Photo courtesy of Gotham FC
The Friday night top-of-the-table matchup between the Portland Thorns and NJ/NY Gotham FC delivered on all the drama, good and bad. It was a frenetic match in front of an impressive crowd of 21,743, with 27 shots between the teams.
Things got going early when Midge Purce opened the scoring for Gotham against her former team in the second minute. The attacker connected cleanly on the volley with the service from Guro Reiten to put Portland on the back foot early. However, Gotham’s celebrations were short-lived as defender Emily Sonnett went down with a knee injury not long after and had to be stretchered off the field.
In the 21st minute, the Thorns equalized through rookie attacker Renee Lyles in her first career start, sixth appearance overall. The almost unbelievable finish resulted in Lyles’ first career goal. Forward Pietra Tordin got the assist on the goal, her league-leading seventh of the year.
Portland’s party continued in the second half when a deflected shot by Jessie Fleming gave the Thorns the lead in the 53rd minute. Lyles made the assist, another first in her career. But less than 10 minutes later, Gotham equalized through Sam Kerr. It was Kerr’s 78th regular season goal and her first NWSL goal since Oct. 20, 2019, and her first for Gotham FC since Sept. 30, 2017.
Portland finished the final 17 minutes of the game with 10 players after defender Jayden Perry was sent off for denying Kerr an obvious goal-scoring opportunity near midfield.
A few minutes later, the home fans had a chance to cheer again as forward Morgan Weaver made her long-awaited return to the field. It was Weaver’s first appearance for the Thorns since the 2024 quarterfinal match at Gotham FC on November 10, 2024, and her first at Providence Park since a 3-0 win vs Angel City on November 1, 2024, a game she scored in. Weaver quickly brought energy to the pitch and helped the Thorns launch a few more promising-looking attacks despite being down a player.
In the end, the draw extended Gotham FC’s unbeaten run to four matches and moved them atop the NWSL standings at the end of Friday’s action, one point ahead of the Washington Spirit, who play later this weekend. For Portland, the result means the Thorns remain unbeaten at home in 2026 and set a new club record for unbeaten league home matches (11 straight since September 2025), beating a record they set in 2025.
