2018 Portland Thorns Schedule Released

The NWSL schedule has officially been announced. After two away games, the Portland Thorns open the season at home against the Orlando Pride on Sunday, April 15.

The Thorns start the season on the road at North Carolina in the first Lifetime Game of the Week on March 24 at 12:30 PM PST. Portland home games televised on Lifetime are: Seattle on May 5, the Pride on May 12 and the Chicago Red Stars on August 18. In addition, Portland’s game away at Chicago on June 16 will also be televised. Games not on Lifetime will be available to watch on the go90 app and website in the US, and on NWSLsoccer.com internationally.

Each of the nine teams in the league will play each other three times over the course of the 24 game season. Portland will play Seattle at home two times, and one of those home games will be the final game of the regular season. The Thorns away game against the Seattle Reign on June 30 at 7:00 PM PST falls on the same day as a Portland Timbers game away at the Seattle Sounders at 1:30 PST.

It’s a pre-World Cup year, so there are a few mid-week games due to international commitments. Some of those involve quick turnaround times for the Thorns: three Wednesday Thorns games are followed immediately by Saturday games in the same week. Before the season closer, the Thorns have to travel from Portland to DC in the space of three days.