Thorns FC Open 10th Season With New Faces, Lofty Goals

Photo: Portland Thorns FC

Sport Oregon Voices: Anchored by an impressive victory in their opener, Thorns welcome new additions with familiar aspirations

With a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Current at Providence Park this past weekend, Portland Thorns FC started the 2022 NWSL season on the right foot. But it wasn’t just any season opener. This year, the club and the league are celebrating their 10th season, while the Thorns are welcoming a number of new faces as they embark on what they hope will be another championship run.

At 10 years, the NWSL has far outdistanced the success of the previous two women’s professional leagues in the United States. As for the Thorns, they have become standard bearers on the field and in the stands since the league’s inaugural 2013 season, and, as a result, their goals for the 2022 season pretty much remain the same as always. Portland has won two NWSL Championships, two NWSL Shields and has led the league in attendance by a wide margin each season.

“This is what you work hard for,” said Karina LeBlanc, general manager of the Thorns. “We have a tradition and an expectation to be successful here in Portland, so it’s redefining what success looks like, but it’s also about putting on an entertaining game for fans at home and appreciating the opportunity that we all have.”  

As an indicator of the history and tradition the Thorns have created over the last decade, the club reconnected with its past this offseason by bringing in a pair of former players to fill two key leadership roles with the team. The club brought back LeBlanc – a fan favorite as the team’s first starting goalkeeper who helped lead the Thorns to a league championship during their inaugural 2013 season – in her new role, and appointed Rhian Wilkinson, who finished her playing career with the Thorns in 2015, as its new head coach for the 2022 season.

Last season, Portland fell just short of pulling off a quadruple of sorts. The Thorns won the preseason Challenge Cup, the International Champions Cup and their second NWSL Shield as the league’s top team in the regular season before falling to the Chicago Red Stars in the playoffs.

Heading into 2022, the club added a couple marquee signings during the offseason, signing Japanese midfielder Hina Sugita and Canadian forward Janine Beckie, with both making their regular-season debuts with the club in the win over Kansas City in the opener.  

But even with all the “new,” there’s still a great deal of familiarity and valuable continuity for the Shield-winning team that fell short of their goal of a third NWSL title in 2021, most notably midfielder and team captain, Christine Sinclair. No matter how to you dice it up, it’s nearly impossible to overstate the past and continuing influence of Sinclair, a Canadian international who is the all-time international goal-scoring leader – men’s or women’s – while playing in five World Cups and winning a gold medal with Canada during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics.

With the Thorns since Day 1, Sinclair, who also starred at the University of Portland, has scored 67 goals and tallied 16 assists across 173 games in all competitions.

Both Wilkinson and LeBlanc were teammates of Sinclair’s with Canada and the Thorns, and know first-hand the incredible leadership she brings to the team, and to the sport of women’s soccer.   

“We’re so fortunate to have her on this team and in Portland, and it’s not anything we take for granted,” LeBlanc said. “How she impacts the people around her and how she impacts the game, is still in a way that’s unique to Christine Sinclair. The game is better because of her and continues to be better with her in it. She’s inspired every day to not only make the game better now, but make the game better in the future.”

LeBlanc stresses the importance of the connection the club has with the city and community it plays for. And perhaps never was that connection on better display than the recent benefit game the Thorns and Portland Timbers played at Providence Park. The two teams raised more than $500,000 to benefit relief efforts in Ukraine during a charity match on April 27. Donning the blue and yellow colors of the Ukrainian flag, the two mixed teams were made up of players from both the Thorns and Timbers.

Even for seasoned veterans who have excelled at every level of the game, the opportunity to make a difference in such a way while connecting with the community and having such an impact was next-level stuff.

“This just goes to show that this city is special and the fans here are incredible,” Sinclair told reporters after the benefit game. “To be out there playing a game that’s bigger than yourself, bigger than your team, it’s incredible. Hopefully we’re going to help change some people’s lives.”

Certainly there’s a great deal of optimism in the early going for the Thorns, who have missed the playoffs just once in their history. Considering the new faces within the club, the preseason presented the opportunity for the team to build on its identity, learn how to grow together and, ultimately, chart the course to achieve its lofty aspirations by season’s end. 

For the team and its supporters, now 10 years in, there’s a very familiar buzz in the air as another season gets underway, one that LeBlanc, for one, embraces.

“I think with the regular season getting underway, there’s excitement,” she said. “Now, it’s time for games, you get to be in front of the fans. For the players, this is what they’ve been training for, working for and looking forward to. I remember that feeling, and that’s what’s really exciting about this time of year.”

If You’re Going

The Thorns’ next home game is Friday, May 13, when they play host to OL Reign at Providence Park. For tickets to the rivalry match or any of the team’s remaining home games, click here.