Quick Recap: Thorns Drop First Place Hopes 2-3

The Portland Thorns fell 3-2 to FC Kansas City in their final home game of the regular season, missing out on a chance to take first place in the NWSL.

FC Kansas City was dangerous on the counterattack, and got the first goal even though the Thorns were controlling possession and getting the better of the scoring chances. In the 22nd minute, Leigh Ann Robinson crossed the ball into the box. Kat Williamson lunged for it and missed, and the ball when straight to Lauren Holiday, unmarked in the box, who took a touch to settle it and calmly put her shot in at the far post.

The Thorns pushed, but couldn't get an equalizer before halftime and went into the locker room down 1-0.

Not long after second half kick-off, the Thorns were denied a clear penalty kick, when Desiree Scott bulldozed Christine Sinclair as she tried to take a shot. The referee, inexplicably, motioned only for a goal kick, while the Rose City Riveters suggested that he was "blind" and "deaf."

The Thorns did get their equalizer a few minutes later, on a corner that FCKC failed to clear. Alex Morgan headed the ball to Rachel Buehler right outside the box, and she sent it back to the far post, where Danielle Foxhoven brought it down off her chest and shot it just over Nicole Barnhart.

The Thorns were back on level ground, but t didn't last long though, as a comedy of errors by the Thorns defense led to another FCKC goal. Kansas City got a counterattack started, and again and again the Thorns stepped up to try to intercept the ball. Again and again, they missed, until Erika Tymrak calmly chipped the ball past Buehler to Holiday, who was streaking into the box unmarked (again). Karina LeBlanc got a hand to the ball, but it wasn't enough to keep the shot out.

In the 74th minute, Kristie Mewis took advantage of ample space left by the Thorns' defense and got what would be the game-winner, a rocket from outside the box that, once again, LeBlanc got a hand on but couldn't keep out.

The Thorns pulled one back in the 89th, when Alex Morgan slipped behind FCKC's defense to get on the end of a pass from Allie Long. She shielded off her defender and slipped a low shot past Barnhart.

After that lapse, Kansas City put on a clinic in how to kill off a game. Even with all the momentum in their favor before the goal and a crowd of more than 17,000 cheering them on, the Thorns couldn't break FCKC's possession in the final minutes.