Portland Thorns Eliminated from Playoff Contention

The Portland Thorns have been eliminated from playoff contention for the first time in team history, following FC Kansas City and Washington Spirit playing to a scoreless draw on Thursday evening in Kansas City.

The 2015 season was never going to be an easy one for the Thorns, with Women's World Cup taking much of the starting lineup for nearly half the season, especially the attacking starters, while injuries have limited Alex Morgan to 2 appearances for the Thorns, Ayo never playing to her full potential, while last Sunday's match saw Christine Sinclair go down with a knee injury late in the match.

The Thorns have struggled to find much consistency this season, especially in their attack,  While Allie Long is currently 3rd in the NWSL in goals with 9, the Thorns have only scored 22 goals on the season, while the forwards only accounted for 4 goals in 18 matches.  The Thorns also only had 7 multi-goal games all season, but 9 of those goals came in 2 matches against the Boston Breakers.  The Thorns were also shut out 8 times this season.

While the Thorns can no longer catch the Spirit for the final playoff spot, they can still put on a show in front of a sellout crowd this Sunday at Providence Park.  The Thorns will be honoring retiring goalkeeper Nadine Angerer and defender Rachel Van Hollebeke prior to the match and the Rose City Riveters' Player of the Year will be named after the match.

The Thorns will close out their season in Rochester, New York against the Western New York Flash on Friday, September 4 at 4:00pm at Shalen's Stadium.