The last time the Portland Thorns played North Carolina Courage, Portland struggled so much on the road that the next time they took the field they had a new coach on the sidelines.
In that respect, Saturday night's second round went much better. The man in the nice suit isn't going anywhere after this.
The Thorns beat College 1-0 on a 79th-minute penalty from Sophia Smith, beating a team whose 2-0 win over Portland in April was the catalyst for the changes that would ultimately turn the Thorns' season upside down.
The Thorns (7-4-1, 22 points) have won six straight since that loss, a streak that was made possible thanks to interim coach Rob Gale being on the sideline. The Thorns' winning streak came to an end late last month against top-ranked Orlando, but Saturday's rematch with Courage was further proof of how much Portland has grown.
Smith said it wasn't about revenge, it was something else.
“I don't look at this as retaliation,” Smith said before the game. “We played them earlier this year and we obviously weren't at our best when we played them.”
On Saturday, Courage faced off against Portland, a better version of the Thorns, who endured a physical and aggressive first half that often put the Thorns in a tough position.
Of course, that didn't work for Smith for long. The 23-year-old forward repeatedly ran over the Providence Park crowd, dribbling through double and triple teams to take shots that just missed. North Carolina used Smith aggressively, even sending the U.S. women's national team star flying into the air with a foul late in the first half.
But a foul in the box in the 79th minute gave the Thorns a penalty chance, and this time there was no defence to stop Smith, who fired the ball into the left side of the goal for her ninth goal of the season.
This is Portland's seventh win in their last eight games and the Thorns remain in fourth place in the NWSL standings following Gotham FC's 2-1 win over Angel City. The Thorns will have a chance to start another winning streak on June 16 when they face the Seattle Rangers.
— Tyson Alger, The Oregonian/OregonLive