| Matchday | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| Stadium | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | H | A | H |
| Result | L | W | W | D | D | L | D | L | W | W | L | D | W | D | L | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | W |
| Position | 9 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 |

## Club
### Executive staff

| Owner and Chief Executive Officer | Merritt Paulson |
| President of Business | Mike Golub |
| GM/President of Soccer | Gavin Wilkinson |
Updated to match played August 3, 2018 Source: Portland Timbers

### Coaching staff

| Position | Staff |
| Head Coach | Mark Parsons |
| Assistant Coach | Rich Gunney |
| Assistant Coach/Equipment Manager | Sophie Clough |
| Assistant Coach/Community Youth Development Coach | Carly Copplestone |
| Goalkeeping Coach | Nadine Angerer |
| Fitness Coach | Garga Caserta |
| Athletic Trainer | Bailey Torrez |
| Team Physician | Breanne Brown |
Last updated: August 3, 2018 Source: Portland Timbers

## Squad information
### First team squad

Last updated: March 27, 2018
| No. | Name | Positions | Date of birth (age) | Signed from | Year with club (year signed) |
| Goalkeepers |||||||
| 24 | Adrianna Franch | GK | (1990-11-12) November 12, 1990 (age 34) | Avaldsnes IL | 3 (2016) |
| 33 | Britt Eckerstrom | GK | (1993-05-28) May 28, 1993 (age 31) | North Carolina Courage | 2 (2017) |
| Defenders |||||||
| 2 | Katherine Reynolds | RB/CB | (1987-09-14) September 14, 1987 (age 37) | Washington Spirit | 3 (2016) |
| 4 | Emily Menges | CB | (1992-07-28) July 28, 1992 (age 32) | 2014 NWSL College Draft | 5 (2014) |
| 16 | Emily Sonnett (FP) | CB | (1993-11-25) November 25, 1993 (age 31) | 2016 NWSL College Draft | 3 (2016) |
| 25 | Meghan Klingenberg | LB/LM | (1988-08-02) August 2, 1988 (age 36) | Houston Dash | 3 (2016) |
| 32 | Meg Morris | LB / FW | (1992-05-11) May 11, 1992 (age 32) | Sky Blue FC | 3 (2016) |
| 27 | Elizabeth Ball | CB/RB | (1995-10-20) October 20, 1995 (age 29) | | 1 (2018) |
| 15 | Ellie Carpenter | CB | (2000-04-28) April 28, 2000 (age 24) | Canberra United | 1 (2018) |
| 20 | Kelli Hubly | CB | (1994-08-09) August 9, 1994 (age 30) | | 2 (2017) |
| Midfielders |||||||
| 10 | Lindsey Horan (FP) | CM | (1994-05-26) May 26, 1994 (age 30) | Paris Saint-Germain | 3 (2016) |
| 8 | Andressa Cavalari | CAM | (1995-05-01) May 1, 1995 (age 29) | Houston Dash | 1 (2018) |
| 17 | Tobin Heath (FP) | LW | (1988-05-29) May 29, 1988 (age 36) | Paris Saint-Germain | 6 (2013) |
| 30 | Celeste Boureille | MF | (1994-04-20) April 20, 1994 (age 30) | UMF Selfoss | 3 (2016) |
| 36 | Angela Salem | MF | (1988-07-24) July 24, 1988 (age 36) | Boston Breakers | 1 (2018) |
| Forwards |||||||
| 9 | Caitlin Foord | CF / LW | (1994-11-11) November 11, 1994 (age 30) | Sydney FC | 1 (2018) |
| 12 | Christine Sinclair | CF/CAM | (1983-06-12) June 12, 1983 (age 41) | Western New York Flash | 6 (2013) |
| 22 | Ifeoma Onumonu | FW | (1994-02-25) February 25, 1994 (age 30) | Boston Breakers | 1 (2018) |
| 21 | Hayley Raso | FW/ RW / RM | (1994-09-05) September 5, 1994 (age 30) | Washington Spirit | 3 (2016) |
| 26 | Mallory Weber | FW / RW | (1994-04-04) April 4, 1994 (age 30) | 2016 NWSL College Draft | 3 (2016) |
| 34 | Tyler Lussi | FW | (1995-01-26) January 26, 1995 (age 30) | 2017 NWSL College Draft | 2 (2017) |
| 23 | Margaret Purce | FW/RM | (1995-09-18) September 18, 1995 (age 29) | Boston Breakers | 1 (2018) |
| 7 | Ana-Maria Crnogorčević | FW | (1990-10-03) October 3, 1990 (age 34) | FFC Frankfurt | 1 (2018) |
* (FP) = Federation player
* (Loan) = on loan

## Honors and awards
### NWSL Season Awards

* Most Valuable Player: Lindsey Horan
* Defender of the Year: Emily Sonnett (finalist)
* Coach of the Year: Mark Parsons (finalist)
* Goalkeeper of the Year: Adrianna Franch (finalist)
* Best XI: Adrianna Franch, Emily Sonnett, Lindsey Horan, Tobin Heath
* Second XI: Emily Menges, Christine Sinclair

### NWSL Team of the Month

| Month | Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards |
| March | | Emily Sonnett | Lindsey Horan | |
| April | | Emily Sonnett | | |
| May | | | Lindsey Horan | Christine Sinclair |
| June | | | Lindsey Horan | Christine Sinclair |
| July | Adrianna Franch | | Lindsey Horan | |
| August | | | Lindsey Horan | Tobin Heath |

### NWSL Player of the Month

| Month | Result | Player | Ref. |
| July | Won | Lindsey Horan | |

### NWSL Weekly Awards
#### NWSL Player of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 14 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 20 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 24 | Won | Lindsey Horan |

#### NWSL Goal of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 2 | Won | Lindsey Horan |
| 3 | Won | Lindsey Horan |
| 5 | Won | Tobin Heath |
| 8 | Nominated | Ellie Carpenter |
| 9 | Nominated | Christine Sinclair |
| 10 | Won | Katherine Reynolds |
| 11/12 | Nominated | Lindsey Horan |
| 13 | Nominated | Christine Sinclair |
| 15 | Nominated | Tobin Heath |
| 16 | Nominated | Lindsey Horan |
| 17 | Nominated | Hayley Raso |
| 19 | Nominated | Lindsey Horan |
| 20 | Won | Hayley Raso |
| 21 | Nominated | Christine Sinclair |
| 22 | Won | Tobin Heath |
| 24 | Won | Lindsey Horan |

#### NWSL Save of the Week

| Week | Result | Player |
| 1 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 2 | Nominated | Adrianna Franch |
| 9 | Nominated | Meghan Klingenberg |
| 11/12 | Won | Britt Eckerstrom |
| 13 | Nominated | Adrianna Franch |
| 14 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 15 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 17 | Nominated | Britt Eckerstrom |
| 19 | Nominated | Adrianna Franch |
| 20 | Won | Adrianna Franch |
| 21 | Nominated | Adrianna Franch |